<p>Im only a junior this year, but Ive got my sights set on Midd. Help me out? Im obsessed with updating every time my resume changes :) heehee</p>
<p>-Public high school in Vermont, approx. 800 students. Sends a grad to Midd about every two years its rare. We arent that great of a school.
-White female
-School doesn't rank, but I'm top 5% in a class of about 200
-4.23 cumulative GPA, unweighted (never gotten below an A- as a final grade)
-Summa cum laude
-The only AP classes that I do not intend to take at my school are the three AP science classes, along with senior year AP English. I will / have taken all the rest offered at my school: Calculus AB, Statistics, Studio Art, Lit, Euro history, American history.
-SAT reasoning: 2050 (projection from PSATs, will take SATs in March)
-Legacy at Middlebury/In-state student </p>
<p>Recognitions:
-{11, 12} National Honor Society
-{10, 11} Published in Reflections, school's literary journal
-{11} Discus Award
-{11} Girl's State Leadership Conference
-{9} CHS Artist of the Month
-{11} NEASC Accreditation Visit Aid
-{9, 10, 11, 12} Champlain Valley Art Show participant</p>
<p>You’ve never had anything below an A- and there are ten students who might have higher GPAs than you? No offense, but your school sounds like the world capital of grade inflation.</p>
<p>Other than that, your profile looks solid, but your ECs are kind of boring/generic and you’ll need to do better on the SAT.</p>
<p>Don’t you have some unique hobby or interest? Baking cookies and volunteering at museums won’t help you stand out. The Harry Potter club sounds cool, though.</p>
<p>There are some kids who have all A pluses with 4.33 GPAs, as they don’t take hard classes. No grades or GPAs at my school are weighted, which is a major bummer. </p>
<p>My primary interests are volunteering and anything to do with history, actually There’s the drawback of loving to volunteer so much. I do it in my spare time, which I don’t have a lot of, because it’s what I love to do. I do understand that it looks generic though. But it stinks because its really my passion. Should I talk about it in my essay to clear that up?</p>
<p>Oh and I thought Strides of Support would look good? I started the program, which encourages healthy lifestyles by doing 30 hours of walkathons every year, and also raises awareness for organizations that need more recognition.</p>
<p>you seem like a good candidate; the one thing you should work on is getting your SAT score up, but a lot of people do better than their projected score (i did 60 pts better than my projected w/o studying at all), so if you prepare for it you should be really competitive for admission. good luck! :)</p>
<p>Yep, I think if volunteering is something you genuinely love to do, that should come across in your application. I wouldn’t advise you to dedicate your main essay to volunteering, though, because I’m generally not a proponent of the essays-should-be-about-ECs belief. But there are ways to talk about it–in a supplement essay, in the additional info section, or just by mentioning it in passing.</p>
<p>The most important thing is to make your application cohesive. No two pieces of writing should be about the same thing, as that would be a waste of space, but every essay and short answer should complement the rest of the application. The adcoms should be able to get a complete picture of you.</p>
<p>So make sure to write something genuine and convincing about volunteering, but don’t focus on it exclusively. Write about other things (that don’t contradict the volunteering angle).</p>
<p>Your interest in history, I think, is something worth exploring in the main essay. Talk about how it arose, what your fields of interest are, and how your volunteer service ties into it (the museums, right?). Make it about intellectual curiosity and not just about volunteering.</p>
<p>That’s just my opinion, of course, but I’m telling you what I would do if I were you.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice! I think my interest in volunteering comes from my extensive travel experience - I have been extremely fortunate in that I have been able to travel overseas twice. On one of these trips I saw poverty in Tunisia, which I think got me interested in helping the disadvantaged / less fortunate. I have always been intrigued by history, so I’ll have to think about that one. But thanks so much for the tips!!! :D</p>
<p>Other schools I’m considering for regular admission if I do not get accepted to Midd:</p>
<p>Colby College
Trinity College CT
College of the Holy Cross
Connecticut College
Tufts
others possibly…</p>
<p>And I forgot to say that my recs will be personal and strong - with each of my teachers that will be writing for me I have developed a close relationship.</p>
<p>Question: should I put ‘photographer’ on my list of extracurriculars, as i spend about an hour per week throughout the year taking photos of nature and editing them?</p>
<p>Yes, put that on your list of extracurriculars. I think you have a great chance at getting into Middlebury. Add some higher reach schools, if you’d like to your college list.</p>
There’s the drawback of loving to volunteer so much. I do it in my spare time, which I don’t have a lot of, because it’s what I love to do. I do understand that it looks generic though. But it stinks because its really my passion. Should I talk about it in my essay to clear that up?</p>