I’m a high school junior currently looking at Vandy, W&L, UVA, Sewanee, Georgetown, and UT Knox as a backup. Please note my school has very few opportunities. I wish my parents had forced me to do more, like play an instrument or something lol. White male, here are my stats:
ACT: 32 (going to bring up, one point away from a 33), 11 on writing (want to get a 12)
GPA: 4.0 (all A’s, all honors/AP)
Rank: 5/6 out of like… 300 something? I go to a small, underfunded public high school in an impoverished area.
Personal: Deceased parents, living with disabled grandmother. Not sure if this matters, but I qualify as low-income. A couple people above me are taking super easy classes.
Classes: School doesn’t offer much.
Freshman: Honors Reading, Honors Biology, PE, Theatre Arts, Honors English I, Honors Geometry, Computer Applications, World History (I’M SUPER MAD ABOUT THIS. I asked to be put in a thing called Fuel Ed where I was going to choose to take Astrophysics and Philosophy directed. I guess they didn’t have enough room or whatever and they pushed me into a non-honors World History course. Needless to say, I aced it, but I feel really bad about not taking honors/Dual Credit that was more intense… I am gonna put this as a note on my application.)
Sophomore: Honors Algebra II, Wellness, Honors Chem I, Honors French I, Personal Finance (required, aced), Honors English II, Honors French II, Honors Biology II
Junior: APUSH, AP Lang, Honors French III/IV, Dual Enrollment College Algebra, AP Chem, AP Computer Science Principles
Senior: Taking AP Stats, Honors Physics (no AP offered), AP Lit, AP Psych, Dual Enrollment Sociology, Hon Gov/Econ (no AP offered), and Hon German I/II. Alternates (if I can’t take one) are AP Bio, Honors Precal, and AP Cal AB (we don’t have BC). I don’t want to focus on calculus because it’s not my field. I am a future historian/lawyer and statistics is far more relevant.
Clubs, officer/other info in parenthesis: Extemporaneous Speaking, Debate, French Club (president), Military Club (secretary, president next year), History Club, Math Club, Science Club (we explain experiments to little kids and do science fair). I think I’m forgetting one or two others, but this is chiefly what matters. Next year I may start a Young Americans for Freedom chapter and my friend and I have plans to start a Parisian salon-type intellectual discussion group.
Awards: First Place in French Competition at Murray State University, novice level. Returning this year. More awards soon hopefully with AP tests and an upcoming history competition.
Volunteering: 80+ hours peer tutoring, 16 hours IT help, regular volunteer at my Heritage Center, game concessions, Mardi Gras, some other stuff
Summer Programs: I did Vanderbilt Summer Academy between 9 and 10, and this year I’m attending the TN Governor’s School for Humanities.
Teacher reqs: Will be extraordinary. My French and APUSH teachers got me into Gov school, really like me and write good letters.
Other reqs: Will have a recommendation from my schools technology director and a Vanderbilt alumnus
Prospective major: History and Philosophy.
I lean right-wing, but to be safe I won’t talk about it on the application. I am likely leaving some stuff out. The biggest thing right now is getting my ACT score up to a 34 and maybe my writing to a 12. My subs on the test were 36, 27, 36, 30, in order of the test.