How should I improve my resume/which colleges should I be targeting?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello everyone! Alan here. I live in Kansas.

Currently, I have a 4.0 unweighted GPA, am ranked in the top 5% of my class of 300 students, and have scored a 30 on the ACT (I’ve only taken it once. I plan to take it 3 more times, and expect to raise it to at least a 32 or better). By the end of my junior year, I will have taken 3 AP classes and 1 college credit class, but plan to take 6 AP classes my senior year. The rest of my resume looks like this:

Clubs-
Chess Club (Vice President/Co-founder)
STUCO Representative (for Chess Club)
Science Olympiad (Group Leader)
Newspaper (Editor)
Quill and Scroll
National Honor Society
Medical Explorers
Spanish Club
Envirothon

(I have an idea to apply for a National English Honor Society chapter for our school, since we do not have one at our school yet. That would allow me to become the president and founder of prestigious academic club. It would also be more important leadership experience. I also plan to join Key Club as a member.)

Volunteer Work-
250+ hours at the local hospital (Front Desk, Patient Records, and Emergency Room)
6 hours at Middle School State Science Olympiad
3 hours tutoring Elementary School children
2 hours at local Historical Society (I plan to add more hours to this)

Writing Experience-
I have published dozens of articles in the school newspaper. We are a weekly publication, so that adds up. I’ve had one of my stories published in the school yearbook, had 5 of my reviews published in a national magazine for teens (Teen Ink), won 3rd place in a Texas library writing contest, and had my work featured in a teen exhibit at Kansas State University.

(I have no work experience whatsoever. I’ve never had a job. Will this be a problem when applying for schools? I suppose I could always get a part time summer job, if it’s worth it.)

(Also, I’ve never played a sport. Will that be a problem for me when applying? I am considering joining the Ultimate Frisbee team as a casual member. Many of my friends are a part of it, and it help fill that gap in my resume. Is that a good idea?)

I’d also like to mention that I have legacy claims to Colorado College (2nd generation), University of Washington (2nd generation), and Stanford (3rd generation). My father, my grandfather, my grandfather’s brother, and my uncle all went to Stanford. It’s also important to note that since my mother is from Honduras, so I consider myself Hispanic.

The plan right now is try to aim for Medical School someday. So Pre-Med, Biology, and Philosophy are the majors I am considering.

I may have left out a couple things, but that is my resume in a nutshell. My question to the community here is, what colleges should I be considering? Based off of this resume, what colleges am I capable of getting into? My ideal choice would be Stanford, but as of now I understand that’s a bit out of reach (though legacy should help me out a bit). The basic goal is to aim for the highest ranked school possible.

Also, what are some things that I can/should do to improve my resume?

Thank you very much! I understand that was probably a long read, but I appreciate your time.

2

Stanford is an extreme reach for everyone. Your ACT score is respectable, but not competitive for Stanford, even as a legacy. I think your chances are pretty good at Colorado College, especially as Instead of planning to take the ACT three more times, why not take the SAT at least once? I suggest trying each test twice. You might do better on one than the other, or perform better on certain sections on one or another. University of Washington has become more selective, but I think your chances are pretty good. Overall, your resume is solid. I just suggest that you try SATs, instead of focusing all your attention on the ACTs. Will you need financial aid?

3

The combined income of my family is right about $100,000. We are right on that line. We will definitely be needing financial aid of some kind.

And I appreciate your advice, woognmama :smile: I am currently scheduled to take the SAT this March.

4

I agree, taking each test twice is a great idea. I would definitely follow through with your ideas because they would strengthen your application a good deal. Your writing and volunteering are amazing though, a strong point of your application. Standards a reach (as for everyone) but legacy will help. I’d look into NYU, BU, and some of the UCs. Best of luck!

5

I appreciate the kind words, ptkid16 :smiley: Thank you so much! I’ll definitely keep those schools in mind.

6

Defintely do NOT pick up ultimate frisbee, and do NOT worry about the summer job.
Your activities are obviously being done to impress admissions officers. I don’t want to be hypercritical, but your ECs are really spread out and several of them seem superficial. This is actually a very big problem; you will need to use at least one essay to explain where your passion lies. Furthermore, if your writing is getting you awards, why do you want to major in the medical field? Have you taken AP Bio or tried enrolling in a special program for that field?
Remember that many schools don’t superscore the ACT; keep retaking and practicing until you get 32 or 33.
That you live in Kansas is actually a small advantage, because there are fewer qualified students from that state.
However, you are really working way to hard to impress people (that is, admissions officers). You need to stop this now.

