<p>Hi! I'm a rising senior at a private all-girls school in PA. </p>
<p>School:
- My school does not rank or do GPA, but my grade average is a 91.4. (With senior year grades I expect to bump it up at least to a 91.5 aka 92. So gpa would be a 3.7 UW)
-My SATS are 2280 (720 CR, 800 Writing, and 760 Math)
SAT IIs US History 760, Math II 770
(I will also probably will receive national merit from psats on some level.)</p>
<p>Junior APs: English (5), US History (4), AB Calc (5) (The most offered.)
Senior APs: AP English, AP Euro, AP BC Calc, AP Physics, AP Spanish
I'm also taking Computer Programming next year (first year that it is offered) and have two years of Graphic Design. </p>
<p>Extra Curriculars:
1. 10-12 Years (6 seasons including this coming fall) of Crew (lightweight, not recruit worthy)
2. Robotics 11-12
3. Literary Magazine 10-12 (Co-Editor Senior year)
4. 11-12 Club that fundraises for a girls school in Africa
-Have designed multiple marketing materials such as brochures and holiday cards for the organization that runs the school, these are publicly in use
5. Extensive graphic design portfolio, won two school art awards
6. (Hopefully!) Published scientific article on Domestic Partner Violence
7. 2010 Summer internship with Emergency Room doctor conducting study on Partner Violence and two years (11-12) of scientific research course continuing with the same material on my own in a different way than the doctor, focus on statistical analysis.
8. Church Organization + community service
I'm thinking of going the applied math/computer programming/ media design route.
Penn has a Digital Media Design Major and Brown has an Applied Math department. (Amherst just has math.) Also, my dad has legacy at Penn and I'm thinking of applying to Brown ED. </p>
<p>Thank you so much!</p>
<p>bump? I should have had a better title. Also, those aren’t the only three schools I’m applying to, I’ve got safeties and matches too, those are just the ones i know are reaches and I was wondering if they’re high, medium, or low reaches. Comparing the three schools to each other. :D</p>
<p>Your GPA seems to be the only weakness in your application. I am not sure how competitive your High School is or the number of applicants that are accepted to top level schools each year so I have nothing to compare the rigor of your course load besides obligatory APs. Your extra-curriculars are diverse and on par with an average Ivy league applicant and your Standardized testing are mid-range as well. Brown will be tougher than Penn but I cannot say for Amherst as I do not know much about Liberal Arts schools. I’d say that Brown is a High reach (for almost everyone because it is almost as selective as HYPSC) Penn is a mid reach because it accepts a far higher percentage of applicants. You have a decent shot at both with good essays.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input! I know my gap is really lacking, but I appreciate the confidence in my ECs, I’ve worried about them. If I retake the SATS and aim for a 2350 +, will that offset my low gpa? As for rigor - if this helps, about 10 out of 60 girls go to ivies each year, especially Penn. Usually 15 go to top twenty. My councilor estimates I’m ranked 6-10 in my year. Despite that, only 2/20 girls have been admitted to Brown in the past two years :[ Essays haven’t been going great either and I’m not sure I’ll stand out to my teachers when they’re writing recs.</p>
<p>How many times have you taken the SAT already and are you confident that you could get it that much higher. The reason a lot of people say that “after 2250 there is really no difference” is only partially true because adcoms know that the difference between those 150 points is usually only a few questions, especially in math. With the competitive nature of your school I would say that you should fine in terms of GPA. I would say that as long as you keep up good scores in school and work on your applications there is really very little at this point to improve upon to that would significantly change your chances of acceptance. Try to gather more information on the successful applicants to Brown and Penn. Good Luck in applying.</p>
<p>I’ve taken the SATs twice but I’m definitely not confident about raising that much so I guess I’ll skip the retake. I’ll focus on my essays for now then. Thank you so much for the advice, seriously, it was really helpful and relieved me a bit.</p>