Chances?

It is more than stats and essays. What’s it even mean to say one is “competitive?”

There aren’t that many recruiting spots for lightweight women at the top Ivys, so the coaches depend on walk-ons, some of whom get letters of support. If you’re serious about continuing to row in college - if - it would not hurt to reach out to the coaches at the places where you are interested, and see their reaction.

Hey CC! I’d really appreciate people to give me my chances for Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and Columbia, along with other schools of the same rank!

TEST SCORES
ACT: 34 (35E, 33M, 34R, 33S) and a 10 on the Writing test.
1460 PSAT 10
SAT–1520-760r&w, 760m, waiting on writing

GPA
Freshman year: 3.98 UW GPA, 4.53 W GPA end of freshman year (3.97/4.56 S1 and 4.0/4.65 S2)
Sophomore year–4.0 UW/4.74 W GPA S1. Currently in S2.

Courses:
9th grade:
Honors Ancient Literature–1st semester A-/2nd semester A
Honors Biology–A+/A+
Honors Latin V–A+/A+
Honors Classical Rhetoric–A/A+
Western Civ I–A+/A+
Algebra II–A+/A+
Comparative art (semester course)–A+; American Music (other semester)–A+
10th grade:
Honors Rhetoric of Style–A+/currently A+
Honors Western Civ II–A/Currently A
Honors Medieval-Enlightenment Literature–A+/Currently A+
Honors/CIS Latin VI–A+/Currently A+
Honors Chemistry–A+/Currently A+
Pre-Calculus–A+/Currently A
Health–A+/Gym currently B because my teacher doesn’t enter anything until the last minute and I missed a couple days. But I’m not worried about it.

Junior year
AP Capstone: Seminar
Honors American History
AP Bio
Honors Genetics
Honors/CIS/AP Latin VII
CIS/AP Calculus AB
AP Literature

Senior year
AP Research (this is outside of class time–my school requires a senior thesis so I would just get AP credit for it)
Civics and Economics
AP Calc BC
AP Stats
AP Physics C
Honors Anatomy and Physiology/Honors Literature Elective
Honors Latin 8 (as long as it gets enough people)
If that doesn’t run, I will probably take either an AP Art class or CIS Greek 1)
Honors Post-Enlightenment Lit and Honors Melville: writer in detail (or whichever class runs–I really want to take poetry but I don’t think it’ll get enough people)

AP Tests (J=Junior year, S=Senior year)
Seminar-J
Lang-J
American History-J
Bio-J
Latin-J
Calc AB-J
Lit-J
Calc BC-S
Physics C-S
Stats-S
(and research, but that’s just a senior thesis)-S

Extracurriculars

MOCK TRIAL 9th-present. Competed at a respected international competition and got 3rd/28 teams October 2017. Will probably make top team next year (this year our top team placed high at nationals so we are really competitive)

MODEL ASSEMBLY–basically a mock State Congress/State government. Was voted Steering Committee Chair for my delegation this year (basically captain). 9th-present

Student Senate–elected position. One of 3 representatives of my grade. Was voted into office last May but didn’t start term until this school year. 10th–

Science Club–co-founder and co-president. Not competitive–a bunch of nerds sitting around and discussing scientific ideas once a week during lunch. I love it. 9th grade-present

USABO Team co-founder and co-president. Well… not even sure if you can call it a “team” given that the other co-founder is the only other person in it. Yikes. Started 10th grade.

Volunteering at local hospital emergency room–I really love doing this, and I will probably rack up 200+ hours by the time college apps come around. I have around 40 right now and started a few months ago. Honestly it’s always one of the highlights of my week. Will be doing a volunteering camp through the hospital this summer. Started 10th grade.

NHS–not that special. I’m committee leader of the Blood Drive…? Hoping to have a leadership position senior year. 10th

Rowing/crew–I’m really terrible at it but I love my team. Seriously–I have an 8:56 2k as a lightweight girl. It’s bad. But I’m medium-tall so at least that helps I think? Started summer after 8th

Neuroscience summer camp. Week-long day-camp…Kind of selective, but not anything to brag about. But it was really fun. Not sure if I should include this on college apps. Summer after 9th.

Volunteering on political campaigns–attorney general and two congressmen–I haven’t actually done any work for these campaigns yet but hopefully I will at some point? I also intend to volunteer on presidential campaigns once the candidates for 2020 are set in stone

Students Demand Action–just got involved in this group. Students for gun safety–we talk to legislators, help organize protests etc. I haven’t done anything with this group yet though due to schedule conflicts.

