<p>I posted this a while back, but my college list has changed, so I'm looking for some new feedback.</p>
<p>I am valedictorian of a class of 500, with a 4.0 UW GPA, 5.3 weighted at a public high school in South Carolina (top 300 on Newsweek). Here are my scores:</p>
<p>Math II- 770
U.S. History- 760
Spanish- 610</p>
<p>ACT- 34</p>
<p>At least National Merit Commended (will find out in Sept.)</p>
<p>APs:</p>
<p>Six 5s, two 4s
Four APs in progress, senior year</p>
<p>ECs:
- marching band, 4 years (drum major 2 years)
-Carolina Youth symphony, 5 years
- All-State band, 3 or 4 years
-have played trombone for 9 years
- National Honor Society, 2 years
- Jazz band
- 3 jobs</p>
<p>** Marching band takes up a LOT of time for half the year, so that's why I don't have as many ECs as some people. Btw, I'm looking at pre-law, majoring in either Political science, psychology, or Spanish. What are my chances of getting into these schools, and getting any sort of merit scholarships?</p>
<p>NYU
Duke
Furman
Johns Hopkins
UChicago
USC (Cali)
UNC-Chapel Hill</p>
<p>Yeah, I have an essay written for the common, but I think it's much too dry for Chicago. I wrote another one that's more creative, so I hope it's sufficient.</p>
<p>In at Furman, definitely.
I would submit your ACT score instead of SATs. Based on that, I'd say you have awesome chances at everywhere except maybe Duke (just because they are so competitive) and UNC (because I heard it was very difficult to get in from out of state--I could be wrong, though).
BTW, what school do you go to? I'm at Travelers Rest (just outside of Greenville). Yeah, not the best school in the world.</p>
<p>I'm not so sure about JHU - you have great numbers but it's all about fit for them, just like Duke. You definitely fall in the middle 50% of the numbers but keep in mind Duke and JHU turn down more than 1/2 of the vals that apply (!). </p>
<p>Do you have a specific program of interest?</p>
<p>as said before, the essays at chicago are quite important (i swear mine made up for my lacking SATs). honestly though, as you long as your essay isn't dry and/or cliche i think you've got a great chance with such a good academic record. chicago's merit scholarships are really competetive though. i'd say your chances are only fair at that. but chicago usually gives decent financial aid if you can't afford it.
as for the other schools, i'm from NC so i'd say you're most likely in at UNC and duke's always a guessing game, but you have a legimate shot. i applied to NYU and got in with a little bit of merit aid and my test scores weren't as good as yours.</p>
<p>Chicago seems to be looking for musicians. They are going to be building a new arts center and arts are on the rise there. So, if you would like to continue playing in an orchestra, etc. as an extracurricular activity at Chicago, stress your interest and passion in music and it should help you</p>