<p>Your frequent bumps tell me you are the impatient sort (nudge nudge 
). So let’s see, there is a lot to digest here. Let’s start with the stats for the schools you mentioned. The 31 looks to be slightly below the 50th percentile for the latest class to enter CMU, but still solid. Clearly, increasing that to a 32-33 puts you right in the middle to upper half, and anything better is, well, better! (Duh!). But I put it that way to say don’t stress about getting a 34, although sure, that is nice. A 32-33 will put you in a very solid position with almost any school. So I would recommend spending a month prepping for the exam, instead of just a week. Of course you can try the SAT, but you have already shown you can score well on the ACT and you don’t want to divide your time too much at this point. And since you are only going into your junior year now, if you don’t do any better on the ACT after a lot of studying, you have plenty of time to study for the SAT and try that in the spring.</p>
<p>I am assuming you still have your 4.0 so that clearly isn’t an issue.</p>
<p>Now onto the EC’s. You definitely have to pare down this very long list. Anything before high school, unless it is completely remarkable, should be gone. You want to spend these next 2 years focusing on the things you like best. You don’t need 10 EC’s, you need 4-6 you really like and 2-3 where you show good leadership potential. If you show leadership in 4 or 5 that is fine of course, but the important thing is they can look at your application and say “Strong GPA with very challenging courses, high test scores, and solid EC’s where she showed commitment, can point to accomplishments within the activity, and was a leader at this one and this one”. One thing you can do to make it easier to read is just have one entry on the list for music, and then list the groups you are in. Any detail beyond the name of the group is irrelevant. By grouping them it becomes obvious you love to sing and must be pretty good. Same for the science activities. Now you have 4-6 distinct activity areas where you have made it much clearer to a reader that you have passion for certain things, instead of making them connect the dots.</p>
<p>I am unclear on why CMU, though, if you want to focus on anthropology/sociology. That isn’t what they are best known for. Is it because they also have a strong theater major? I am not saying you couldn’t get a fine education at CMU in those topics, but it doesn’t appear they have an actual anthropology major but just a minor within the history department if I read it correctly. That strikes me as a bit odd. And the focus of the sociology area, while interesting, is not what people classically think of when talking about that major. Not surprisingly for a school like CMU, it takes on a very quantitative bent. Maybe that is what you want.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt, OTOH, has separate majors in both subjects. Centre (which I know quite well btw. It is a very fine school) puts those two together, which is not at all unusual. I would expand your list of schools to which you want to apply to include a few more like Vanderbilt, with being perhaps a touch less selective than Vandy so you are more sure of being accepted. Of course you could always apply to UK as a total safety. But Centre is pretty much a safety. They accept about 2/3 of applicants and you are towards the top of their stat sheets already.</p>
<p>Of course you are only a junior, so you won’t actually be applying for another year. Nothing wrong with long-term planning, as you clearly are doing by starting this a year ago at least. But until you finish your junior year and we have your “final” stats that the colleges will see, along with any other developments, there is plenty of time to revisit the “best fit” for schools issue.</p>
<p>So, I hope that helps a little. Let me know if you have questions. FYI, I also know Scott County. I lived in Louisville for 7 years and traveled around KY some. </p>