<p>I go to a very difficult private school in the Mid-Atlantic region.
I'm applying to: Brown, Columbia, Vassar, Wesleyan, Swarthmore, Wash U, Tufts and Barnard.</p>
<p>Here are my credentials:
V: 770 M: 710
Writing: 770
Biology: 700
French: 680</p>
<p>As for AP's, my school is a little backwards and doesn't really offer them until senior year. I took the English Lit AP last year without having taken the class and got a 4. (I'm going to take it again this spring in hopes of a 5)
This year I'm taking AP Stat, AP Biology and AP French.</p>
<p>My GPA on a 100 point scale is approximately a 93 (which is no small feat considering the level of difficulty at my school. I'm at least in the top 20% out of 75 or so)</p>
<p>My ECs are:
Many leads in school plays since 9th grade
Directing this year's spring play
editor for the school newspaper
president of our improv troupe
founder and president of our democrats club
active member of MUN (you need to apply to get in)
accomplished equestrian
volunteer at a school for children with mental and behavioral disabilities
debate team captain</p>
<p>I must say, that sounds pretty impressive. I live about 20 minutes away from Vassar and I know its a tough school to get into but you may have a shot with your credentials. Brown only takes a few kids from each school so your chances there depend on how many people in your class are applying there. Columbia is just hard so I don't know what to tell you for that one. I hope this helps you somewhat. Best of luck with everything!</p>
<p>I would think tufts and vassar you have a solid chance, maybe like 55-60%. The Ivies would be more dificult, but hey its worth trying. I've got almost identical SAT I's and II's and i'm looking at Brown.</p>
<p>I need to ask you guys a question. If IoSon didnt have 6 of those ECs and only had 4, would he still be eligible for those schools he's applying to?</p>
<p>I'm asking this question because i have similar stats, but only have about 4 ECs, wondering if it will lower my chances.</p>
<p>yeah, I'm doing Columbia early and I'm so nervous.
I mean, the legacy thing helps, but damn. That school is ridiculous. It accepts about two people and they both have to be super geniuses.</p>
<p>you're definitely a good contender, but your class rank seems a little low. I'm not sure if that means you're just a good test taker or if you're school is really ridiculously challenging which seems very well possible. From what you've written your ec's seem lacking, but it seems like there's more detail than what you put down and that's why they look small. You're only problem is that you don't really stand out all that much. You don't have any interesting hooks. If you have one make sure you play at up so they see. Good luck!</p>
<p>Well, my class rank is kind of arbitrary considering there's 75 kids in my grade, so being in the top 10% would be to be one of 7, plus, we're a selected group. These are not generally dumb girls.
In terms of EC, I've just been really committed to theater, to such an extent that I devote probably at least 10 hours a week to it, and that is not during peak play seasons, so that's kind of my thing. I have little time for much else. I really don't sleep that much anymore.
Anyway, thanks for the positive reinforcement, I just felt the need to clear things up a little.</p>
<p>I'm trying to play up languages as one of my hooks. I've taken all 5years of german, i'm the only person in our school's history to finish german V as a junior. Three year member of german national honor society, and president my senior year (I'm the only senior in it though so that was sort of a gimmie.) Traveled in germany. I also spent an hour every wednesday for almost a full year talking to a resident at anursing home who spoke no english, only german. I was with him up until his death so that was a good essay topic. My german teacher also wrote a recommendation. I'm desperately interested in studying in Berlin. Probably will minor in German. Took three years of latin with two silver medals on the national latin exam. Started our school's russian club and have been a member for 3 years. I teach myself spanish and italian. So this post has been a run-on (mostly to boost my self-confidence). But I would consider this a good hook. It shows i'm actively involved and genuinely interested in and love foreign languages. I incorporated this into my essays and interviews (my harvard interviewer was a german major with a lot of latin background and so i was able to talk with hiim about a lot of my favorite works in both languages so he really liked me, yeah i lucked out!) So that's my hook. Most ivies get like 75% of students who are academically qualified so once they know you're academically qualified they forget about a lot of that, so basically if you have a 1450 that's good enough for anybody and a 1550 really isn't going to give you much if any advantage over the 1450. A harvard admissions officer told me that they accept almost 2000 kids, but their top 4,000 are all equally qualified, so it just comes down to who sticks out and who they remember, an interesting hook should do that for you.</p>
<p>Yeah, I've been told to have a hook all throughout this process.
It's tough sometimes though because no, I haven't cured cancer, I'm not the president of Burma, nor have I started a national charity organization, and sometimes it really feels like thats what matters, it's all about the gimmick.
Since when did going to college become about showmanship?
Meh. I don't like this process.</p>
<p>I love that concept.
Then maybe we'd be chosen by actually significant things.
Granted, given the state of college acceptances today, you could probably pay off the sorting hat, or threaten to have your family stop giving it money if it doesn't put you where you want...</p>