Chance (sorta) a Junior from PR?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Vassar College
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<p>Hey guys, I'm a junior from Puerto Rico that is currently interested in applying to Vassar. Here are some of my basic stats:</p>

<p>GPA: unweighted around 3.7/3.8, weighted prob at around 4.3/4.2</p>

<p>Class Rank: not offered to Juniors, but it's a very small and competitive class so could be anywhere from top 25% to top 10%.</p>

<p>Freshman year, A/A- average:
World History 1
English 9th (all classes except Spanish are taught in English, so this is the equivalent to a US high school English class)
Honors Geometry
Physics
Spanish 9th (Spanish equivalent to an English lit class)
Health
French II</p>

<p>Sophomore year, A/A+ average:
World History II (straight A+ in this class, outstanding achievement)
Chemistry (outstanding achievement award)*
Honors Algebra II
English 10th
Spanish 10th*
French III (outstanding effort)
AP Psychology (5, outstanding achievement)
<em>For some reason my school doesn't offer AP Euro to sophomores even though we cover a condensed version and it's not being offered anytime in the near future.Sigh. I really would have enjoyed that class...</em></p>

<p>Junior year, A-/A average:
Biology (my class can't take the AP, ever, long story)
Spanish 11th (AP lit can't be taken until 12th)
English 11th (AP lit can't be taken until 12th either)
AP French language (A-)
AP US (B+/A-)
AP Human Geo (A+)
Honors Pre-Calculus</p>

<p>Senior year course load (if schedule permits):
AP Chemistry
AP English lit
AP Calculus
AP Spanish lit (still considering, won't take it if it's a summary of previous years)
PR History</p>

<p>Since Chem and Calculus are double blocks I can only take one elective. There are a few courses that interest me, namely Musical Appreciation and AP Economics (Micro + Macro), but I'm considering having a free block just to dedicate it to college applications. Would this be wise? Are college apps really that time consuming?</p>

<p>Standardized Tests
PSAT - 10th, scored at 88th percentile compared to Juniors. Still waiting for this year's scores.
SAT - Taking it in March
SAT II's - Physics (620, fail), Chemistry (630, another fail), World History (750, yay?), Spanish (800, lols I finished in 15 min., don't really expect any college to take this seriously). In May I'm taking Math Level 1 (Though I'm in Honors Pre-cal, should I go for level II?) and English Lit. In June I'm taking Bio Molecular and US History.*
**
EC's:
Model UN club - since 8th grade, third year going to NAIMUN and will prob be VP next year
Youth in Action (community service club) - since 9th, VP in 10th, Pres this year and prob the next
Film Club - since 9th, VP this year and prob Pres next year
Environmental Awareness*
Project H2O - water crisis awareness club, prob will be spokesperson next year
Oratoria (Forensics in Spanish) - 10th</p>

<p>High School Summers
2009 - CAA at Easton, Pennsylvania. Took Legal History of the US.
2010 - The Oxford Tradition, International Business as major with Literature and Psychology as minor. Also went to the Galapagos on an ecological project w/ a school group.
2011 - Will prob take a course on Human Rights in CTY, Princeton. Might travel with a school group through South America or partake in a National Geographic trip through India.*</p>

<p>In reality this is more of a "Am I on the right track?" post, given that I'm missing a lot of important info. Any advice on what to do to be a more competitive candidate and what similar schools to apply to would be very welcome. *</p>

<p>*</p>

<hr>

<p>*</p>

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<p>Like you said, you are missing a lot of important info so, assuming that everything missing (i.e. SAT I scores, complete cumulative GPA…etc) is within Vassar’s range, I think you have a good shot. As I said on another chance thread I commented on, I’m just an ED II applicant and have yet to find out firsthand exactly what it takes to make it in so please take everything I say with a (admittedly huge) grain of salt. </p>

<p>I don’t <em>believe</em> Vassar looks at freshman grades, but I could be entirely wrong about that. Your GPA looks good, regardless, but I think Vassar re-weights everything. As long as you’re taking the most challenging courses available, you shouldn’t worry about that. </p>

<p>That brings me to your possible plans to choose a free over an AP class. I’m an IB student so I don’t know anything about APs, but that, to me, does NOT sound like a great idea. Particularly in 11th and 12th grade, colleges look to make sure you’re working as hard as you can and are ABLE to maintain great grades, excellent extracurricular participation, and withstand everything else being a high school student throws your way. If I were a college admissions officer, I would choose the kid that chose 6 classes, was active in their clubs, AND managed to submit a strong application essay OVER the kid that chose 5 classes, was active, and produced an equally good application essay (or perhaps slightly better). Ultimately, colleges want to see if you can HANDLE their workload and still be an active member in their community. You need to show them that you can in every way possible - PARTICULARLY through your transcript (you ARE applying to an academic institution, after all :))</p>

<p>Like I said, though, I think you are on the right track to becoming a competitive applicant but, especially if you plan to apply RD, there needs to be something that makes you “stand out.” I would suggest taking on some serious leadership roles, particularly in clubs you’ve been a member of for some time. Nominate yourself for Secretary General of MUN, do everything you can to be president of the film club and Youth in Action next year. I would take the NatGeo trip if I were you :slight_smile: but the South American thing sounds cool too. Given your location, I would maybe think of doing some community service (even launch some kind of program) so that you’re a demonstrably active member of your society who’s willing to bring about positive change. Not a bad quality in an applicant or overall human being for that matter :wink: </p>

<p>Anyway, this post has been eternal so I’ll just end it with a list of the colleges I applied to that would possibly be of interest to you: Vassar (woo!), Bowdoin, Haverford, Wellesley, Mount Holyoke, Colby, Oberlin, Bard, and Bennington. </p>

<p>P.S. Don’t worry too much about college apps, they’re not THAT bad (plus you have the summer to get a head-start on your common app essay [which you can make your teachers proofread when you get back to school :)])</p>

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<p>Thank you very much for taking the time to write such a complete response, your advice and honesty are very appreciated :). BTW I’m fairly sure I’ll take the NatGeo trip.</p>