Currently a junior... what can I do to improve between now and senior year?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Will chance back, though to be honest, I'm not highly knowledgeable about this stuff...! :)</p>

<p>I am aware that my stats are pretty good, but I'm still nervous - my school sent 2 kids to Harvard last year, but other than that, we've had 5.0 student after 5.0 student get rejected everywhere... what can I do to improve my chances at these schools?</p>

<p>Georgetown (my number one, most likely SFS)
Stanford
Harvard
Columbia
UCLA
UCB
Tufts
Brown
George Washington
Claremont McKenna</p>

<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 2130 (680 Writing, 710 Math, 740 Language) from Sophomore year
[</em>] ACT: n/a - yet
[<em>] SAT II: 800 on Math II
[</em>] GPA: 3.95UW, 4.6W
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2/500
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): AP European History (5)
[<em>] Junior Year Course Load: AP French, AP Language, AP Calculus AB, AP Biology, AP US History, Leadership, Speech and Debate
[</em>] Projected Senior Year Course Load: AP Psychology, AP Calculus BC, AP Chemistry, AP Comparative Government, Leadership, English 12, Economics, Vietnam War Elective
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): :(
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
-Leadership: 9 (Class President), 10/11 (Rally Commissioner)
-CSF: 9, 10 (Membership Officer), 11 (VP)
-NHS: 10, 11 (Webmaster)
-Volleyball: 9, 10 (Captain)
-Youth & Government : 10 (elected to a statewide office, won delegation "Rookie of the Year" award), 11 (candidate for Youth Governor)
-Young Democrats Club: 10, 11 (founder and president)
-Conference on National Affairs Delegate: 10
-Varsity Speech and Debate: 10 (State Alternate in 2 events), 11 (President)
-Science Alliance: 10, 11 (board member)
-Safe School Ambassador: 9, 10 (committee chair), 11 (YMCA representative)
-Campus Life Panel member: 9, 10, 11
[<em>] Job/Work Experience:
-One year at a tutoring center, 8 hrs/week (no longer employed there)
-Currently employed at a local frozen yogurt shop, 20 hrs/week
-Summer internship with local Assemblywoman, 18 hrs/week
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service: 80 hours volunteering at a Jewish retirement home, 50+ hours volunteering at library, peer tutoring
[<em>] Summer Activities: Working, volunteering, internship, Youth & Government conferences.
[/ul]
Other[ul]
[</em>] State: California (Bay Area)
[<em>] School Type: Public, not highly competitive, 2200 students
[</em>] Ethnicity: White
[<em>] Gender: Male
[</em>] Income Bracket: The highest one?
[li] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None.[/li][/ul]</p>

<p>Thank you SO much for your time! Your consideration is greatly appreciated.</p>

2

<p>Test wise:
It would be beneficial if you could get your sat to around 2250+, i’m sure you can if you got 2130 in your sophomore year. Get 800 on your next subjects.</p>

<p>Grades wise:
It looks like you have a good plan for junior and senior year, my only contest is to the vietnam war elective. It wont really make you stand out any more, and will being your gpa down, even if you get an A. </p>

<p>Extracurriculars wise:
Stay in all clubs and sports to show that you are consistent and dedicated. It looks like you already know about community service, and you did well by starting early. If you really want to put yourself into the stanford / harvard range, get 500+ community service hours. Yeah, it sounds insane, but you’ve already got over 100, so it shouldn’t be so bad.</p>

<p>Good luck bro,</p>

<p>A Fellow Bay Area resident</p>

3

<p>Stats are decent, I’d definitely work on that SAT score if your serious about your top schools.</p>

4

<p>Yeah I would for sure get your SAT’s up to at least a 2300 if you plan on going to SFS @ Georgetown…Your extra curriculars look great, I would definitely keep up the Jewish community center. Looks great on college apps. Grades look good, but I agree about the Vietnam War elective…I would look into something else if possible. Keep on keepin on!!</p>

5

<p>Thanks so much for the responses guys! The SAT score should be no problem; I should be in the 2250-2350 range at this point based on practice tests. </p>

<p>As far as the Vietnam class, it’s a course I’m genuinely highly interested in taking, and at this point I don’t really care if colleges don’t like that I’m taking it, though I could possibly substitute it for AP Economics…</p>

<p>I’m most daunted by the community service factor. Is 500 hours really necessary? I’ve had to work hard just to get to 150, and since I now work up to 20 hours a week at my job, I literally do not have enough time! I love volunteering, but any suggestions on how I might be able to supplement the lack of hours?</p>

6

<p>Hospital service, or traveling overseas to teach subjects like english.</p>

<p>Also, AP economics would really reallly help over the vietnam class. GL!</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/821619-chance-me-california-schools.html#post1063628013[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/821619-chance-me-california-schools.html#post1063628013&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

7

<p>Can I get any more responses with a bump? :)</p>