<p>I've been trying to not make a chance thread for myself, but the anticipation of April is getting to me so I figure now is s good a time as any.</p>
<p>Schools: Stanford, Columbia, Brown, U Chicago, Tufts, Northwestern, CMC, Vanderbilt, UCLA, NYU, and American. Not all of my schools but a good cross-section of where I've applied.</p>
<p>Academics:
-GPA: 3.71UW/ 4.17W
-AP: AP Euro (5), APUSH (5), AP English Lang & Comp (5), AP Calc AB (4), with Macro/Micro, Stats, and CS this year
-ACT: 35 (8 writing)
-SAT: Did not take
-SAT II: World History (800) and US History (800)
Rank: School does not rank, although a school report will indicate that I'm top quartile somewhere between 10% and 15%</p>
<p>Unweighted grades have a definite downward trend (from 3.9ish to 3.5ish Frosh to Junior) but my weighted grades have ticked up slightly due to taking 5 hon/AP weighted classes Junior and Senior year as opposed to 2 Frosh/Soph. Most of my lower grades are in Math/Science, while English and Social Studies (the field I intend to go into) tend to be mostly A's. </p>
<p>Also, my school uses a grading system where A = 4, A- = 3.66, B+ - 3.33 ect. I know some colleges might readjust to the 4,3.7,3.3... scale, which may help slightly since I have more A- than B+. </p>
<p>ECs
-Captain of one of the top ranked Congressional Debate Teams in the state. I've won the top individual award at 2 of 5 tournaments this year and 17 different speaking awards over my career.
-Co-president of MUN team. I've won awards at 3 separate conferences and we were ranked 18th nationally my Sophomore year.
-Editor-in-Chief of an underground satirical newspaper that has existed for some time at our school.
-Captain of spoken word poetry team, although we aren't very competitive.
-Varsity Starter on Scholastic Bowl team that won our conference last year, and hoping to repeat.
-Catcher for varsity Baseball team, although I missed last year with multiple injuries.</p>
<p>Essays and Recs</p>
<p>-I liked my essay and had it checked over by a professional before sending it in. I wouldn't say I'm a future NY Times bestseller, but I think my common app essay was well written.</p>
<p>-For most school-specific essays I tried, if they were asking a more open-ended question, to choose a path that would be unexpected while still answering the question. Nothing revolutionary, but I think I put together a good assortment of essays that showcased my out-of-the-box thinking skills.</p>
<p>-One of my recs was written by my favorite history teacher, who probably mentioned something about my writing ability (Social Studies is my strong suit) and my enthusiasm for the social sciences. My other rec was written by a math teacher, who hopefully talked about how I overcame physical limitations (a concussion before 1st semester finals followed immediately by a broken wrist that required surgery) to find a way to succeed in a class that was challenging for me.</p>
<p>I've been flying blind mostly since I'm the oldest in my family and nobody around me really knows how college applications work (my parents each applied to only one school; it's a different era). The process I figured out but as far as how admissions really work I don't have a clear picture. I've been unsure how my test scores and GPA balance each other out (I've heard that my 3.7 GPA will negate a 35 ACT, which doesn't seem right to me, although I don't expect colleges to ignore my GPA) but I've applied to a bunch of stretch schools hoping to increase the odds of getting into one.I go to one of the best public schools in my state, and our grade inflation is not as bad as most places so I'm hoping that will help me be a more viable candidate. Thoughts? </p>