Thank you all for the feedback! This helped me narrow down some schools in the T-50 - T-70 Range. I’ve wanted to ask since my class rank has recently gone up and now I’m 6th in my class, will that help me in college admissions or is there a threshold where if you’re in the top 10 then you pass the class rank check? I’m expected to possibly be the salutatorian after my first semester of senior year if I do get a 4.0 (me being the only student taking dual-enrollment courses is really helping a ton) and I was wondering what type of effect that’ll bring and if admissions officers will think my school deflates grades or will they just think my schedule is highly rigorous?
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If your schedule is rigorous, they’ll take note. They also look at rigor vs. what your school offers - so if you’re not rigorous but your school doesn’t allow it, that won’t kill you.
In the last two years at our local HS, we’ve had two - non- valedictorian or salutorian attend Princeton and Chicago - neither with any known hooks. There is a baseball player this year going to Penn for baseball - he was not in the top listed students in the graduation guide (4.25+) - so he’s less than that.
If you have your list or reach, target and safety - so you are into that top 70, you’re gonna be fine.
For sure. To be honest, I’m trying to really get my class rank up so my grades could be overlooked a little bit; but I’m not sure how that’ll go so I’ll just wait until I get results back in the spring. I think I could really nail more extracurriculars, and if I could get my ACT to a 36 along with interacting more with my teachers who will write my letters of rec then I hope to possibly gain admittance to Duke (Princeton is the school I would like to go to, but the likelihood of that happening is low with my GPA). Thank you for replying!
You need to stop, take a break.
Do the best you can in school - you can’t just wish an A. Do your best. If you get the grades you want, that’s great. If you don’t, life goes on. Your rank will take care of itself - and probably won’t make a difference if you are 8 from 5. Nor will your ACT make a difference 35 to 36.
Many schools/most if you’re applying EA - and you should - they won’t see your Fall grades - so you have what you have.
If you get into Duke or Princeton - and there are 4.0s with 36 and #1 ranked that don’t - but if you get in, great. If you don’t, it’s why you have target schools and safety schools.
Focus on putting forth the best you - and you’ll end up in the right place. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself.
I got news for you - many of those Dukies will end up working for people from name your state U. So relax, don’t put more pressure on yourself than the process will, and be a kid.
Good luck.
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This. Your desire to get into the “reach” schools you mentioned can become an unhealthy obsession. Step back from it, and enjoy the summer not worrying about whether you can get into a prestigious school.
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You don’t need to get a 36 on the ACT, but do interact more with your teachers, especially the ones writing the recommendation.
“It’s obvious from your writing that you are very bright. But (please don’t take offense), I also see issues with your writing.”
This is a hs kid dealing with ADHD and you’re criticizing his writing a style - unduly harsh frankly which many of your posts are. This one of the reasons more kids don’t show up on c/c, they know they get this kind of judgement and not much encouragement.
Anyway OP, a 35, #8 rank, black male is gold for most universities and pretty much all the ones you’re applying to. I recall a thread started a by black poster about his son on what test score was sufficient for an African American male, and it was a 34, there are not a whole lot, relatively speaking, AA males with 35/1500, so I wouldn’t retake the ACT unless you’re aiming for a scholarship (those could be test optional. The data from the Harvard lawsuit show a much higher accept rate for African Americans in the top 1 or 2 academic deciles, where you’re probably at. This doesn’t mean you’ll get in everywhere of course, but your chances are not the same as a typical applicant (5-10% at most of these colleges).
Even with all that, seven reaches may be a lot. Of the 7, looks like two are in rural locations, Cornell, Dartmouth, that may be a way to reduce the list if you want more of a city environment. Focus on your grades and essays and the suggestions around relaxing a little if you can!
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With your impressive extracurriculars and your rank, your GPA is likely to be easily forgiven. You will certainly be a qualified applicant for reach schools, and you should apply to one early to increase your chances, since you can reject an offer of admission even early for financial reasons.
However, you reaches are fairly different from each other, which makes me wonder what your major considerations were for your list?
What you need to do is outline all the most important factors for you in a school, then pick the reaches that have those factors. Include not just academic factors but extracurricular options, and social life as well. You will have to live there for 4 years after all. Not to mention that when you apply to these reach schools they will ask for specific reasons why you want to go there
As a Dartmouth student, I can inform you more about my school to help you here.
Dartmouth is especially unique here, being an undergrad focused research university. By virtue of that status, every class (except for one section of intro calculus) is taught by professors not TAs and most classes are small. Most research positions are mainly open for undergrads as well. As a first term sophomore, I got a pretty prestigious research job and several people I know started as freshmen. All of these would be at least less common, if not rare (in the case of freshmen and sophomores getting to do research) at other research universities.
In addition, while the expected work quality is as high as it would be at any elite school, we have a very collaborative rather than competitive stressful atmosphere. This is very different from Columbia, for examples which would be the polar opposite of Dartmouth pretty much, being a giant research university in a city, where postgrads heavily outnumber undergrads.
A downside would be that it does not feel like a giant university, which I know some people prefer. Another is that, while we are in arm’s reach of Boston and NYC with multiple daily buses there, we are not in a city. I would mention here though that, with the exception of NYU, students I know at variety of so called city schools don’t actually spend much time in the city, simply because there is so much going on on campus. Dartmouth is no exception. There is so much going on at any given time that sometimes I feel overwhelmed because I want to do so many things and literally can’t pick.
Please start thinking about these things when considering your list. It will help you make a set of reaches that you are actually a good fit for.
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Thank you all for the comments! I didn’t take offense to any of them as I’m grateful everyone on this thread is telling the truth. I’m taking community college courses during the summer, increasing my GPA to a 3.75 and my class rank to being ranked 3rd in my class, now having some really interesting internships that will allow me to get some research published, jumpstarted my company to brand new heights, and created a device that are being looked at by giants like Apple! I’ve also narrowed down my school list to Duke, Harvard, Stanford, UCLA, UC Berkeley, and Dartmouth (these are my reaches; safeties and matches are already accounted for). These schools are schools I’m particularly interested in, and I’m well aware that my chances are slim due to my academics; but I hope to try anyway. Nowhere on my application will it state anything to do about me having ADHD (don’t want AOs to have another reason to reject me); and my essays will display my passion of poetry (by being poetic) in relation to neuroscience. Thank you everyone for giving me your best effort and love when writing these posts!
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It’s great you have a plan - please ensure your matches and safeties are truly at that level. Many people misread that.
And ensure that you’d be excited to attend the safeties if it did come to that.
Congrats to you.
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I love your plan. I also love that you are obsessed with preparing for this application season. You NEED to be obsessed. You need to eat, sleep and breath this obsession. No one is going to be a bigger help in ensuring you get to your right university more than you. I remember my S20’s process and at the time, both he and I could be described as obsessed. You need that obsession to do all the things you’ve done, up to and including initiating this thread, asking questions, considering the responses, and refining your list and process.
Too many students/families just wing it, blindly choose a few schools, and apply. Your high level of research and planning will help you tremendously.
Thanks for the update, and keep up the good work!
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Awesome that you’re planning all this out! Just wondering whether you can reach out to the regional reps for Duke and other reaches and get on their radar ? I dont have any experience doing this but I have seen it suggested. Your ACT score is very good and you’re doing a lot of interesting stuff.
Do you have help from someone reading your essays ? Sorry if I missed it if you already mentioned it.
Best wishes on your apps! I think you will do great!!
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