I am a rising high school senior in Arkansas and thinking about the college process has been stressing me out. I have good stats, but I do not know if I want to apply to an Ivy League, or a school like Vanderbilt. I do not know what the pros and cons would be of either choice, or if I could even get accepted. My stats so far are
ACT Comp - 35
ACT Math - 34
ACT English - 35
ACT Reading - 36
ACT Science - 35
ACT Writing - 10
GPA Unweighted - 3.98
GPA Weighted - 4.3
AP Courses - I will graduate with 14 AP’s , I have only gotten one B in AP Biology. 4 or 5 on each test.
Class Rank - 2 out of ~800
Extracurriculars - Volleyball 6 years, 2 year Varsity, 2 time state runner up, 1 time conference champs
-3 time Varsity Bowling
-2nd place in state HOSA competition, HOSA community lesion
-Math club 3 years
-National Honors Society, NHS Board Member
-Worked full time as an office assistant in summer
-Participated and received honorable mentions in ACTM state math competitions
-Worked kids team camps for volleyball&worked 2 blood drives.
I know my EC’s are weak, and I have nothing that really shows a passion. This worries me for Ivy League admissions. I would just hate to not apply and regret it in the future but I also do not know if I should waste my time/money. I have no incredible story for my essays. I am a well off white female.
@cccmccc
[QUOTE=""]
but I do not know if I want to apply to an Ivy League, or a school like Vanderbilt <<
[/QUOTE]
what’s stopping you from applying to Ivies, as well as Vanderbilt? and Duke and Rice and Northwestern for that matter?
[QUOTE=""]
I would just hate to not apply and regret it in the future <<
[/QUOTE]
If you apply the worst that can happen is you get rejected and don’t attend. If you don’t apply, you don’t attend anyway.
But applying at least gives you a chance, so of course you should apply.
[QUOTE=""]
I also do not know if I should waste my time/money. I have no incredible story for my essays. I am a well off white female <<
[/QUOTE]
well, you’re well off so you can afford it. and if you think setting up where you are going to spend the next 4 years of your life and earning your degree is a waste of time … well, l don’t know what else to say to you.
I didn’t think my son would get accepted to Duke but he applied anyway on my wife’s insistence. guess what? he’s going to Duke. so you never know.
just make sure you line up at least one school where you are guaranteed admission, you are sure you can afford, and that you will happy attending if it comes down to that.
^^ ^ Agree. Apply to several schools and be sure to talk to you parents about what they can pay – you need an actual number to use as you evaluate these schools. But sure, apply where you would like to go and some others that would be fine with you as safeties.
Do you have a potential major in mind? Since your scores are too high to cross off a lot of schools that way, it may be best to look at things like
- what academic departments are strong at each school
- how far from home and how easy to get there
- size of school, urban/rural setting
- campus vibe (scholarly and/or preprofessional and/or big time sports etc)
Apply to reach, match, and safety schools. At your safety schools, apply to the honors program if there is one, too.
Reach schools require taking a chance of rejection, but sometimes failing to apply can lead to regrets as well.
y are u applying to ivies? i mean u do have really good stats, but y do u like them so much?
What are you doing this summer? Can you pull something together that would add some further depth to your ECs? You mentioned working teen camps with volleyball – have you worked with any special needs kids? Can you start some sort of program related to volleyball in the inner city? Or perhaps tutoring math? (BTW, I trust that you are a HOSA community LIAISON, not a HOSA community LESION. And what is HOSA?)
Alternatively, is there some sort of internship or research you can do? What are your academic interests? Perhaps a dual enrollment summer class?
This is an important summer – use it to your best advantage!!