Chance me ED 1? :)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Vassar College
1

Race: Caucasian/White
Gender: Female

I’m in the top 20%, possibly 10% of my class in a highly competitive public high school in Maryland. My combined SAT Scores are 2170; individually they are CR: 750 W: 800 M: 620 (Explain later). No class rankings are available. My GPA is a 3.73 (Explanation Later)

SAT II:
World History: 750
Literature: 780

AP Classes: AP Language, AP Psychology, AP Government, AP Literature, AP European History, AP Art, AP Enviornmental Science.

I’m only a junior, but I’m slated to have two or three excellent recs. One from my AP Language teacher who has had me for a year and has been my advisor on several personal creative writing endeavors, and another from my AP Art teacher who has had me for three years and adores me. A third possible option is my piano teacher who has had me for about 9 years. I have a close relationship with my counselor, and will likley get a strong rec from her.

EC’s are strong but amazingly strong. I’ve been a member of the Shakespere Club for three years and am slated to be president/direct our show next year. Other EC’s include the Art Director for an independently published Lit Magazine run out of my school, member of the Classics Club, involved in tech for my school’s drama department, 9 years of piano lessons, upwards of 10 years on rec soccer and basketball teams. I also am deeply involved in creative writing: I’ve been won awards through/ been published in local magazines and hold several Silver Keys from my regional scholastic awards.

In terms of my SAT Math and middle school grades: I suffered from severe executive functioning/ADD throughout primary and middle school. My parents did not believe in medication for these issues so I was never medicated. As a result, my grades up until high school were fairly poor. I was already having issues in math, and these difficulties left me lacking a lot of basic math knowledge going into higher education. I’ve managed to recover in high school, however, with only four B’s throughout my entire high school career. I also hope to include some of this in my essays.

Any Ideas?

2

You definitely have a shot. Lots of students get admitted with scores not as good as yours, but at the same time, some students with amazing SAT scores get denied. Can you take the SAT again and perhaps UP that math score? Or maybe take the ACT? You are probably going to do this, but in your essays, make sure to focus on the OVERCOMING of the difficulty you had in math and not that it is still difficult. A better SAT score in math would make that case even stronger. Good luck.

3

thank you so much for your answer! unfortunately, I’ve taken a lot of other practice tests in addition to a second SAT and my math score has remained pretty stagnant. Still debating whether trying it third time would be worth it.

4

Stepay offers good advice. Take the ACT. My daughter took the SAT and ACT/writing but only submitted the ACT.
Her SAT’s were fine, but her SAT subject tests while okay were not superb.

I caution you about using your essay to explain your difficulty. It will not be a unique essay. Admissions officers have heard it all. I believe ~ 1/3 of the essays are about tribulations, LD’s etc, the student overcame, learned from, etc. . However, it is important that your GC explain the untreated ADD and the issues it caused.

Many admitted students have a SAT math score in your range