<p>I am planning to apply to Vanderbilt early decision 1. I saw that 92% of student were in the top 10% at their high schools and I am not.</p>
<p>SAT 2260
Math 720
Reading 790
Writing 750</p>
<p>SAT subject test math 2: 790</p>
<p>class rank 16.5% at a large reputable public high school.</p>
<p>This past summer I did an internship in DC with my congressman. Less than ten high school students were interns out of thousands. I am getting a rec letter from the Congressman. Also I plan to do Political Science so I hope they make the connection.</p>
<p>I think my essay is very good and it highlights the internship.</p>
<p>I have done maybe 20 or so hours of community service. </p>
<p>I am in NHS. I started a frisbee club junior year.
I work about 15 hours a week at the same place for two years.
I have some other minor extracurriculars, no leadership positions.
My schedule is pretty difficult.</p>
<p>AP Environmental Science: 4</p>
<p>What do you think my chances of admission are? Remeber I'm doing early decision. How much will my rank hurt.</p>
<p>well no one can know for sure. remember that vanderbilt looks at the WHOLE application, and not just ranks. If you have really stong ECs, it would be good. applying ED should help too. Are you applying I or II? Best of luck to you!! :)</p>
<p>I think that Vandy is very numbers-centric, in which case you have a strong application. It is also very impressive that you interned for your Congressman.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about class rank if you attend a high functioning public high school with a majority of students graduating and going to college
my son was in the tip top percent in a high school with a 50% drop out rate…give adcoms credit…they might see you and my son as peers academically.</p>
<p>what is “missing” from your application is only You. You need to convey your dreams and your personal qualities that will come to Vandy and be positive energy for the overall community. Focus on your essays. I think working constantly 15 hours a week might be worth some thought in your essays…</p>
<p>Your letter from your Congressman is a plus but only if your own essay on your experience shows insight and commentary that comes from you</p>
<p>ED is smart if you can afford to pay your FAFSA since your wonderful test scores are not uncommon at Vanderbilt</p>
<p>Come to campus and visit if you have time and attend classes if you have the means. Ask for an alum interview if ED students have that option. Interview a local Vandy grad (my son did this since Vandy is not a popular school in my region)…and comment on what you learned from him or her. Imagine yourself there and map out some academic ways you will make use of Vandy. </p>
<p>In short, write beautiful essays and make sure your references understand Why Vandy for
Goods111. I know a couple of great kids who were waitlisted with your lovely scores only and only because of too many applicants…not because they couldn’t perform at Vandy…not at all.</p>
<p>So…get your list together for EDII or and RD season and make sure you apply to a sure bet of a college that you recognize is a fine college and a match college…</p>
<p>Thank you all for the replies. Faline, your’s was especially helpful. I am weary about giving out much information due to anonymity. I did visit Vanderbilt two weeks ago, and a family friend who attended showed me around. I am fully confident that I would be happy there and that I should apply ED. Also, I think that writing is my best skill and my essay does a good job in showing who I am and how I face moral dilemmas and new situations. I may need to revise it a little more to show how my personality is beneficial to Vanderbilt specifically. I got the auto-acceptance SAT to A&M so that an acceptable fallback to me. I’m also applying to UT but top ten percent is a killer there. Other schools as well.</p>
<p>anonymity is a divine on CC and should be the approach you use…why? because like any person with your wonderful test scores…you have a shot at any school in the USA and you must “date” all of them a little to get to know them without discussing College X when you visit College Y. My second son is uber sincere and found this to be difficult…but this is the odd world of applying to several colleges that is just part of this weird transitory subculture.<br>
If accepted to Vandy, you won’t have to do all that.</p>
<p>I notice A&M got some good reviews of late for access to job market so I am glad you would actually consider attending…that makes it a real match. With your test scores, you are in merit money territory in some colleges that might be interested in you but I really have no ideas about your preferences re culture and major etc so I won’t ramble about that in a random way.</p>
<p>My sons didn’t ever lie about colleges when asked…weirdly some alum interviews included intrusive questions posed like “rank the colleges you prefer in order and where is our college is on your list?” But you should not discuss preference or wishes in public places…that is for trusted friends and family only…we all have preferences, wishes and crushes. (son gave this alum his List and just named the alum’s college and another one as a Reach)…which was honest…and our sons put their colleges in alphabetical order when requested on the occasional college that requested to know their competition’s names…Rice requested the list.</p>
<p>Early Decision does imply preference…but with your test scores, you have a great shot if your references are people who understand you well. (did you see the vandy admissions blog this week? nice discussion of the import of a reference letter when you are basically choosing between equals at a college in other respects like tests scores and grades)</p>
<p>If you have a field of study mapped out a bit at Vandy…I would most certainly read up on that path in the course descriptors and think about that and if you can project where you might contribute on campus, you should project that a bit as well.</p>
<p>Thanks again Faline, helpful as always. On the topic of anonymity I was very disturbed to find out that CC does not let you delete your posts or account. I think I struck gold with at least one of my teacher references and that blog post was a confidence builder. My interests are I-banking and political science. The frequency of double majors at Vanderbilt was a real draw, however UT has better I-banking recruitment from what I read. I take it all with a grain if salt due to the fact that UT is alot larger and probably has a bigger presence in the field.</p>
<p>Well, we are in a recession so stats on who is getting hired in the finance industry are certainly in transition along with the economy. My son graduated in this field from Duke in 2009 and his job offer was rescinded before he got his cap and gown. Scores of other graduates found no entry jobs as Wall Street crashed. No matter where you end up, I suggest you focus mightily on your GPA while also pushing yourself in quantitative courses. I am no expert but I do know that the students in my son’s class who were picked up in finance industry jobs were often engineers with economics double majors. Only a few years ago a surprisingly high number of MIT grads went straight to Wall Street but this is all changed now. The landscape for I-banking jobs straight out of college is drastically changed and forever altered. You will soon be eligible for a student priced Wall Street Journal subscription and would recommend you be deep into that on a daily basis.</p>
<p>Does your school rank? Many school do not and this statistic is only for schools that send out rankings. If your school does not rank then Vanderbilt will not look at that. But if that’s the case, the admissions department has an expectation based on your school, how they evaluate your school and their past expieriences with the high school. Your test scores and EC’s seem to be very good and should get admissions to consider you (particularly with ED). I don’t think your rank will eliminate you, but it leaves very little room if everything else doesn’t look really good. Before you decide on ED (to any school) make sure you are 100% certain that the school is the place for you and that you can accept whatever financial package is offered. I think Vanderbilt is fantastic and both my children are very very happy there, but keep in mind that there are a lot of great schools and I’m sure that many of them will want you. Keep an open mind and look at schools that you feel will satisfy you both intellectually and socially (Hopefully Vandy). Best of Luck.</p>