Teacher recs:
should be glowing. I love all of my teachers (except freshman lit ugh) and have good relationships with all of them. Pretty sure I know who I’m gonna have write my letters already–one teacher even offered to earlier this year

Awards/certificates:

Varsity letter in Mock Trial 2017-18

My state’s Bar Association Certificate of Merit for 2017 Mock Trial

Outstanding Attorney Award at a trial invitational competition 2017

Member of a team that placed 3rd at that same invitational in 2018

3 Silver medals on National Latin Exam (took levels 2, 3, and 4 Prose). Took 5 Prose this year and got a gold.

My team placed 3rd/28 at that international mock trial comp I mentioned above.

Class Rank
My school doesn’t do class rank, but I’m the only person in my class of 64 people to take 5 honors (the maximum amount sophomore year) so I think I am probably the #1 student bc of that.

Essays: I’m generally a pretty strong writer so I think they’ll be good. I plan on starting them this summer.

Schools I’m interested in:
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Columbia
Stanford
Boston University (mostly because Robert Pinsky is a professor there and his translation of Dante’s Inferno changed my life, and I’m not even religious)
Georgetown
George Washington
Fordham
NYU

I’m a sophomore so I still have time for improvement. Please give me tips!! Thanks! Please don’t post hate or judgment for my goals–I have my own reasons for the goals I set for myself and I really just want honest opinions on chances, not my lifestyle I understand that some may have issues with a sophomore thinking about college admissions but I honestly genuinely love learning and education and do not feel that I’m putting too much pressure on myself. <3 Also I don’t want to sound pompous lol I just want an accurate representation of what I’ll submit to these schools

Hey CC! I’d really appreciate if you’d give me my chances for Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and Columbia, along with other schools of the same rank!

TEST SCORES
ACT: 34 (35E, 33M, 34R, 33S) and a 10 on the Writing test.
1460 PSAT 10
SAT: 1520 (760w&r, 760m, waiting on writing)

GPA
Freshman year: 3.98 UW GPA, 4.53 W GPA end of freshman year (3.97/4.56 S1 and 4.0/4.65 S2)
Sophomore year–4.0 UW/4.74 W GPA S1. Currently in S2.

Courses:
9th grade:
Honors Ancient Literature–1st semester A-/2nd semester A
Honors Biology–A+/A+
Honors Latin V–A+/A+
Honors Classical Rhetoric–A/A+
Western Civ I–A+/A+
Algebra II–A+/A+
Comparative art (semester course)–A+; American Music (other semester)–A+
10th grade:
Honors Rhetoric of Style–A+/currently A+
Honors Western Civ II–A/Currently A
Honors Medieval-Enlightenment Literature–A+/Currently A+
Honors/CIS Latin VI–A+/Currently A+
Honors Chemistry–A+/Currently A+
Pre-Calculus–A+/Currently A
Health–A+/Gym currently B because my teacher doesn’t enter anything until the last minute and I missed a couple days. But I’m not worried about it.

Junior year
AP Capstone: Seminar
Honors American History
AP Bio
Honors Genetics
Honors/CIS/AP Latin VII
CIS/AP Calculus AB
AP Literature

Senior year
AP Research (this is outside of class time–my school requires a senior thesis so I would just get AP credit for it)
Civics and Economics
AP Calc BC
AP Stats
AP Physics C
Honors Anatomy and Physiology/Honors Literature Elective
Honors Latin 8 (as long as it gets enough people)
If that doesn’t run, I will probably take either an AP Art class or CIS Greek 1)
Honors Post-Enlightenment Lit and Honors Melville: writer in detail (or whichever class runs–I really want to take poetry but I don’t think it’ll get enough people)

AP Tests (J=Junior year, S=Senior year)
Seminar-J
Lang-J
American History-J
Bio-J
Latin-J
Calc AB-J
Lit-J
Calc BC-S
Physics C-S
Stats-S
(and research, but that’s just a senior thesis)-S

Extracurriculars

MOCK TRIAL 9th-present. Competed at a respected international competition and got 3rd/28 teams October 2017. Will probably make top team next year (this year our top team placed high at nationals so we are really competitive)

MODEL ASSEMBLY–basically a mock State Congress/State government. Was voted Steering Committee Chair for my delegation this year (basically captain). 9th-present

Student Senate–elected position. One of 3 representatives of my grade. Was voted into office last May but didn’t start term until this school year. 10th–

Science Club–co-founder and co-president. Not competitive–a bunch of nerds sitting around and discussing scientific ideas once a week during lunch. I love it. 9th grade-present

USABO Team co-founder and co-president. Well… not even sure if you can call it a “team” given that the other co-founder is the only other person in it. Yikes. Started 10th grade.

