<p>You know, I don’t like to get people’s hopes up and I try to be very careful not to do so, but I genuinely think a couples reaches like Duke and G’Town wouldn’t be a bad idea. I know personally of three people who got into ivies with SAT scores under 2000.</p>
<p>While it would certainly be a reach, adcoms consider applications holistically (although I’m not sure about G’Town, suspicious that they don’t use commonapp…) and allow certain components of an application to make up for weaker parts. It seems, based on the OP’s description, that his NJROTC involvement could be an enormous asset on his application, notably in his LORs.</p>
<p>“As for ROTC its pretty much my life everything I do revolves around my unit I have been to countless leadership camps through my unit. I am on every single team within the unit and I am a starter in all of them. I have already sent in my applications for ROTC scholarships so its very important to me. As for the recommendation letters my unit commander typed one out for me and it highlighted my commitment to excellence in everything I do, my tireless initiative, and most importantly my honor. And he gave out a bulleted list of my strengths to all my teachers that are writing recommendation letters for me so they have a good basis.”</p>
<p>How many people can say that? Not only that, but his SAT scores aren’t BAD, they’re just not spectacular, and his GPA certainly demonstrates his capability to excel academically while engaging in what appears to be, for him, a rigorous and highly time consuming extra curricular activity in addition to hundreds of hours of community service.</p>
<p>With a stellar essay, I think Georgetown and Duke would still be reaches (as they are for most applicants), but certainly not a waste.</p>
<p>What do you think Knight09?</p>