Good academics, but weak ECs...?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>After hearing stories about people with great ACT scores, GPA, and heavy involvement in EC's getting rejected from good schools, I'm not sure if I am being realistic in my school choices.</p>

<ol>
<li>MIT </li>
<li>Yale</li>
<li>Rice </li>
<li>U Chicago </li>
<li>Northwestern</li>
<li>Carnegie Mellon</li>
<li>U Michigan (in-state)</li>
<li>Georgia Tech</li>
</ol>

<p>UMich and Georgia Tech are going to be my safety schools.</p>

<p>ACT: 34 (English 34, Math 32, Reading 35, Science 33, Writing 8). This is my first ACT (all juniors are required to take ACT in my state)... Do you think schools that require you to send all ACT/SAT scores like Yale would think that it is better than a similar score on second or third attempt?</p>

<p>GPA: 3.93 (unweighted). My school is pretty competitive.
The only B's I get are in math and English. However, my grades in these subjects show an upward trend.</p>

<p>Current schedule (junior)
Organic chemistry
AP Chem
AP Econ
Spanish 3
AP English
Precalc Honors</p>

<p>Next year planning to take: AP World, AP English, AP Calc BC, AP Bio, Drawing 1, and Spring Sports.</p>

<p>I will also take the Math II and Chem subject tests. Confident that I can get 700+ on both of them. For the AP exams, I think I can get 5's on all of them except English, and maybe World.</p>

<p>I'm confident I can get amazing rec letters, but I'm not sure how well I can do on the college essay. I'm a pretty mediocre writer.</p>

<p>EC's
Soccer (9th)
Environmental Activists (11th)
Gay-Straight Alliance (11th)
ACS Chem Club (11th, president)
Chem Olympiad Finalist (11th)</p>

<p>No volunteering hours, I'll fix that this summer. Also, no NHS because of a personal preference. Will that hurt me? Should I apply for NHS next year?</p>

<p>Misc. info: Asian female, Michigan resident. Huge chem nerd XD</p>

2

<p>Doing nothing 10th grade (and very little any other years) will definitely hurt you, though your ACT and GPA are very good. None of these schools are impossible, but Yale and MIT are definitely the least likely. Do you want to go to UMich?</p>

3

<p>Yeah. I’m hoping I can make it to IChO, that’d be a great experience and a lot of fun. And it might compensate a bit for my lack of EC’s. I love chem a lot and I’m studying like crazy for that, but it’s extremely unlikely that I’ll make it that far.</p>

<p>Honestly, I’m only gonna apply to U Mich because that’s in-state. Otherwise, I don’t really want to go there. It’s a great school and I wouldn’t mind it, but I don’t particularly desire going there. I’m hoping for Carnegie Mellon or Northwestern, MIT and Yale are just dreams :P</p>