Hey, I was just wondering if anyone could give me some insight on colleges I should apply to (I’m a Junior). I know that there are a lot of subjective parts of the college admission process, but I just want to have an idea if I would be competitive for Williams solely based on stats.
SAT I: 2230 (800 math, 740 reading, and 690 writing 10 essay). I also got a 221 on my PSAT so I’ll probably be at least a semifinalist (Pennsylvania)
Unweighted GPA: Based on my school its a 3.96 but I got 3 B+'s so I think that’s wrong. I tried to convert it to a normal scale and I got something like 3.81
Weighted GPA: My school has a weird system so its like 4.97. On a system based out of 5, I think I have a 4.3 or 4.4
Class Rank: I wasn’t looking into competitive colleges as a freshman and sophomore so my class rank was 39/558 at the beginning of the this school year. It is now 19/558 after one semester and it will likely go up.
AP Classes: Due to scheduling errors, I was not able to take AP Chemistry this year but I was able to take AP Statistics. Next year I hope to take AP Chem AB, AP Calc AB, AP Calc BC, AP Micro, AP physics AB, and AP physics BC. My school has 4 classes one semester and 4 new ones the next semester.
EC’s: I know these are subjective so I will just list them.
-Robotics Club (FTC) since 10th grade. Co-Captain this year and most likely Captain next year
-Anchor Club (Community Service) no position
Peer Tutoring in Math since 10th grade
I’m very committed to Robotics Club and Tutoring so don’t criticize me for not having a lot of EC’s
I’m definitely more math, science, and engineering oriented as compared to English and the humanities, but I still want to take English classes. What do you think my chances would be for early decision and regular decision?
i’ll provide you with some input since no one else has yet to chime in, I’m not in any way an expert about Williams but I do have a ds at a peer school '14. First the obvious SAT’s are good but could be higher, writing is a big deal at LAC’s so I would hope if you sit again you could score 700+, clearly you have the essay. I wouldn’t worry about National Merit if you want Williams it will make no difference, if you are in the top 10% thats all you need, lots of Val’s won’t be accepted. what SAT subject tests do you have, you need 2, I would suggest both need to be 700+ again, Your GPA is OK again and lots of AP’s are good, Clearly your essay will be very important, but mostly I didnt get excited about your EC’s, what is your passion and how do you show it, it doesnt come through here, where do you spend your time…? I’d say at the moment you need to do more work to get close to be competitive at Williams or a peer, remember they really only take the very best students equal to any Ivy college.
Agree with the above poster–make sure your SAT subject tests are strong. Writing is important, but it’s my impression that highly competitive LACs look first at CR and Math SATs. That said, your English classes should show top grades and be at the AP level. Good luck.
I know that English grades are important for LACs, but do you think that they will understand if my English grades are not that fantastic compared to my math/science grades because I would be a prospective math and physics major?
Admissions officer at a visit: “We mostly look at CR and Math.”
I think they have other writing samples they value more highly–the Common App essays, and in many cases the AP Composition scores.
Also of note: admisison offices can view an applicant’s SAT essay, not just the score. It’s conceivable they prefer to look at the essay, and discount the score. It’s well documented that the scoring is predicted by essay length, and that style, content, reasoning, and grammar are largely irrelevant. They’re dropping the exam because the score predicts nothing.
Williams will expect you to be able to read critically and write well regardless of whether you define yourself as a math-science major. I wouldn’t worry about your SAT writing score but you should provide evidence (grades, AP scores, recs) that you can do the work.
@zzzmmm @latichever Thank you for replying. I think I will work really hard on my essays to show my writing skills. I will also try to be more involved with ECs.
I’d say that your test scores are fine. You should also do fine in subject tests. Just do Math II + a Science. You should be able to get an 800 in Math II if you got an 800 in the SAT and a high score in a science is just dedicated studying for a few days.
Your grades are fine. You shouldn’t worry about 3 B+. Although, I would definitely say that you are lacking in the amount of AP classes. You are essentially taking 4 AP classes next year and just one this year: so five in total. Students applying to top schools usually have 7-8 AP classes.
Have you won any awards for robotics? Those might explain for why you have so little ECs.
I personally had even less ECs than you and got accepted, and I was also dedicated to one of them. You should definitely try to participate in a research internship during the summer to strengthen your app. It’s pretty late now, so you probably can’t participate in one though. If you have a university nearby, you could try to talk one of the professors into letting you intern there, but YMMV. Just try to do something productive.
@Shinpachi I will have a total of 7 AP classes by the time I graduate. My school does block scheduling so we have 4 classes one semester and 4 new ones the next semester. AB physics is mechanics and BC physics is electricity and magnetism. AB calc, BC calc, AP chem, and AP microeconomics are all AP courses listed on college board. As for the summer, I already applied to the summer science program which is where you do a research project tracking an asteroid at university of Colorado boulder. The club is associated with MIT and Caltech and is considered prestigious. The problem is that the program has a 9% acceptance rate so I don’t now if I’ll get in.
I would consider calc AB and BC to be one AP, since BC actually includes all of AB in it.
The acceptance rate of that program seems to be pretty low. You should still try to contact random professors at your local uni, asking them if they would let you help with their research, as backup