Desperately needs advice on boosting resume!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Schools I'm interested in:
Georgia-Tech (in state)
University of Georgia (in state)
Emory University (in state)
University of Florida
New York University
Georgetown University
University of Virginia
Johns Hopkins University
Duke University
University of Pennsylvania
(Applying to science or engineering program in most schools)</p>

<p>Stats: Male Indian. Resident of Georgia. The school I go to is one of the better ones in Georgia. I'm going to be a senior next year.</p>

<p>SAT: CR (690), M (720), W(760). Total is 2170. (I'm wondering if I should retake it)
SAT II: BioE: 720. Going to take Math II, English, and Chemistry this year. (Hoping for at least a 700 on each)
GPA:Unweighted- 3.92, Weighted- (I'm calculating this by giving each of my honors and AP courses a quality point) 4.47
Class Rank: App. 37/678</p>

<p>For first two years of high school I lived in California and for the last two I lived in Georgia. My classes and EC's might appear a little disjointed because of this.
Freshman Year Classes
9th English Honors: B+/A
Health 1st Sem: A
European History Honors 2nd Sem: A
Geometry Honors: A/A
Biology Honors: A/A
Marching Band/ Drumline: A/A
Orchestra: A/A
French II: A/A</p>

<p>Sophomore Year Classes
10th English Honors: B+/A
World History Honors: A/A
Algebra II Honors: A/A
AP Biology: A/A
Marching Band/ Drumline: A/A
Orchestra: A/A
French III: A/A</p>

<p>Junior Year (Starting this year I'm in Georgia and in block schedule)
1st Semester
AP English Lang.: A
APUSH: A
AP Prep Chemistry: A
Concert Band: A
AP Statistics: A
2nd Semester
AP English Lang: A
APUSH: A
AP Chemistry: B
AP Prep Analysis: A
Concert Band: A</p>

<p>Summer Course: Amer. Lit- A (New School didn't count my sophomore English course in California)</p>

<p>Senior Year Schedule (School has decided to go back to normal year-around schedule):
AP English Lit.
AP Amer. Gov.
AP Macroecon.
AP Physics B (Physics C isn't available)
AP World Geography (New school requires geography credit.)
AP Calculus AB (New schools is making BC two periods long so I can't fit it.)
Wind Ensemble</p>

<p>AP Results: Biology- 5
Microeconomics (self studied)- 4
Awaiting- AP Eng Lang- 4
APUSH- 4
AP Statistics- 2 (Is it possible to not send an AP Score?)
AP Chemistry- 4 </p>

<p>EC's: -Orchestra, as a class for Freshman and Sophomore, plus 2 years of Honor Orchestra outside of school for Freshman and Sophomore (New school doesn't have orchestra)
-Marching Band for Freshman, Sophomore, and Senior years.
-Indoor Drumline for Freshman (3rd place), Sophomore (1st), and Junior (1st) years.
-Superior rating on Solo performance at Georgia Solo and Ensemble Festival for Marimba performance.
-3rd place at Georgia Literature Conference (Male timed essay)
-Red Cross for Freshman and Sophomore (New school had a poorly run club)
-Boy Scouts (Scribe position) for Freshman and Sophomore (No troop near my new home)
-National Honor Society since Sophomore year.
-HOSA for Junior and Senior year. (Old school didn't have group)
-Volunteen program for Johns Creek Emory Hospital (Had to write college application-type essay and get 2 recommendations, less than 20 percent accepted) (Will continue volunteering during the school year and possibly shadowing)
-Mu Alpha Theta, math honor society in Senior year.
-Tutoring at Kumon Center in Senior year.
-Possibly Honor Band on Senior Year
-Gave a presentation and did a research project on Social Action and Environmental Science during Freshman year and summer at Chapman University and received a letter of recommendation for the professor. </p>

<p>Teacher Rec./ Counselor Rec.- Probably going to get at least 3 teachers. All of these should be good.
College Essays- These should also be really good.</p>

<p>Any comments would be greatly appreciated as well as advice on how to make last minute improvements.. Please give the most honest feedback possible. Also, will colleges take the fact that I switched to a school in a different state when they look at my form?</p>

2

<p>Your CR score could come up a little bit. The rest of it is just about how you write your application.</p>

3

<p>ike you said, the EC's appear a little bit disjointed but i think colleges will take the fact that you moved to another state into consideration when looking at your ECs- academically, however, I dont think they'll give you much leeway. however you should really condense your huge list of extracurriculars and take away the smaller, less meaningful things cause they're really distracting. and also some things the colleges just won't care about, like how selective the process of getting volunteers for a hospital is. You obviously do well in music-type things so I suggest that you submit a performance piece, whether solo or ensemble it doesnt matter (as long as your 1st whatever type of instrument you play), and have the colleges listen/evaluate it. </p>

<p>Any type of interest/dedication you have in a science/engineering field doesn't show- you have few science related ECs, some of which are really common (volunteering at the hospital). Also, let me just warn you that although your unweighted GPA is very good, the weighted is slightly lower than some of the other applicants whose GPAs are weighted the same way (AP/hon/adv is 5). E.g. a 4.47 is in the top 16-20% of my class even though your schools offer much of the same courses mine does. So on a comparative basis, you are not exactly the MOST competitive candidate but you are competitive.</p>

<p>That being said, i dont think you have any more or less of a chance at Penn or Duke than any other normal competitive theres-nothing-wrong-with-you candidate but raising test scores on SAT I/II and taking the ACT will probably help; its still a crapshoot. Concentrate on what you are definitely good at, and the school might just happen to want another really good member of their band, an area which you obviously demonstrate competence in. On your list i noticed yo uwent in order of competitiveness. You can definitely get into most of them, just present your strenths like band in the right way and you should be fine.</p>