Chances for Penn, Princeton, uchicago, etc

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi! I’m a junior from New Jersey and plan on applying to schools like the following: Penn (prob ED), Princeton, Uchicago, Yale, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, Boston College, etc.

These are my stats:
ACT: 35 (36 English, 35 Science, 35 Math, 33 Reading)
Weighted GPA (school doesn’t do unweighted): 4.53 (2 Bs sophomore year and straight As freshman and junior year. Sophomore and junior years were very stressful because my stepfather, whom I lived with, had a heart attack and got cancer and eventually passed this January. I think this affected my grades and will be explaining this when I apply)
AP (tests not scored yet): APUSH, AP Calc AB, AP Physics C Mechanics
Senior year course load: AP Gov and Pol, AP Calc BC, AP Stats, AP Physics C E&M, AP Lit, AP Spanish

Extracurriculars:
Winter and Spring track (9-12) – captain, won a bunch of first-team awards and went to nationals, varsity all 4 years
HS soccer (9-12) – 3 years varsity
Club soccer (9-12) – captain
NHS
several small community service clubs

I’m a white female and go to a public high school. My school does not do rankings but I am top 5% of about 550 kids. I am a double legacy at Georgetown, but not sure if that helps. I take a lot of classes that concentrate on government and want to major in economics or political science. I’m also a pretty good writer and think that my essays will stand out.

Please chance me!!

2

Let your counselor explain the personal stresses… as someone else posted, it sounds like an excuse coming from the student but when the counselor notes things, it puts them into context. Also, 2 Bs don’t warrant an explanation.

The time commitment for sports is significant but what have you done to further your interest in government/econ/poly sci?

3

@DCCAWAMIIAIL I am in a specialized “small learning community” at my school that is based on government. We learn and use parliamentary procedure in debates and have a very politics centered curriculum in our english and history classes. I am also taking an economics class at Rutgers this summer.

4

To be honest I feel like your extracurriculars will hold you back because there isn’t a clear spike and your extracurriculars seem a bit basic.

5

@collegeready33 articulated better what I was trying to say…