<p>Hello Lonelyfishbowl, fellow Illinoisan...you seem like you are on track to me. I am a bit skeptical when it comes to only submitting the ACT--personally (i.e. no one remotely official has said that this is true) I wonder how they can equally weigh a student who only has an ACT score versus someone who has a SAT I + SAT II's--but even I see absolutely no issue when there is ACT + SAT II's, so that's the route that I would go if you are more comfy with the ACT. A 33 is a strong score for Wellesley (I had a 34, which I did not submit (It was from the PSAE, so I was not even sure it was acceptable), but my SAT I score corresponded (was a little better, actually)). </p>
<p>I think your extras are fine, too...they are pretty similar to mine (better possibly), and I got into Wellesley fine. If you were going for HYPMS, I would be more worried (I believe that it was my extras that kept me out of those super duper selective schools, but for Wellesley at least, you are fine. Just as an extra note, I looked through your posts and saw that you are thinking about Northwestern...my friendly advice to you is that it is super competitive from the Chicagoland area, and that, quite frankly, you would be a relatively marginal candidate there. The only weak point that I see in your application is your class rank--barely holding on to the top 10%--and that will probably really hurt your chances at Northwestern, since many of your classmates will apply to Northwestern and they will probably be ranked better than you. Apply if you really really want, but that's my honest opinion. At my HS, 26 people applied, and only 5 or 6 were admitted. That's not terrible (it's around the overall acceptance rate, a little lower I believe), but it's not great either. The lowest ranking admitted student ranked 56 (or so)/770--and she was a faculty brat who very likely would not have been admitted otherwise. We had students ranked as highly as 8 or 16 who were waitlisted/rejected. On the flip side, you will probably be alone or one of the very few girls from your HS applying to Wellesley, so while I would still say try to raise your class rank a bit--a lot of people really slack through senior year, so I bet that you could move up 10+ spots as long as you stay on target--it won't be nearly as much of an issue. </p>
<p>As far as essays go, I am a big advocate of writing about whatever (within reason, of course...no drug trips!) you really want to write about. My primary essay--which was actually the second full, edited essay I wrote--was about my love of books. I talked about how books played a big role in my memories, how I found them special in a sensory/tactile way, and so on. This may sound cheesy in summary form, but I promise you that if you are a decent writer and your topic is honest (you don't try to BS a topic that you think the adcoms want to read about), it won't be seen as cheesy. It might not be a groundbreaking, earthshaking, put it aside essay, but something well-written and honest will still help your chances (or at the very least, not hurt them).</p>