<p>I have a 4.3 GPA (3.9 unweighted), a 33 on the ACT, and i'm ranked 13 out of about 400. My current extracurriculars are varsity baseball, Mu Alpha Theta, NHS, and Habitat for Humanity. Baseball at my school is very serious, and takes up a ton of time, but if I don't have any leadership positions in NHS, HFH, and MAT, are my EC's strong enough? I would like to apply to Harvard, Yale, and Princeton as my reach schools, and Georgetown, Duke, Vanderbilt, and Northwestern as my match schools. Also, with my good score on the ACT, does it matter if I don't take the SAT? I don't know if I would get a score on the SAT equivalent or better than a 33 on the ACT.</p>
<p>I have a 4.3 GPA (3.9 unweighted), a 33 on the ACT, and i’m ranked 13 out of about 400. My current extracurriculars are varsity baseball, Mu Alpha Theta, NHS, and Habitat for Humanity. Baseball at my school is very serious, and takes up a ton of time, but if I don’t have any leadership positions in NHS, HFH, and MAT, are my EC’s strong enough? I would like to apply to Harvard, Yale, and Princeton as my reach schools, and Georgetown, Duke, Vanderbilt, and Northwestern as my match schools. Also, with my good score on the ACT, does it matter if I don’t take the SAT? I don’t know if I would get a score on the SAT equivalent or better than a 33 on the ACT.</p>
<p>Whoaaa honey, you need to be in for a reality check. First of all, there will be TONS of kids with the same gpa, relatively same class rank with much better ACT scores and better EC’s. Duke, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, and NW SHOULD NOT be “match” schools for you! Your EC’s, from what you’ve described, seem to be quite ordinary and lacking if you haven’t racked up any leadership- even though baseball takes up a lot of your time. Are you looking to be a recruited athlete or one serious enough to play at these schools? If so, then admissions’ chances change but even so, those schools should not be matches!</p>
<p>I get a little bit antsy when someone here asks, “Is this good enough?” I mean, if I say, “Yes,” does that mean that you’re just going to stop trying to achieve more? When I applied to college I had very little leadership–I really didn’t care that much. What’s more important, I think, is that you get very involved and that you get something out of what you’re doing. That shows up on how much time you spend on those activities. </p>
<p>You don’t have to be a leader, in the traditional sense. Continue to do what you enjoy doing, and if having a leadership role will help you get more involved with it, then go for it.</p>
<p>scared4college,</p>
<p>First of all my dad teaches at Vanderbilt, and my brother goes there (he had worse stats than I did) so I’m almost positive I can get into Vandy. But, you may be right on Georgetown and Duke, and I’ll take that into consideration. However, I failed to say that I am the captain of the baseball team (kind of important to leave out, I know) and our team has gone to four straight state championships. I’m also pretty sure I can get a good letter from my coach.</p>