<p>I'm graduating in 2012 and I want to apply for competitive schools such as Georgetown and NYU.
My SAT score, when I retake it, will be 2300-2400. Currently it is an 1850.
I've played piano at Kimmel Center, Dicapo Theater (for the American Fine Arts Festival), and will play at Carnegie Hall (also for the American Fine Arts Festival competition)
I have placed first place in debate.
I won the Scholastic Art and Writing Gold Key Award, which is the highest.
I am working on a research study to publish in a scholarly journal. I have already collaborate with some organizations and students, and I will collaborate with professors this summer.
I have done political campaigning for the midterm elections last year.
I attended the people to people leadership conference last year.
I was accepted to Drexel's Summer Economics Institute this year.
I am a member of the National Society of High School Scholars.
I have been selected to attend the National Young Leaders Conference this year, and I am their Congressional Youth Leadership Council Summer 2011 Scholar.
I have been selected to attend Lead America at Stanford University this summer.
I am a member of the Debate Team, Community Service Club, Foreign Language Club,German Club, and Literary Magazine.</p>
<p>However, when I see my report card, I want to scream in fury. My GPA is abysmally low. It will be around a 3.6-3.7 by the time the first semester of my senior year ends.</p>
<p>I want to know whether I have a chance with good schools with my lowly GPA.</p>
<p>
That’s quite a claim.</p>
<p>That IS quite a claim. Good luck!</p>
<p>NYLC and Lead America are kind of revenue generation schemes. Lot of people get the letters and the threshold is not that high for you to receive such letters. So being selected is not a big deal but attending and experiencing it might be worth writing about.</p>
<p>Are you attending all of the things this summer that you are listing as being selected for? I see 4 activities or so, all for this summer which would be really surprising if you are able to do them all.</p>
<p>No. I am only attending the Drexel Economics Camp so I can devote the rest of my time to SAT’s and my research project.</p>
<p>Sounds like good choices for summer.</p>
<p>You should probably make it to NYU but Georgetown sounds like a reach at this point. Playing at Carnegie sounds like an honor although doing it for a competition does nt sound as high profile. Is that considered your number 1 EC?</p>
<p>What are your other choices? Are you an URM (female I assume)?</p>
<p>I would consider piano as my number one extracurricular activity at this point, because of my 9-year experience. Though debate is a relatively new extracurricular activity, I have already competed in many tournaments, ranked best speaker multiple times, and placed first place.</p>
<p>Additional extracurricular activities include community service (playing piano at senior citizen’s homes, cleaning up Charles River), dance for 10 years and volleyball for one season, but I don’t think they are particularly important.</p>
<p>My matches are
Drexel
Penn State Schreyer Honors College</p>
<p>Reaches
Boston University
Northeastern
American University
Tufts</p>
<p>High Reaches
NYU
Georgetown
Duke</p>
<p>What is your State?</p>
<p>NYU likes debaters. </p>
<p>NYU - 33, Tufts 28, Georgetown - 21, Duke 9 - these are high reaches.</p>
<p>Penn State is 47, BU -56, Northeastern - 69, American - 79, and Drexel - 86.</p>
<p>To be honest, saying that you were accepted to Lead America and National Youth Leadership Council would most likely be a negative on a transcript to a top-notch university, ESPECIALLY if you did not attend. Almost every candidate for these schools has been accepted to these events/organizations and they will look like fillers on an application which is lacking in actual achievement. Try getting your research project published, that would be a very tangible accomplishment that will look good and might influence an acceptance.</p>
<p>Thanks to all your suggestions!</p>
<p>Can you please rank 1-5 how much the following activities will influence NYU’s or Georgetown’s decision to accept me? Thanks!</p>
<p>Research project published in scholarly journal
People to People Leadership Conference
Piano at Carnegie Hall
Accepted to Drexel’s Summer Economics Institute
Scholastic Writing Award Gold Key Winner
First place debate winner
Ranked best debate speaker
Helped campaign in midterm elections last year</p>
<p>If you have to ask these questions, NYU is not for you. Only you know what your strong ECs are.</p>
<p>I just want to know what extracurricular activities matter to top-tier colleges and what don’t.</p>
<p>I can also speak three languages, if that helps at all.</p>
<p>Rain202: my advise is if youre going to apply to top ranked schools, ivies, etc. Go on each website and make notes of what they look for in a student, go to a couple different links and see if you find a pattern. Yale for example looks for smart/intellegent students, but really looks for a student who STANDS OUT!! Link any connections between your acheivements and the school. Get really GREAT letters of recommendation and never go for a sappy story in your essays, because more then likely theyve heard it before. If you SATs are going to as good as you say then i think it will make up for parts of your GPA. All i can say is do your best and study hard. The rest should flow naturally 
Good Luck!</p>
<p>My grades are definitely damaging. There’s not much I could do now to raise my gpa, though.</p>
<p>Is it possible to raise my gpa with summer classes at a community college?</p>
<p>Depends on whether your school accepts community college classes as part of your GPA.</p>
<p>First of all, you’re not going to get a 2300-2400 on your SAT if you only scored an 1850 your first try. Your score won’t improve 500 points unless you completely missed an entire section or were deathly ill during the first exam. Count on a 2100 or so, assuming you study like crazy. I know it sounds harsh, but the people getting near perfect scores on their second try are the ones that scored really well their first try. If you happen to prove me wrong later, PM me and I’ll gladly take this back and congratulate you.</p>
<p>Your GPA is not nearly as big of a problem as you make it out to be. No you probably won’t be able to count community college classes in your high school GPA, and that’s something you should be asking your counselor anyways. In either case, there are much more productive things to be doing with the summer. Your matches/reaches are reasonably categorized except for Schreyer which is a lot harder to get into than Penn State overall. </p>
<p>You ask “Can you please rank 1-5 how much the following activities will influence NYU’s or Georgetown’s decision to accept me?” but you’ve already answered that with “I would consider piano as my number one extracurricular activity at this point, because of my 9-year experience…” You know which things you’re most passionate about, and those are the things that you need to emphasize. Don’t, as spertoso suggests, try to mold yourself to fit what a college wants. You’re only submitting one version of your main application. On the supplements, talk about the things you care about. Don’t try and emphasize a more minor experience or activity just because you think a college will like it more. </p>
<p>There are two things that every single top college looks for and those are passion and success. Show that you care about what you do, and show that you’ve done well in those things and that’s all that matters. Best of luck.</p>