Volunteering at local hospital emergency room–I really love doing this, and I will probably rack up 200+ hours by the time college apps come around. I have around 40 right now and started a few months ago. Honestly it’s always one of the highlights of my week. Will be doing a volunteering camp through the hospital this summer. Started 10th grade.

NHS–not that special. I’m committee leader of the Blood Drive…? Hoping to have a leadership position senior year. 10th

Rowing/crew–I’m really terrible at it but I love my team. Seriously–I have an 8:56 2k as a lightweight girl. It’s bad. But I’m medium-tall so at least that helps I think? Started summer after 8th

Neuroscience summer camp. Week-long day-camp…Kind of selective, but not anything to brag about. But it was really fun. Not sure if I should include this on college apps. Summer after 9th.

Volunteering on political campaigns–attorney general and two congressmen–I haven’t actually done any work for these campaigns yet but hopefully I will at some point? I also intend to volunteer on presidential campaigns once the candidates for 2020 are set in stone

Students Demand Action–just got involved in this group. Students for gun safety–we talk to legislators, help organize protests etc. I haven’t done anything with this group yet though due to schedule conflicts.

Teacher recs:
should be glowing. I love all of my teachers (except freshman lit ugh) and have good relationships with all of them. Pretty sure I know who I’m gonna have write my letters already–one teacher even offered to earlier this year

Awards/certificates:

Varsity letter in Mock Trial 2017-18

My state’s Bar Association Certificate of Merit for 2017 Mock Trial

Outstanding Attorney Award at a trial invitational competition 2017

Member of a team that placed 3rd at that same invitational in 2018

3 Silver medals on National Latin Exam (took levels 2, 3, and 4 Prose). Took 5 Prose this year and got a gold.

My team placed 3rd/28 at that international mock trial comp I mentioned above.

Class Rank
My school doesn’t do class rank, but I’m the only person in my class of 64 people to take 5 honors (the maximum amount sophomore year) so I think I am probably the #1 student bc of that.

Essays: I’m generally a pretty strong writer so I think they’ll be good. I plan on starting them this summer.

Schools I’m interested in:
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Columbia
Stanford
Boston University (mostly because Robert Pinsky is a professor there and his translation of Dante’s Inferno changed my life, and I’m not even religious)
Georgetown
George Washington
Fordham
NYU

I’m a sophomore so I still have time for improvement. Please give me tips!! Thanks! Please don’t post hate or judgment for my goals–I have my own reasons for the goals I set for myself and I really just want honest opinions on chances, not my lifestyle I understand that some may have issues with a sophomore thinking about college admissions but I honestly genuinely love learning and education and do not feel that I’m putting too much pressure on myself. <3 Also I don’t want to sound pompous lol I just want an accurate representation of what I’ll submit to these schools

Hey CC! I’d really appreciate if you’d give me my chances for Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and Columbia, along with other schools of the same rank!

TEST SCORES
ACT: 34 (35E, 33M, 34R, 33S) and a 10 on the Writing test.
1460 PSAT 10
SAT: 1520 (760w&r, 760m, waiting on writing)

GPA
Freshman year: 3.98 UW GPA, 4.53 W GPA end of freshman year (3.97/4.56 S1 and 4.0/4.65 S2)
Sophomore year–4.0 UW/4.74 W GPA S1. Currently in S2.

Courses:
9th grade:
Honors Ancient Literature–1st semester A-/2nd semester A
Honors Biology–A+/A+
Honors Latin V–A+/A+
Honors Classical Rhetoric–A/A+
Western Civ I–A+/A+
Algebra II–A+/A+
Comparative art (semester course)–A+; American Music (other semester)–A+
10th grade:
Honors Rhetoric of Style–A+/currently A+
Honors Western Civ II–A/Currently A
Honors Medieval-Enlightenment Literature–A+/Currently A+
Honors/CIS Latin VI–A+/Currently A+
Honors Chemistry–A+/Currently A+
Pre-Calculus–A+/Currently A
Health–A+/Gym currently B because my teacher doesn’t enter anything until the last minute and I missed a couple days. But I’m not worried about it.

