Chance me!!!

Student Lounge African-American Students
1

<p>Hello everyone! I am a junior right now. My reach schools are Princeton (which I plan to apply to early action), UPenn (My parents are both alum, but they don't contribute much money.), Harvard, and Swarthmore</p>

<p>General Info:
Race: African American
Gender: Female
Income: Middle Class
Type of School: Small Christian School
Region: a suburb outside of Philly</p>

<p>Testing:
SAT: do not plan on taking
ACT: 33 composite
Eng-33
Math-32
Read-31
Sci-34
Writing- 8/12 (yuck, but I know I am a good writer and can prove it in essays)
SAT II: haven't taken yet
School:
GPA: 4.0 unweighted, 4.27 weighted
Class Rank: My school doesn't rank, but I'm pretty high up there.</p>

<p>I have taken the most rigorous curriculum possible at my school.
Freshman- I took all honors courses possible
Sophomore- all honors courses plus AP Psych (5)
Junior- all honors courses plus AP US Gov, and AP Calculus AB
Senior- plan to take all honors courses plus AP Spanish IV, Calculus BC (at a local community college), AP World History, AP English Lang and Comp</p>

<p>My school also offers AP Bio, AP Macro econ, and AP Stats, but I don't know if I can have room to take them because I take Latin on the side and BC Calc at community college.</p>

<p>Latin- dual enrollment outside of my regular classes at an online school. Latin II this year (I haven't been able to advance as fast because I had to start from the beginning in Latin I again once I went to high school, long story, and I haven't been able to generally work on it as fast since I have a full course load in school). I plan to take National Latin Exam this year, and from practice exams, I think I will score high. I have gotten all As in Latin as well as all of my other courses.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>Music: Classically trained in piano (10 years) and oboe (4 years). I am very advanced in both instruments</p>

<p>I am a member of my school's band (oboe), jazz band (piano), and I founded a woodwind quintet (We play in concerts at the school and plan to play a couple charity concerts for retirement homes this year.) I play in an orchestra (oboe) outside of school.</p>

<p>For oboe I have had some professional experience. I have played in the pit for the Music Man. This was with professional musicians I was the only student. I had some work experience accompanying a choir (The music was not a walk in the park) and teaching at a summer chamber music camp. </p>

<p>For piano, I have played in multiple master classes. I scored in the top category for the national piano guild two years in a row.</p>

<p>Other than those things, I play at a bunch of random school events and concerts.</p>

<p>Student Government:</p>

<p>School Senate- elected all my high school years. I have been elected secretary for two years and hope to be president next year.</p>

<p>Spiritual Life Committee- I planned my school's Meet You at the Pillars event. I also planned Random Acts of Kindness (which is basically a school wide Secret Santa...so glad that's over...). I also am in the process of planning worship nights on campus as my next event. Even though there is no official president for this group. Once the senior member left last year, I have basically been leading just about everything.</p>

<p>I am also a member of National Honors Society, but I am not very active.</p>

<p>Service:</p>

<p>I volunteer in my church's nursery once a month. I put on a piano concert for a nursing home. </p>

<p>Overall Thoughts and Concerns
-My ACT writing score
-I know I am really talented at both my instruments, but I don't have much in the way of major competitions to prove it. I am going to send in an official arts supplement of me playing my instruments to Princeton. I will also send in tapes to the other schools.
-Is it a problem if I don't take AP econ and AP bio if I take Latin? If for some reason I can't take Latin next year. I can add on AP econ, but my schedule will be too full if I add AP bio. My school has a bunch of elective courses that everyone must take. It makes it hard to fit AP courses into the schedule.</p>

<p>I may have forgotten some little things, but my two major extracurricular activities are there. Please Chance Me :)</p>

2

<p>GPA, ACT, and course rigor are solid. EC’s seem pretty average, nothing too spectacular. All in all, if your essays/LORs are good, I think you have a nice chance. Good luck!!</p>

3

<p>Thank you :)</p>

4

<p>You look real solid so far. It will help alot if you score well on AP and SAT 2 tests. Any reason why you don’t try SAT 1 ??</p>

5

<p>Thanks. I took a practice test for SAT and ACT. I did better on the ACT one, so I prepped for the ACT. I’m happy with my 33, so I’m not going to bother with SAT 1</p>

6

<p>Your scores for Princeton and Harvard are below the 50% but with 5’s on AP’s and 2 very good SAT2 test scores you’ll be in the mix.I think you’re in UPenn( depending on the program) and Swarthmore. Good luck!!!</p>

7

<p>Thanks again for the input.</p>

8

<p>According to US News, the average ACT score for class of 2015 at Princeton was 33. There are less than 200 African American students with ACT scores of 33 and up for the entire US class of 2016
<a href=“http://www.act.org/newsroom/data/2012/pdf/profile/AfricanAmerican.pdf[/url]”>http://www.act.org/newsroom/data/2012/pdf/profile/AfricanAmerican.pdf&lt;/a&gt; See page 14</p>

<p>You will be a competitive applicant, but of course there are no guarantees at the top schools. Will you be aNational merit or Achievement semifinalist? If so, you will need to take the SAT to advance to scholar. Since you’re only a junior, why not try the ACT once more? You might improve</p>