Hello. I am a current high school junior and with senior year looming near, I have begun my college search. I would appreciate it if the members here can chance me for Boston University, Davidson College, Tulane and Wesleyan.
Basic information:
I am an American citizen who currently lives abroad and attends an American-system school that offers AP/IB courses. I’m currently interested in studying history, politics or economics.
Statistics:
Current GPA (UW): 3.51 (not really good :/) (3.37 freshman year, 3.46 sophomore year, 3.7 junior year). I want to note that in all three of my years, science courses pulled down my GPA substantially (multiple Cs)
Class Rank: School doesn’t rank
SAT: 1530 (750 CR+W, 780 M)
APs: Spanish (5), I will also be taking the World and US exams this May, and I have been scoring within the 5 range on practice multiple-choices
SAT Subjects: Math II (720), US History (750)
Extracurriculars:
-Speech and Debate (multiple first place individual placings in multiple regional tournaments) (9, 10, 11, and definitely 12)
-Model UN (runner-up for best delegate in international conference, currently holding leadership positions within my school’s MUN club and also in a few international conferences) (9, 10, 11 and definitely 12)
-Academic Quizbowl (first place individual in a local tournament, will likely be leader next year) (9, 10, 11, definitely 12)
-School Newspaper (I write an opinion piece once in a while) (10, 11, maybe 12)
-Student Government (11, maybe 12)
Junior courseload:
IB History HL
IB Economics HL
IB Geography HL
IB Spanish SL
IB Literature SL
IB Biology SL (trying to drop next year)
IB Mathematics SL
AP US History (online)
I think your chances at Wesleyan are a reach as an RD candidate. Your high SATs are less important there as they focus more on GPA and relative standing in your respective class.
BU: Your GPA is slightly below average (3.72 for freshman applicants), however an upward trend is great! Your SAT scores are well above average for BU so that’s a good strength. Since you took a heavy courseload and have extracurriculars, this helps too. BU has gotten more competitive but their acceptance rate is the 2nd highest among these schools.
Wesleyan: Your GPA is below the average 3.78 but again you have high test scores. However, Wesleyan considers scores at a lower level than academic grades. I’d say this is a bit more of a reach than BU but still, you have a lot to feel good about. Their acceptance rate is the lowest of these schools.
Davidson: Your GPA is below the average 3.78, you test scores are above average. Davidson weights scores higher than GPA, so this works out in your favor. Their acceptance rate is the second lowest of these schools, though, so still very competitive.
Tulane: Your GPA is close to the average 3.66, therefore the best academic match out of these schools. Your SAT scores are above average. Their acceptance rate is the highest of these schools at 30%. I’d say you’d be a good match but this process is really random (esp. at Tulane I’ve heard), and you never know. But again, you have a lot to feel good about!