Chance me Vanderbilt?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Vanderbilt University
1

Academics:
ACT: 35 Composite; Reading: 35, English: 36, Science 35, Math: 33, Writing: 7
SAT: N/A
SAT Subject Tests: Math II: 780 and US History: 770 (They told us at the PreVU day that these weren’t important)
Class Rank: 5th (as of sophomore year, most likely will have improved)
GPA: Unweighted: 3.86 Weighted: 4.20 (As of the end of Junior year, will improve by the end of senior year)
Course Load: Most rigorous path offered at my high school, I have take 3 APs (will take 4 additional my senior year) of 8 possible APs (Its not possible to take all 8)
APs: US History (5), Art History (5), Physics 1 Algebra Based (4)

Distinctions:
-Honor Roll (All 4 Years) (School Recognition, easy to achieve)
-WBL All Academic Team (Junior Year; received for having a 3.5+ GPA and 2+ Varsity Letters (varsity letters must be athletic, thus does not include things like band or quizbowl)) (Regional Recognition, 6/220 kids in my grade achieved this)
-National Honors Society (Junior and Senior Years; does not actually meet until Senior Year, so possibility for President/Secretary Positions, but that will most likely be after I submit my application) (School Recognition, about 25/220 kids in my grade achieved this)
-National Merit Scholar Commended (Junior Year; I had an index of 218, the cut off last year for Semi-Finalist in OH was 217 so possibility of Semi-Finalist, this will be known in time for application) (National Recognition)
-AP Scholar (Junior Year) (National Recognition)

10 Activities on Common App (In Order):

  1. Summer Research- Currently in progress at Ohio Northern University in the pharmacy department, researching substances which disrupt the cell cycle and how to induce apoptosis in melanoma cells without affecting surrounding healthy cells. I will receive a $300 stipend, as well as an award from ONU.
  2. Supervisor at Summer Camp- For kids ages 5-9, teach self-defense, public/animal/home/gun safety (125 Hours)
  3. Soccer- Varsity Letter sophomore year (JV freshman year)
  4. Science Olympiad- CoCaptain, all 4 years of high school, advanced to state and won various medals at the regional level
  5. Volunteer Club- Secretary, 3 years of high school; fundraise and organize community events
  6. TEAMS- 3 years of high school, unsure of exact results but always 1st or 2nd at regional level
  7. Chess League- 3 years of high school, Supervisor/Coach, volunteer to teach chess to kids first Saturday of every month for 3 hours at a time
  8. Cross-Country- 2 years (CoCaptain Senior Year), team has won districts every year, 2 Varsity Letters
  9. Piano- Took lessons until I was a teen, have been self teaching ever since
  10. Spanish Club- 3 years, most likely will be an Officer my Senior year (Might get replaced by volunteering and shadowing at the hospital, but I’ve only done this for the summer before senior year so I don’t know whether it’s worth adding)

Additional Info:
I live in a rural Ohio town and attend public school with 220 kids in my grade currently (historically the senior class graduates with about 180 kids, the grade above me who just graduated started the year with 244 and ended with 186 I believe… for approx. class size on the Common App I put 220)
Gender: Male
Race: White and Asian (mixed)
As I said, I’ve taken the most rigorous course possible at my school, my senior year will be: AP Calc, AP Chem, AP English, AP Spanish, Anatomy, and US gov
As for GPA, I don’t know of anyone at my school who has ever graduated with a 4.0 unweighted, my class valedictorian is sitting at about 3.93, which is about the usual GPA of the valedictorian
To compensate for my low ACT writing, I’m enrolling in an online class to help improve my writing (that ACT is from the beginning of junior year, and my writing also improved over the course of my junior year)

Other:
Currently thinking of applying SCEA to Princeton (assuming I will get denied but will do it anyways because why not) and then applying ED2 to Vanderbilt.

Vanderbilt was not on my radar at all until I went to the PreVU day this summer, and I really enjoyed my time there (I believe they just won #1 Happiest Students? If that info is false, it certainly seemed true). If theres anything else about Vanderbilt related to getting in or just the school in general I’d love to hear it!

2

Vanderbilt is stats heavy school and unweighted GPA 3.9 or above is expected. Your test scores and ECs are good and GPA is close enough… You have a decent chance.

3

Stats/ECs all look great. Concentrate on getting good recs and writing high quality essays from here on out. It’s impossible to predict exactly how things will be received by the adcoms, but you’re generally around where you should be. You’d have very solid chances at EDI but still a pretty good shot at EDII/RD, so your plan of SCEA then EDII seems like a sound one.

4

Though you never know how things will pan out, I think your odds are good. This looks like a Vanderbilt admit’s profile to me. I don’t see your GPA as a huge downside, and your test scores will look really good to admissions. Odds are good, though never certain. EDI o II I think you’d be a lock.

5

Oh and don’t give ACT writing another thought! Put that energy into essays! Not even Ivies will freak out about ACT writing if the essays are good - they know it’s not a good predictor.

6

They have been known to be test stat heavy, not necessarily GPA. GPA is all about context, rank, etc. Your GPA in context with your “5th” rank is great. I also wouldn’t worry about ACT writing score. There are known issues with writing scoring. Agree with @Senior2016M. Focus on the rest of your application now.