<p>I'm currently a junior
GPA: 3.92 unweighted (will hopefully be raised)</p>
<p>Have taken 11 honors/AP classes by the end of this year, will be 17 by the end of high school</p>
<p>I have been a varsity swimmer and rower all of high school and plan to continue that (not good enough to get recruited)</p>
<p>Summers: Humanitarian project in India between freshman and sophomore year, Comptetitive internship with a physician between sophomore and junior year, and I just got accepted into an oncology research internship for this summer. </p>
<p>I am VP of National Honors Society this year and will likely be president next year.</p>
<p>SAT/ACT: not taken these yet, what do you think I need to get in? (2300+?)</p>
<p>I am also part of this honors program thingy in my school district.</p>
<p>I am a columnist for my city's newspaper and have been doing so for the past two years.</p>
<p>I was on the advisory board for my school freshman year.</p>
<p>I think that's it. I know there is nothing outstanding about my resume, but any advice or thoughts would be appreciated! It would be great if you don't say anything too hurtful!</p>
<p>My gosh… I mean, I don’t know too much about the admissions process yet, but I have read enough to know that your application sounds like it will stand out. I do not know of many teenagers who would go all the way to India to do a humanitarian project. Seriously, as long as you don’t completely flunk the rest of Junior year and as long as you don’t bomb the SAT’s (neither of which are likely to happen, if all of what you have said is true), I don’t think you will have any problems getting into any school that you want to go to.</p>
<p>Yes, impressive. However, if you want any chance at all (even with your outstanding EC’s) you have to get that top SAT score. Hopefully your subject tests will be just as appealing.</p>
<p>I’ve found that getting into college is all about two things: (1) How you sell yourself and (2) Passion. Obviously, these two go hand in hand. If you are genuinely passionate about something, you will have no problem selling yourself in your essays. If you are just pretending to be passionate, the admissions office will easily sniff out your BS. Grades and test scores are important as well, but only to a certain point. Then it’s all about these two things.</p>
<p>I’m a Junior as well. His resume sounds great. What else would be a bonus to add to his resume? What is something you could do to make your resume stand out?</p>
<p>Get a high SAT score (2250+), and make sure that your grades put you in the top 2% of your graduating class. Your ECs are on form, but if you can find some way to take your newspaper column to a higher level, it would help your chances. With that said, it’s difficult to give a truly accurate prediction without scores (don’t neglect the importance of subject tests), rank, and a little more about your background (state, school type, etc.)</p>
<p>Wow thank you everyone for taking the time to reply to my annoying post! You have all really lifted my spirits at a difficult point in the year for me. Yale is definitely my dream school, and I really am incredibly passionate about healthcare. I want to thank all of you for giving me the courage to even apply!</p>
<p>I want to second what afumagalli said about passion and selling yourself. An impressive list of ECs and a high SAT score is not enough on its own – this year Yale had 27280 applicants, many of them with similar qualifications. You need something to make yourself stand out, and neither high scores nor quantity of ECs will do the trick. You need to show the admissions officers that you are truly passionate about something – if you say you are passionate about healthcare, demonstrate it in your EC list – work in hospitals, helping patients, etc. In school run food drives and what not for pplz in need… basically you do need to be well rounded, but at the same time the majority of your application should scream “I care about healthcare.” Then use your essays to explain to the admissions committee WHY you are so passionate about it – You listed that you had a humanitarian project on India, so I would want to hear more about that in your essay, not just about what you did but what your experiences were and what you learned and how it changed you etc. So yeah – passion passion passion is what you need.</p>
<p>Totally agree with afumagalli. If you have all the academics, in-depth ec’s, test scores, recs, etc. and are unhooked, it will come down to being able to sell yourself–which will come through with your passion, and whether or not your app falls on the top of the stairs. Yes, I don’t think even the best unhooked applicant can be sure, nor can even some of the hooked applicants. BUT, by all means go for it if you believe you’ve hit the prerequisites above. It helps to be an excellent writer as you want to keep those AO’s awake!</p>