OOS, white male
34 ACT superscore
4.5 weighted, 3.67 unweighted GPA
around top 20% of class (keep in mind I go to the best academic school in my state, very competitive)
- captain of varsity dive team, have won multiple state championships along with swim team
- started cancer charity club that has raised around 2000 dollars and volunteered for various cancer hospital events
- captain of XC team
- head coach for a dive team
- senior leader (pretty much the president) of ambassadors club at school
- lifeguarding
- National Honor Society
- Beta Club
Essays: worked pretty hard on them, thought that they were pretty unique and they represented my personality/interests but idk
recommendations: waived my right to read them, not sure how good they are but I chose someone who knows me very well
any feedback would be much appreciated, thanks!
What’s the intended course of study? Usually can tell from the post, but not here… that could be a bit of a red flag. Apart from the state championships (which are a plus if you played a major role and may want to swim or dive at UVA), the rest of the EC’s seem kind of scattered. Scattered EC’s are a very bad thing… it makes the admissions counselors think that you just joined all these clubs to get a boost for your college apps and got nothing out of them. The ACT is a plus (wait, just saw it was superscored, what is composite)… and the weighted GPA tells me that you took the toughest courses offered… but that unweighted GPA isn’t wonderful, even considering the best high school in the state bit of info. But where it stands, I’d still give you an okay chance of getting accepted. I think it’s a low reach.
@tigerrocks13 I wrote my common app essay about why I started my cancer club, which was a very personal/touching essay, so they will know that I didn’t just start that club for college applications. I forgot to mention that. Also, there is a common theme of diving in my EC’s (varsity team, coaching). The service clubs (NHS, Beta) at my school are the norm for the kids trying to get into good schools. Btw I’m applying as a computer science major in the CAS. Also, UVa superscores, but my composite was a 33. Thank you for chancing me
That’s definitely a good essay topic that will get some bonus points if you executed well. The diving is a tough “theme” per se… unless that’s what you want to do after college. I don’t mean as much of a theme as a passion… computer science I guess? But none of your EC’s are computer science-related… that might be tough to sell, especially for such a tough program at such a tough school. And you may want to check your information. UVA superscores the SAT, but not the ACT. I’ve got the information sheet they gave during the tour right next to me haha.
Straight from the info sheet… “Results from the SAT or ACT with writing using the highest score on each part of the SAT and the highest composite score on the ACT.”
@tigerrocks13 I don’t think it’s vital to have your EC’s relate to your major. Most 17-18 year olds do not know exactly what they want to major in/do in life. I like computer science and did very well in my programming/CTE classes I took, but my interests could totally change once I’m actually in college. Bottom line is: I did things I liked and were interesting to me in high school, not things that were made to impress college admissions officers. I don’t have a specific passion, but I love helping people, which I did in most of my EC’s.
And I checked my information, this is straight off of UVa’s admissions website: “For the ACT, we look at the best composite score and the best subscores, regardless of whether those subscores are from the administration where the best composite was earned.”
In all honesty, I’ve heard both. Some on this site say UVA superscores, others say they don’t. However, the sheet that I have from an April tour entitled “Information for First-Year Applicants: The Facts” is pretty matter-of-fact with its statements… it gives the facts and nothing more. And I’m not sure why it would say "each part of the SAT’ and “composite score on the ACT” if you could superscore both. We also asked someone while on campus… I forget if it was a student or what… but they said they did not superscore. Again, could be wrong. Who knows. It could just be a failure to update one of the two with current information. If you ever get confirmation on that, let me know. Now on to the first part of your comment… it is pretty vital. Every admissions counselor I’ve talked to said the same thing for the key to admissions, scholarships, etc. A passion should show itself in the EC’s. I can see that you love helping people. That’s good and an admirable passion. However, Beta Club and Ambassadors Club are things that many applicants have on their applications. It’s things like the Cancer Club that are key. The passion doesn’t have to be the major… I never said that. But when I read your application it doesn’t scream anything at me, that’s all that I’m saying. I do commend you for the Cancer Club and I assume the essay is from the heart and communicates your passion.
Well I did research from past CC forums and found a link to a Dean’s letter where he said, “First of all, most colleges in this country have been looking at your best combination of SAT scores for many years. When Score Choice was introduced, it was advocating a more restricted version of what we already do. At UVa, our practices remain the same. Our system is programed to pull the best verbal, best math, and best writing scores of those on file. Readers don’t see anything else. For the ACT, we see the best composite score and the subscores related to that best composite score (we do not recombine ACT subscores to come up with a new composite).” But it was from a couple years ago. Maybe they’ve changed their policy.
update
Found a newer article by the same Dean, and I believe they have indeed changed their policy to “superscore both.” Although it isn’t a conventional superscore, as they just view them as separate section scores… but basically a superscore.