Junior year
AP Capstone: Seminar
Honors American History
AP Bio
Honors Genetics
Honors/CIS/AP Latin VII
CIS/AP Calculus AB
AP Literature

Senior year
AP Research (this is outside of class time–my school requires a senior thesis so I would just get AP credit for it)
Civics and Economics
AP Calc BC
AP Stats
AP Physics C
Honors Anatomy and Physiology/Honors Literature Elective
Honors Latin 8 (as long as it gets enough people)
If that doesn’t run, I will probably take either an AP Art class or CIS Greek 1)
Honors Post-Enlightenment Lit and Honors Melville: writer in detail (or whichever class runs–I really want to take poetry but I don’t think it’ll get enough people)

AP Tests (J=Junior year, S=Senior year)
Seminar-J
Lang-J
American History-J
Bio-J
Latin-J
Calc AB-J
Lit-J
Calc BC-S
Physics C-S
Stats-S
(and research, but that’s just a senior thesis)-S

Extracurriculars

MOCK TRIAL 9th-present. Competed at a respected international competition and got 3rd/28 teams October 2017. Will probably make top team next year (this year our top team placed high at nationals so we are really competitive)

MODEL ASSEMBLY–basically a mock State Congress/State government. Was voted Steering Committee Chair for my delegation this year (basically captain). 9th-present

Student Senate–elected position. One of 3 representatives of my grade. Was voted into office last May but didn’t start term until this school year. 10th–

Science Club–co-founder and co-president. Not competitive–a bunch of nerds sitting around and discussing scientific ideas once a week during lunch. I love it. 9th grade-present

USABO Team co-founder and co-president. Well… not even sure if you can call it a “team” given that the other co-founder is the only other person in it. Yikes. Started 10th grade.

Volunteering at local hospital emergency room–I really love doing this, and I will probably rack up 200+ hours by the time college apps come around. I have around 40 right now and started a few months ago. Honestly it’s always one of the highlights of my week. Will be doing a volunteering camp through the hospital this summer. Started 10th grade.

NHS–not that special. I’m committee leader of the Blood Drive…? Hoping to have a leadership position senior year. 10th

Rowing/crew–I’m really terrible at it but I love my team. Seriously–I have an 8:56 2k as a lightweight girl. It’s bad. But I’m medium-tall so at least that helps I think? Started summer after 8th

Neuroscience summer camp. Week-long day-camp…Kind of selective, but not anything to brag about. But it was really fun. Not sure if I should include this on college apps. Summer after 9th.

Volunteering on political campaigns–attorney general and two congressmen–I haven’t actually done any work for these campaigns yet but hopefully I will at some point? I also intend to volunteer on presidential campaigns once the candidates for 2020 are set in stone

Students Demand Action–just got involved in this group. Students for gun safety–we talk to legislators, help organize protests etc. I haven’t done anything with this group yet though due to schedule conflicts.

Teacher recs:
should be glowing. I love all of my teachers (except freshman lit ugh) and have good relationships with all of them. Pretty sure I know who I’m gonna have write my letters already–one teacher even offered to earlier this year

Awards/certificates:

Varsity letter in Mock Trial 2017-18

My state’s Bar Association Certificate of Merit for 2017 Mock Trial

Outstanding Attorney Award at a trial invitational competition 2017

Member of a team that placed 3rd at that same invitational in 2018

3 Silver medals on National Latin Exam (took levels 2, 3, and 4 Prose). Took 5 Prose this year and got a gold.

My team placed 3rd/28 at that international mock trial comp I mentioned above.

Class Rank
My school doesn’t do class rank, but I’m the only person in my class of 64 people to take 5 honors (the maximum amount sophomore year) so I think I am probably the #1 student bc of that.

Essays: I’m generally a pretty strong writer so I think they’ll be good. I plan on starting them this summer.

Schools I’m interested in:
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Columbia
Stanford
Boston University (mostly because Robert Pinsky is a professor there and his translation of Dante’s Inferno changed my life, and I’m not even religious)
Georgetown
George Washington
Fordham
NYU

I’m a sophomore so I still have time for improvement. Please give me tips!! Thanks! Please don’t post hate or judgment for my goals–I have my own reasons for the goals I set for myself and I really just want honest opinions on chances, not my lifestyle I understand that some may have issues with a sophomore thinking about college admissions but I honestly genuinely love learning and education and do not feel that I’m putting too much pressure on myself. <3 Also I don’t want to sound pompous lol I just want an accurate representation of what I’ll submit to these schools

Hey CC! I’d really appreciate if you’d give me my chances for Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and Columbia, along with other schools of the same rank!

