Hello! I have previously posted this but it was flagged for some reason, so I’m going to repost it.
I’m wondering about my chances of getting into University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and what I can do in my senior year to make myself a more competitive applicant. This is my dream school, I’ve visited twice, and many of my friends have been accepted/currently are enrolled. I’m currently finishing my junior year of high school.
White female, born in and currently residing in Illinois
Attending an average high school
Not first generation
GPA (unweighted): 3.66
Rank: 20/491
ACT: Didn’t take
SAT (with essay, 1600 scale): 1130
Major: Planning on applying with psychology as my first choice major and biology as my second choice major, however, I plan on declaring a psych/bio double major my sophomore year with a concentration in behavioral neuroscience.
Minor (unimportant sorry lol): Japanese and Korean language
Grade trend: Freshman year 3.6, Sophomore year 3.5, Junior year (first semester) 3.8
Honorable mention: My school district has honors academies you can apply to within each of the 5 district high schools, the one I am currently enrolled in is for world languages and international studies. All academy classes are weighted with honors credit, even if “honors” isn’t in the title. The academy also requires I take 4 years of intensive language - I chose Japanese.
Honors/AP classes: Academy Global Studies 1-2 (this is basically AP world but the academy requirement is 2 years of AP World, and freshmen can’t take AP classes so it’s called something else), Academy English 9 HONORS, Academy Japanese 1-2, Biology 1-2 HONORS, Academy Computer Science 1-2, Academy Japanese 3-5 HONORS, AP World History, Chemistry 1-2 HONORS, Academy English 10 HONORS
Current classes: AP English Language and Composition, AP US History, Academy Japanese 5-6 HONORS.
Planned courses for next year: AP Japanese 7-8, Pre Calc HONORS, AP Biology, AP Psychology, AP English Literature and Composition, AP Macroeconomics and AP Comparative Government.
AP Scores: World History (2)…That’s the only one I have a score for. I took the APUSH exam yesterday and I’m taking AP Lang next week. I might retake AP World next year.
Extracurriculars:
Part time job @ Portillo’s Hot Dogs; 20 hours per week. August 2017 - present.
Band; 9th - 12th but have been playing in school for 8 years; first chair, section leader, received division 1 ratings at all solo & ensemble events, participated in the Fox Valley Music Festival honors band twice
Marching Band; 9th - 10th, section leader, part of the leadership team (didn’t try out for drum major due to restricted time this summer)
DECA; Joined in 2015 but competed for the first time, competed in regionals in Hotel and Lodging Management and made it to Illinois State 2018, also competed with my business start up plan. Didn’t qualify for nationals in either event.
HOSA; Joined in 2017. Competed in the following events: Behavioral Health KT, Epidemiology, Extemporaneous Writing and Biomedical Laboratory Science. Went to Illinois State 2018 for all events but epidemiology, and will be going to Dallas at the end of June for HOSA Nationals to compete in the BHKT due to the fact that I was a state finalist.
Fall Musical; I played pit orchestra for our 2017 fall musical In The Heights.
Theatre; had a lead in our Spring play “She Kills Monsters.”
Thespian society; currently only an apprentice thespian due to the fact that I joined Junior year and only did 2 shows, but planning on doing all 4 shows next year to become a full thespian.
Sports; I’ve not done any, but senior year will be doing powderpuff, tennis and bowling.
Volunteer hours; None. Like literally, 5 hours. I’m screwed lmaooo
NHS; Didn’t have enough volunteer hours to join as a junior but planning on joining next year
I know I have a lot of work to do, but I’m worried that I simply won’t be a good enough candidate. What can I do to improve my chances of being accepted?
Thanks,
Ren.