Hi,
I did ED1 for Vanderbilt and I just wanted to see if anyone could give me my chances of getting in/ some idea of the likely hood.
ACT: 31
GPA: 3.9 W Rank: top 25%
AP USH (4) AP English Lang (4) AP Gov. AP English Lit
EC: job at a restaurant 10-12th grade, camp counselor 9-11th grade, volunteered 100+ hours with an organization, tennis and lacrosse, NHS, spanish NHS, student council, etc.
Background: I go to a pretty competitive private school, I had trouble adjusting freshman year to the rigor. Every year since I’ve made above a 4.0 GPA for the year and honor roll. Taken mostly honors classes because not that many APs were available at my school. I did ED 1, will be doing an interview, and parent was an alumni. I know my ACT is low by VU standards, but wondering if that really matters in the long run for ED1. I am very committed to going it has been my #1 choice for a while and I’ve done a visit and sat in on a class.
Depends on the amount of students that are accepted to VU each year, if you guys have something like naviance, check the stats of kids who got in from your school. Without that info, it’s hard to determine whether you are likely or not. I’m not sure of the weight of legacy, but excluding that. But, in general, it seems like your GPA and ACT are pretty low. Do you have any SAT subject tests?
I am not sure who is giving that kind of advice. IMO I believe that when kids are applying to very selective colleges, any good scores can help. I think they can show strengths. When schools say recommend, I would say they mean yes, take them. I don’t know Vandy’s position, but if I had a kid whose ACT was on lower end, I would recommend sat subject tests if my child could sit for them after taking the class (like sitting for Chem Sat subject test after taking AP Chem, or math level 2 after taking pre-calc).
I think kids are not taking the subject tests as much any more because they are all taking the AP test (btw, both owned by College Board…). How many tests do we really need to take? SAT and APs are plenty!
SAT IIs can be good to demonstrate skills in subjects where (like at my school) most AP classes in core classes aren’t offered until Junior and Senior years. It can also be helpful to have a couple good scores in case a school requires or strongly reccommends them. For top schools where they are entirely optional, I probably only send ones that are 750+ .