<p>Hi I'm considering applying to colleges like Northwestern and some Ivy League schools, what do you think my chances of getting in are like with these credentials:</p>
<p>ACT: 35 (35+ on all sub sections)
SAT: 2310 (750+ on each)
SAT II's in Am hist, lit and math II pending
GPA:3.99.. (top 5 in class)
National Merit Scholar commendation (did not do as well for some reason on PSAT as all other tests ): )</p>
<p>School has relatively poor course offerings, only 4 AP courses. I took AP Calc as soph and got 5 on AP test, am taking other 3 offered this year (Bio, Hist, Eng) and may do extra work on own to take AP Physics as well.</p>
<p>I'm pretty confident that will help me get at least considered, but I'm not very confident about my EC's which include</p>
<p>Music (clarinet, some fairly minor awards)
4 yrs varsity tennis with some all area honors, competititve tournament player
Volunteering as tutor/mentor for middle school student approx.100 hours
a few clubs at school like honors society, language club</p>
<p>Also, while through school and testing I have always been reassured that my writing skills are excellent, I don't feel like the essays I've done so far have been particularly inspired. (Any advice on "why do you want to go here, and this particular school" essay by the way?)</p>
<p>Any advice/opinions would be great, thanks!</p>
<p>Good academics - although I don't know how you can have 3 SAT IIs pending, since you can only take 2 per testing date. </p>
<p>Where are you from (state)? I would say yes for Northwestern. </p>
<p>On the essay, I just tried to give an honest reason as to why I chose their school/program. I spent a lot of time picking most of my schools, reading pretty much everthing I could find about them before applying. </p>
<p>Most responses to essay questions like "why do you want to go here" will be straightforward and rather formal. Don't worry if yours doesn't seem too unique or outstanding.</p>
<p>I looked into this, and you're right - you can take 3 in one sitting. When I registered, they only let me register for 2. Not sure why that was, maybe because the testing center I registered for wasn't offering the language subtest I wanted. </p>
<p>yeah you had me real worried there for a second Nitrox, the "pending" part of my post was a little misleading I'm taking it Dec 1 (which is probably a little late?) and I thought I had a major problem until I looked into it myself. I live in the Lansing area by the way ( I already got into U of M, fairly good fallback option) </p>
<p>Does anyone else have any ideas about my chances from the original post? I forgot to mention some other activities like quiz bowl and volunteer statistician on there too.</p>
<p>Heh - I'll be doing the same thing on Dec 1 - Chem and Math II (and now maybe a third, since CB changed my test site from my original choice, which I guess canned it owing to lack of interest). </p>
<p>Which Ivys are you interested in?</p>
<p>And congrats on UM - you are in a great position with that in the bag!</p>
<p>Harvard (although not much of a reason for it besides prestige so not too much interest I guess) Princeton and Cornell (my cousin goes there and says good things) probably. Hopefully I can get into NU and if I'm lucky at least one of those Ivy's but I'm not too confident I guess. If anyone else has any thoughts about my chances or what to do input would be appreciated. Where are you considering Nitrox?</p>
<p>Nice. I think NorthWestern is a secure match. Impressive math skills (a 5 on AP Calc AB on Soph? I'm taking it on Junior year), but lax ECs. You might want to beef up your ECs</p>
<p>yeah definitely no time for that, but I keep thinking of a few things i've done that aren't on there. And I don't understand the volume and prestige of EC's some people on here have, I've always felt busy but apparently I was just a major slacker!</p>
<p>In at every school imo, with only possibilty of rejection at the top tier ivies, if you wrote a strong essay and had good recs you will get in everywhere imo, if they are average you will probably get rejected from at least one of the two top tiers your shoooting for. Good luck though, and U of Michigan is an awesome backup.</p>