Rising Senior
Very small rural school (about 50 kids) No AP’s Offered, have to take them online through Montana Digital Academy
UW GPA: 3.85
Senior Year Course Load
Pre-Calc (highest offered at school)
Government
Chemistry (highest offered at school)
AP Lang and Comp (online)
AP Bio (online)
AP Psych (online)
Latin (online)
Science Investigations (the science fair class)
Test Scores
ACT Comp: 27
Math: 24 Eng: 28 Reading: 31 Science: 23 Essay: 25 (I have a 26 in science on first test but that composite score is 24)
I’m hoping to improve this by studying over the summer to at least a 33+, I know it’s weighing me down dramatically. Any testing advice would be greatly appreciated
No AP tests taken, will take them end of senior year
Extracurriculars
Science Fair (9-12)
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Intel ISEF alum 2014, 2016
Too many awards to name from state/regional fairs,
Notable awards include two time first place winner, third place at state
Student Government
Class president (9-12)
Student body President (10th)
Student body VP (12th)
National Honor Society
President (11-12)
have over 100 hours of volunteer work with this
Denise Juneau’s Student Advisory Board Committee (9th - 11th)
Board member on how to lower the dropout rate in Montana
Science Olympiad (11-12)
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Awards/Other
Regional Girl’s State Representative (11th grade)
Adventures of the Mind State Representative (10th grade)
University of Montana American Youth Leadership Program to Thailand (11th)
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One of twenty students chosen to be a state ambassador for the U.S. State Department on global climate change and food security
Food Drive Competition Held Between Schools (20 hours)
State Department Alumni
Valedictorian
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Hooks
Native American (Chippewa-Cree tribe)
I know that my lack of AP classes and low ACT will drag me down, but hopefully my essay and URM status will help even those out. I plan to go into either biomedical engineering or chemistry with a minor in the classics (aka Latin) with the pre-med route. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
You have done very well with your limited resources. Honestly, if you get your ACT to 33+ (you may have some wiggle room on this) I could see you getting accepted to very selective schools with MUCH greater ease than other applicants. Bring up that ACT and you will have a lot of options. Also, taking SAT II’s will help.
This resume is impressive, especially for being so limited with your school and your geography. I recently visited Wash U and got the general feel that they do not really care about ACT scores; however, even though scores might not be the most scrutinized feature by the admissions office, you still need a reasonable score. I am not saying you have no chance of getting in with a 27 Composite score, all I am saying is that it will be harder to get in. According to Collegexpress, only 5% of accepted applicants at Wash U last year had an ACT score between 24-29 - and I am willing to bet that the majority of this 5% had a 29. Thus, by improving your score by only a few points and reaching the 30 mark threshold, your chance of being accepted will increase significantly. To bring up the score, I recommend a private tutor or, if that does not work, buy The Real ACT Prep Guide; in this book, you should take a few sections a week and make sure you understand every error you made. The essay score is fine as there has been some criticism about the grading process. Moreover, @superbowser12 suggested you take Subject Tests, but I disagree. Judging from your low ACT score and the limited AP classes taken, I think that you would not do well on the Subject Tests. I would focus more on bringing up the ACT score than taking other tests. To convince you even more not to take Subject Tests, Wash U does not focus on testing and does not even require the SAT IIs.
Another characterizing feature of Wash U admissions is that the admissions officers love to see interest in the college. They want to make sure that you will choose Wash U over the East Coast Ivies and California dream schools. If you can afford visiting Wash U (money-wise and time-wise), then I highly suggest you fly to St. Louis to check it out. While you are there, you should most definitely schedule an interview with an admission’s officer. They are extremely casual - more like a conversation than an interview. I had my first interview at Wash U and was nervous, but after I talked with the admissions officer about food and my hobbies, I realized there was no reason to stress. In summary, showing interest in this college is key to acceptance.
Just wondering, I looked at your schedule for the senior year and see that you are only enrolled in four classes to take at your high school. Are you not taking any more than that? Or, do the online classes count as classes for your actual high school? I am also not seeing that you took any languages. Did you take a language before senior year, and if so, for how long? Taking a language is very important to most colleges, so you might want to edit your schedule to fit that requirement.
Hello, thank you for your comments @ryanordy88 The online classes do count as regular classed at my school, as in I get a period to work on them during the day. My freshman year I took the only language offered which was my Native language (cree) and the Latin I’m taking senior year will count as a language I believe. I’d rather take Latin, but Spanish is avaliable online, so do you recommend I take that instead? I’m also hoping to go to discovery weekend and I’m applying for two merit scholarships to show interest.