7

Hi 1golfer1

I’m a bit confused by your claim that my ECs are really spread out. The National English Society*, Quill and Scroll, Newspaper, my published writing, and writing awards can all be lumped into one big category, my passion for writing and the English language (5 things). That would be the subject of my essay. Medical Explorers, Science Olympiad, and Envirothon all fall into a secondary science passion (3 things). That leaves Chess (which is the only reason I’m in STUCO), Spanish Club, and NHS (which isn’t really an interest, it’s more of a award really). I believe that colleges would like to see that a person isn’t entirely one dimensional, so a couple loose groups are beneficial. It’s all about being well rounded, right? Also, can you elaborate on my resume being “superficial”? I assure you, all in the above paragraph is legitimate.
What I will take note of is your advice to not take part in Key Club or Ultimate Frisbee. I suppose those would be random. and joining them would simply be a resume builder, so I see your point there. What I should probably do is join more writing, English, and Science groups. That is, if I should add anything at all.

Thanks for your advice. I appreciate your honesty!

8

I agree with golfer in that your EC’s seem to be building a resume. Stanford will be a reach because of your ACT score but also because you need to know how Stanford looks at applicants.
My children (URM’-Mexican-American) are Stanford legacies and even with near perfect SAT scores, they were not admitted. My son designed, built and donated a storage building with donated monies and labor for the high school.

Stanford looks for kids who have the WOW factor. The legacy won’t help unless your parents have donated a new building.

The students from our local high school (2200 students) who got into Stanford were extremely impressive to us and we were blown away by their accomplishments:
-an AMAZING Tri-sport athlete with a near perfect SAT score, who came close to qualifying for the olympic team. His parents were from a small African village where he spent time learning their languages and cultural mores and wrote a guide/book about it.
-the son of a Russian emigre who spent all of his summers, in Russia, literally building a school and hiring teachers for that school, which still continues today. He was also a tri-sport athlete, but he spent every spare minute of his day raising money for breast cancer and driving his mother to her chemo appointments.
Does that help clarify why Golfer’s comments make sense?
The schools, in general, like athletes because athletes have to have major time management skills to practice a minimum of 15 to 20 hours per week, play tournaments, win, achieve varsity levels and get good grades to stay on the teams. Doing frisbee golf just isn’t the same thing.

9

Hi aunt bea,
Forgive me when I say I don’t follow you. You have presented me valid reasons why Stanford may be out of reach (and very fair they are), but I fail to see how they relate to golf’s points. Yes, I may not have built a school in Russia…but I’m unable to see how that somehow means my ECs are all fake and done solely for the purpose of a resume. The ultimate frisbee deal, I already admitted, may have been too much (and in my defense, that’s why I brought up the question in my original post…because I had doubts myself). But the other activities are absolutely legitimate (minus the NEHS, which I admit is both a mix of passion for writing and resume building). Am I not allowed to be open minded, and willing to try different things? I don’t get it. I thought that was a trait that colleges looked for in a student.
Just to clarify to everybody, this post was never about whether or not I could get into Stanford. I’ve never really thought “hey, it’s going to be breeze getting in there” because it certainly will not be. Right now, I’m just aiming for the highest schools within my reach, and I was hoping to hear some suggestions about what schools those might be. I’m also looking for ways to improve my resume. Golf made a comment that he thought it looked scattered, and I’m glad he brought that to my attention. What I haven’t been told, however, is how to change that. Honestly, I still believe that I can reasonably justify the grouping of my activities together in categories…but then again it’s the admissions officers, not myself, that I have to convince.
I’m just trying to get improve here guys. I apologize for seeming defensive, but it’s more out of confusion than anything else. Bear with me please.

10

I realize you haven’t been able to follow the posts so I’m going to give it to you honestly and based on my experience working with my students and with those former students I listed above.

What everyone is saying is that your application looks equitable to every other high achieving wannabe poster.
-It doesn’t have the WOW factor that Stanford and the top schools apparently need in building their freshman classes which I believe is selflessness.

-Your scores, although good, aren’t "GREAT: which is what those top schools expect.

-You didn’t balance your activities with a sports discipline or work. It also appears that your club creations are self-serving and the adcoms will pick that up right away.

-Are you seriously going to put 3 hours of tutoring on your application?

When you are competing with students who go to homeless shelters, creating homework centers, staffing those shelters, 3 hours looks like you are trying too hard to make yourself look good.

The people on CC are trying to help you realize that you’ve got major competition at those top tier schools and that maybe you should have some safeties in your back pocket.

-You want to do “pre-med” but there usually is no such “major” at the universities; did you do research in that area?

-You have the obligatory volunteer hours at a hospital which most “Candy Stripers” and Girl Scouts are required to complete. The WOW factor students have assisted with Doctors without Borders. They have pilot’s licenses etc.

They work in labs (My dd, in her high school biomed classes, conducted diabetic research at the local UC under the guidance of several professors, and then translated for visiting doctoral students from China-this was in her senior year of high school! She didn’t try to get into the ivies, but was admitted to Johns Hopkins.)

I could be wrong in my assessment, because you just never know. The best thing going for you right now is that you are from Kansas and the schools like having students from different geographic regions. Consider some safeties because you just never know.