TEST SCORES
ACT: 34 (35E, 33M, 34R, 33S) and a 10 on the Writing test.
1460 PSAT 10
SAT: 1520 (760w&r, 760m, waiting on writing)

GPA
Freshman year: 3.98 UW GPA, 4.53 W GPA end of freshman year (3.97/4.56 S1 and 4.0/4.65 S2)
Sophomore year–4.0 UW/4.74 W GPA S1. Currently in S2.

Courses:
9th grade:
Honors Ancient Literature–1st semester A-/2nd semester A
Honors Biology–A+/A+
Honors Latin V–A+/A+
Honors Classical Rhetoric–A/A+
Western Civ I–A+/A+
Algebra II–A+/A+
Comparative art (semester course)–A+; American Music (other semester)–A+
10th grade:
Honors Rhetoric of Style–A+/currently A+
Honors Western Civ II–A/Currently A
Honors Medieval-Enlightenment Literature–A+/Currently A+
Honors/CIS Latin VI–A+/Currently A+
Honors Chemistry–A+/Currently A+
Pre-Calculus–A+/Currently A
Health–A+/Gym currently B because my teacher doesn’t enter anything until the last minute and I missed a couple days. But I’m not worried about it.

Junior year
AP Capstone: Seminar
Honors American History
AP Bio
Honors Genetics
Honors/CIS/AP Latin VII
CIS/AP Calculus AB
AP Literature

Senior year
AP Research (this is outside of class time–my school requires a senior thesis so I would just get AP credit for it)
Civics and Economics
AP Calc BC
AP Stats
AP Physics C
Honors Anatomy and Physiology/Honors Literature Elective
Honors Latin 8 (as long as it gets enough people)
If that doesn’t run, I will probably take either an AP Art class or CIS Greek 1)
Honors Post-Enlightenment Lit and Honors Melville: writer in detail (or whichever class runs–I really want to take poetry but I don’t think it’ll get enough people)

AP Tests (J=Junior year, S=Senior year)
Seminar-J
Lang-J
American History-J
Bio-J
Latin-J
Calc AB-J
Lit-J
Calc BC-S
Physics C-S
Stats-S
(and research, but that’s just a senior thesis)-S

Extracurriculars

MOCK TRIAL 9th-present. Competed at a respected international competition and got 3rd/28 teams October 2017. Will probably make top team next year (this year our top team placed high at nationals so we are really competitive)

MODEL ASSEMBLY–basically a mock State Congress/State government. Was voted Steering Committee Chair for my delegation this year (basically captain). 9th-present

Student Senate–elected position. One of 3 representatives of my grade. Was voted into office last May but didn’t start term until this school year. 10th–

Science Club–co-founder and co-president. Not competitive–a bunch of nerds sitting around and discussing scientific ideas once a week during lunch. I love it. 9th grade-present

USABO Team co-founder and co-president. Well… not even sure if you can call it a “team” given that the other co-founder is the only other person in it. Yikes. Started 10th grade.

Volunteering at local hospital emergency room–I really love doing this, and I will probably rack up 200+ hours by the time college apps come around. I have around 40 right now and started a few months ago. Honestly it’s always one of the highlights of my week. Will be doing a volunteering camp through the hospital this summer. Started 10th grade.

NHS–not that special. I’m committee leader of the Blood Drive…? Hoping to have a leadership position senior year. 10th

Rowing/crew–I’m really terrible at it but I love my team. Seriously–I have an 8:56 2k as a lightweight girl. It’s bad. But I’m medium-tall so at least that helps I think? Started summer after 8th

Neuroscience summer camp. Week-long day-camp…Kind of selective, but not anything to brag about. But it was really fun. Not sure if I should include this on college apps. Summer after 9th.

Volunteering on political campaigns–attorney general and two congressmen–I haven’t actually done any work for these campaigns yet but hopefully I will at some point? I also intend to volunteer on presidential campaigns once the candidates for 2020 are set in stone

Students Demand Action–just got involved in this group. Students for gun safety–we talk to legislators, help organize protests etc. I haven’t done anything with this group yet though due to schedule conflicts.

Teacher recs:
should be glowing. I love all of my teachers (except freshman lit ugh) and have good relationships with all of them. Pretty sure I know who I’m gonna have write my letters already–one teacher even offered to earlier this year

Awards/certificates:

Varsity letter in Mock Trial 2017-18

My state’s Bar Association Certificate of Merit for 2017 Mock Trial

Outstanding Attorney Award at a trial invitational competition 2017

Member of a team that placed 3rd at that same invitational in 2018

3 Silver medals on National Latin Exam (took levels 2, 3, and 4 Prose). Took 5 Prose this year and got a gold.

My team placed 3rd/28 at that international mock trial comp I mentioned above.

