Chances, so far, for a borderline case...

Colleges and Universities A-Z Georgetown University
1

<h2>Okay, okay, I know I posted this already on the Chances board, but Georgetown is my first choice and I just visited it today, so here we go again: </h2>

<p>Hey, everybody. I know it's a little early and I haven't even taken the SAT/ACTs, but I wanted to get your opinions on how it's going so far. I'm really freaked out about this so it'd be great if you could help me and maybe give me advice on which activities to pursue!</p>

<p>Basically, I'm a little worried because my GPA/Class Rank is not in the top 10%, but my ECs are looking good so far. Well you guys know how this goes, so...</p>

<p>I'm going to be a Junior, white suburban male at a very competitive private school in the Minneapolis area.</p>

<p>GPA: 3.722 (W)
I don't know what it is unweighted, but, an upward trend and I am taking the most advanced classes possible for a freshmen/sophomore (3).</p>

<p>CLASS RANK:
Here's where it gets sketchy...my school only gives rank in the form of quadrants, a.k.a. top 25%, 25-50%, etc. As of right now, I am ranked in the 26%. I have to raise it by 1%, but just being in a top quadrant isn't going to help me that much...especially with Academic Index</p>

<p>APs/ADVANCED:
Freshman Year (Max Taken/Highest Poss.)- ADV Geom., ADV Phys. Sci,
ADV English 9
Sophomore Year (Max Taken/Highest Poss.)- ADV Alg. II, ADV-Pre-AP
Chem, ADV English 10
Junior Year (For next year, I'm pretty sure I'm taking the hardest
courseload of anyone in our grade)- AP English 11, AP Bio,
AP Stat, AP U.S. History, ADV Pre-Calc
Senior Year (Planned)- AP English 12, AP Physics, AP Chem, AP U.S.
Gov. and Politics, AP Calc, ADV (?) French IV</p>

<p>SAT/ACT/AP Tests:
This is an area I'm banking to do very well in, because I am good at standardized testing. I took the PSATs as a sophomore, and I know I did really good but I can't remember what I got on them. For the State Writing Test I got in the top 6%, and the 99th percentile on my high school placement exam. I got 98-99% on the PLAN (Pre-ACT) test. I'm planning on taking 4-5 SAT IIs also.</p>

<p>ECs (9th and 10th grades are ones I participated in, and 11th and 12th grades are assumed)
Tennis (JV Captain 9, 10, 11, <em>hopefully</em> V for 12th)
Admissions Team (9-12)
SADD (Freshman and Sophomore Leader, President in 11th and 12th)
Literary Merit Club (9-10, Gold Award in 11-12)
Book of the Month Club (Founder and President 11-12)
Key Club (Founder and President 11-12)
<em>Both BotMC and KC have already been established over the
summer, I'm not just planning it</em>
Knowledge Bowl (JV 9-10, V 11-12)
National Honor Society (11-12)
Student Government (President 9th grade, All-School Director of
Community Service 11th grade, most likely on
again in 12th)</p>

<p>EVENTS
Northern Stars Leadership Conference (10th--Only for Sophs)
National Student Leadership Conference (Summer between 10th and
11th grade, doing the Business one)
<em>Next Summer (11th-12th)</em> I am planning on taking a pre-college
course at Duke, Stanford, Harvard, or NYU
Senate Page Program- Work as a page in St. Paul Capital during
school next year, and sit in on discussions.</p>

<p>AWARDS
Kodak Young Leaders Award (10th) - Scholarship for $2400 to U of Richmond
Northern Stars Leadership Conference Award (10th)
Star Student (In French, twice during 10th)
Letter of Academics (10th)
High Honors (2 tris in 9th, 3 in 10th)
<em>Planning</em> on being a National Merit Scholar, because I'm doing a lot of PSAT prep.</p>

<p>VOLUNTEER WORK
As things are going, around 150+ hours of community service, from the library, the humane society, planning events with the ONE campaign, and other areas. In August, me and some other people from my school are starting a service group of just students outside of school that focuses on taking care of pets for disabled people.</p>

<p>IN THE FUTURE
During 11th and 12th grade, I'm planning on:
-keeping up my grades
-finding as many scholarship/awards as possible and applying for them
-doing as many "leadership conferences" and events like that I can find
-applying for the U.S. Senate Youth and Harvard Model UN events
-trying to go for SADD Student Advisory Board (only 15th selected in U.S.)</p>

<p>COLLEGES
I'm applying to:
Columbia, Cornell, possibly Yale and Duke (Huge Reaches)
Georgetown, NYU Stern (Reaches)
Boston College, Northwestern, Notre Dame (Matches or Slight Reaches?)</p>

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<p>Actually all of them are huge reaches.</p>

3

<p>Ooooookay anyone else who can give me actual help? :)</p>

<p>Also, I'm thinking of going for the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown, if that helps or hurts my chances.</p>

4

<p>Your ECs look great. Go for President in both NHS and officer in Student Council (hey it helped me get in haha). Do have a large or small class? Being in the top 25% isn't bad when you have 100 people and your school is ultra-competitive. Being at top 25% at my school would mean you were ranked 300. Just follow your plan (make lots of A's, do awesome on SATs) because your ECs look like a good fit for the MSB. </p>

<p>As for your college choices, you seem to have only very competitive colleges on your list. Once you get to senior year and see where all your classmates get in and where they don't, you'll see that college admissions is quite possibly the most random thing ever. From my experiences with my classmates, Yale is definitely the hardest to get into. They rejected kids who would later be accepted to schools like Duke, Stanford, Georgetown, Cornell, and Berkeley. Please do not take this the wrong way but I would say all those schools are reaches for almost any student.</p>

5

<p>Your rank and GPA are a bit low. But what Yale said is true, also... I also advise you to look into other schools. I know many people who were EXTREMELY bright (people we thought for sure would get in) that ended up going to community college because they refused to apply outside of the yale-harvard-stanford-caltech circle.</p>

6

<p>i think your chances are fairly good. i mean, when GU waitlists a student with a SAT of 1520 and ranked 3rd but accepts a student with a fairly low SAT (1300s) and ranked outside 20%...it seems like pretty random admission. but what seperated these two students was the ECs and leadership positions. your creds are great, just make sure you don't crap out of senior year. maintain your gpa and get into the top 25%. it sounds like your school is very competive. make sure you get an alumni interview. these will surely give you an edge in the poll of similar credentials. also, i hear it is easier to get admitted if you are able to show the school that you are committed to study a certain field. my friend with the low SAT got in because, i believe, he showed great high school credentials geared toward business. he had applied into the business school with great emphasis on his plans in the business world. write great, honest essays, show your dedication to the school and you're sure to get in.
good luck</p>