Chances at ______ (you fill in the blank)

<p>Sooo...I need some advice on this whole college search thing. First off, I'm kind of unsure of where to apply to and whether I should waste $50+ on college applications to higher end schools. Secondly, I have absolutely NO ONE to go to right now because we just got a new high school counselor who doesn't no all that much about college, well, in general. OK---now for the stats:</p>

<p>SATs: 1880 (am retaking...and studying lol)
SAT IIs: Will be taking Literature and Math 2
ACT: 31 (am retaking twice more)
AP: AP US History--3</p>

<p>GPA: 4.3
Rank: 2/90
Rigor of schedule: Have taken hardest classes available each year of high school, only senior at my school with all academic classes
ELC: Selected as ELC student for UC system</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>Offices and Activities</p>

<p>Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA):
--California State Secretary-Treasurer (2007-2008)
--Northern Section Treasurer (2007-2008)
--Chapter President (2007-2008)
--Northern Section Secretary (2006-2007)
--Chapter Parliamentarian (2005-2006)
--Active Member (2004-2008)</p>

<p>Associated Student Body (ASB):
--Senior Class Vice President (2007-2008)
--Junior Class Vice President (2006-2007)
--Prom Committee Co-Chair (2006-2007)
--Sophomore Class ASB Representative (2005-2006)
--Freshman Class Vice President (2004-2005)</p>

<p>California Scholarship Federation (CSF)
--President (2007-2008)
--Active Member (2004-2008)</p>

<p>Environmental Sciences Academy (ESA)
--Senior Leader (Top 10 ESA Seniors) (2007-2008)
--Active ESA Student (2005-2008)</p>

<p>Trinity United Methodist Church Youth Group
--Active Member (2004-2008)</p>

<p>Volleyball
--Varsity Team Member (2006. 2007)
--Junior Varsity Team Member (2004, 2005)</p>

<p>Basketball
--Varsity Team Member (2006-2007, 2007-2008)
--Junior Varsity Team Member (2004-2005, 2005-2006)</p>

<p>Softball
--Varsity Team Member (2005, 2007, 2008)
--Junior Varsity Team Member (2006)</p>

<p>Community Service
--Colusa Annual Cancer Walk Volunteer (2007)
--"Coat for a Cup" Coat Drive Chair (2007)
--Established a recycling program for all Colusa High School athletic events (2007)
--Developed and presented a science unit on adaptations to a 3rd grade class at Burchfield Primary School (2007)
--March of Dimes Active Fundraising Participant (2004-2007)
--Colusa High School Campus Beautification Project Participant and Chair (2004-2007)
--Served at Annual Colusa Rotary Dinner (2006, 2007)
--Prepared and presented weekly "Storytime" activities at Burchfield Primary School (2005-2006)
--Served at Annual Colusa Rural Firefighter's Dinner (2005, 2006)
--Served at Our Lady of Lourdes Pheasant Dinner/Festival (2004, 2005)</p>

<p>Awards and Achievements</p>

<p>Academic Achievements
--Principal's Scholar (for earning straight A's) (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007)
--Merit Scholar (for earning all A's and B's) (2007)
--Super Seven Honoree (top seven students in junior and senior classes) (2007, 2008)
--Girl's State Nominee and selected First Alternate (2007)</p>

<p>Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA)
--2nd Place in Public Speaking II at Section Conference (2007)
--3rd Place in Future Business Leader at Section Conference (2007)
--Who's Who in FBLA Recognition (2007)
--Member of the Month-Summer Months (2007)
--Earned Business Degree Award (2007)
--Champion of California Recognition (2006-2007)
--9th Place in Public Speaking I at State Conference (2006)
--1st Place in Public Speaking I at Section Conference (2006)
--3rd Place in Accounting I at Section Conference (2006)
--Member of the Month-Summer Months (2006)
--Earned Future Degree Award (2006)
--6th Place in Public Speaking I at State Conference (2005)
--1st Place in Public Speaking I at Section Conference (2005)</p>