Class Rank
My school doesn’t do class rank, but I’m the only person in my class of 64 people to take 5 honors (the maximum amount sophomore year) so I think I am probably the #1 student bc of that.

Essays: I’m generally a pretty strong writer so I think they’ll be good. I plan on starting them this summer.

Schools I’m interested in:
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Columbia
Stanford
Boston University (mostly because Robert Pinsky is a professor there and his translation of Dante’s Inferno changed my life, and I’m not even religious)
Georgetown
George Washington
Fordham
NYU

I’m a sophomore so I still have time for improvement. Please give me tips!! Thanks! Please don’t post hate or judgment for my goals–I have my own reasons for the goals I set for myself and I really just want honest opinions on chances, not my lifestyle I understand that some may have issues with a sophomore thinking about college admissions but I honestly genuinely love learning and education and do not feel that I’m putting too much pressure on myself. <3 Also I don’t want to sound pompous lol I just want an accurate representation of what I’ll submit to these schools

@PtonAlumnus Hi again! It’s been a while since you commented on this post, but just wanted to give a quick update: I I just finished doing some college tours, and, as you predicted, I dropped several from my list. Fordham, NYU, Columbia, and BU have all been removed due to the large cities they are in. Harvard continues to be my first choice–it was breathtaking and their social studies major sounds perfect for what I want to study (and that major is not offered at many schools). I also love the fact that it’s close enough to Boston to be interesting but far enough away to be safe. Yale and Princeton were also great, although Princeton feels slightly isolated. I think that all three of these schools have great resources and community-building activities for undergrads, so although Princeton is the most undergraduate-focused of the three due to not having a law or med school, I think I can get the same level of support from all three and am not too worried about undergrad/grad focused schools unless there is a major resource disparity. You were absolutely correct about colleges feeling “just right.”

It’s good to hear that you were able to narrow down your list a little, but I worry that you still do not have a single realistic safety or match school listed. You seem like you have your head on straight, but many of your ECs seem artificially bloated. For example, Student Senate is basically just Student Government, which all colleges realize has a popularity factor in it. Your political campaigns have actually not even commenced - how can you list an EC that you have spent 0 hours actually doing something for? Similarly, while starting your own club may sound impressive, it doesn’t really appeal to colleges as much as you think it would, based on the fact that only you and a friend are members of the club. I would argue if the status of those have not changed, to not even list the political campaigns, and to put the organization you made way down. I’m on the same track as you seem to be going towards (poli-sci/law school), so I would suggest something to you. Many students with political science interests campaign - it is pretty common and not really beneficial if you are just knocking on doors for a national candidate. For me, working with state or local government representatives is the best way to utilize that passion. The Mock Trial and other club set you up well for the political science track, so if that is something you are really interested in, contact either Congressional representatives or state legislators and talk to them about interning, maybe doing research for them instead of the “mainstream” route of campaigning. You can make connections as a result of interning instead, and possibly even get a letter of rec from the representative for colleges. You seem competitive, but I would tell you to show a narrative of interest in poli-sci rather than just spreading yourself so thin with everything you are involved in, and add some safety and match schools into your list. Chances are, you probably won’t get into any of Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. That doesn’t mean you aren’t a good applicant, it just means that you didn’t get lucky enough to be part of their crop. Make sure you have schools ready that can offer significant aid and have programs you would like, so you know you would be happy going there. GL!

@margeu Visits always help. However, tours do not always provide complete answers. They help narrow your choices. Harvard is safe. However, I lived in Cambridge and I had the front door to my house kicked in when we went skiing in Maine for a weekend. Boston is a fun college town. Princeton is isolated but the students do not care. Students do not want to leave the campus because there are so many student activities to enjoy. Students call it the Orange Bubble. My roommate had a brother that went to college in NYC and we rarely visited because we did not want to miss campus activities. You can get a better feel for student life by visiting a university student center and talking to students. You should read more about your intended major at each university. At Princeton you should understand the Woodrow Wilson School. http://wws.princeton.edu/ and perhaps Sociology and Politics. Georgetown also has a good public policy school. Consider concentrating your ECs in your intended major field. You are more likely to be admitted if you excel in one area, e.g. national Mock Trial, or great erg times for crew, or Intel science award rather than achieve school level awards in many areas.