<p>Environmental Sciences Academy (ESA)
--Best Pre-Calculus Student (2007)
--The Perfect Student Award (2007)
--Academy Student of the Month-November (2006)</p>

<p>Volleyball
--Varsity Letter (2006)
--Coach's Award (2004)</p>

<p>Basketball
--Varsity Letter (2007)
--Coach's Award (2006)
--Top Freshman Student Athlete Award (2005)</p>

<p>Softball
--Coach's Award (2006)
--Coach's Award (2005)
--Varsity Letter (2005)</p>

<p>Work Experience</p>

<p>Colusa Public Pool Lifeguard (Summers of 2005, 2006, 2007)
--Certified in First Aid, CPR, and Lifesaving Procedures
--Supervise children and adults in pool area
--Enforce pool rules
--Work as a team with fellow lifeguards</p>

<p>Public Pool Swimming Lesson Instructor (Summers of 2006, 2007)
--Completed Water Safety Instructor certification
--Teach kids age 3-10 water safety skills
--Design lesson plans for two hour sessions</p>

<p>Conferences and Travel Experience</p>

<p>Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA)
--National Leadership Conference in Chicago, Illinois (2007)
--National Institute for Leaders (2007)
--California Leadership Training Summit (2006, 2007)
--Officer and Adviser Training Seminar (2005, 2006, 2007)
--Northern Section Leadership Conference (2005, 2006, 2007)
--State Leadership Conference (2005, 2006, 2007)
--Leadership Development Institute (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007)
*Presented "FBLA 101" Workshop (2006)
*Presented "Leadership Styles 101" Workshop (2007)</p>

<p>Young Life
--Summer High School Camp (2005)</p>

<p>Travel Experience
--Traveled through Europe by train for three weeks with two other high school students (2007)
--Traveled to England and France for a week with grandmother (2005)
--Traveled to England for a week with grandmother (2004)
--Traveled to Washington DC for a week with family (2004)</p>

<p>Other</p>

<p>Pianist (1999-present)</p>

<p>Flutist (2002-present)</p>

<p>Saxophonist (2002-present)</p>

<p>Alright...so there is room for improvement on the academic side (even though I've got the highest SAT and ACT scores in my school). Like I said earlier, PLEASE help me out with school ideas. If you aren't too creative, my top choices would be USC, UC Berkeley, UCLA, or Stanford (why not? lol) so you can just go off on one of those. Thanks guys!!!</p>

<p>UCLA is a possibility but still a reach. The rest are really out of your range. You have good grades and extracurriculars which show you are highly motivated but your SATs are low (even if they are the best in your class, mine are the second best in my class but still not good enough to get me into most Ivies).</p>

<p>your ACT scores are good.</p>

<p>You need to go through activities and achievements again, and only leave the things that you spent the most time on. Sorry to come off as being rude, but who the hell cares about your travel experience? If you list a bunch of minor little things that you did every minute of your 4 years in high school, you will just seem like a list-padder and nothing else.</p>

<p>With that being said, I think if you can get your SAT score up to 2100-ish or if you can raise your ACT by a couple of points, you would have a decent shot at most good schools. I say right now, Berkeley and Stanford are reaches…but if you can get your test scores up, you might have a chance.</p>

<p>I say shoot for any Ivy Leagues :)</p>

<p>Yeah, travel experience IS a little extreme lol…but USC asked for it on their application so I decided to include it. Actually, this is pretty much most of my application for USC. Each header under extracurriculars is a section of the application’s activities section.</p>

<p>And yes…I do need to raise my SATs. However, I feel disadvantaged compared to other seniors because my high school has pretty low level classes and not so great teachers. We have a grand total of three AP classes and hardly anyone ever passes the actual AP test. Most people in my school have SAT scores around 1500 so if I’m compared to other students from my school (as I know UC Berkeley does when reviewing applications) it won’t hurt me that bad.</p>

<p>Wow…I just read over my original post and realized I have some major spelling errors…shows what happens when you do stuff late at night when you’re half asleep I guess :)</p>