<p>I am a junior and am not quite in the top ten percent of my class, GPA just a 3.7 unweighted, but I am taking 5 Ap classes this year and one honors class, getting a B in only one (Latin 4 AP). Got a 5 on World History AP which I took sophomore year and will be taking seven AP classes senior year. My high school is really rigorous, will that me enough to get into Pomona? Am competing in FIRST Robotics which counts as a sixth AP at my school b/c of outside work though there isn't a test. Will be an Eagle Scout too by the time I will apply, have not received SAT scores yet but Math and CR will be about 730, writing 680 to 720. Is there any other way I could improve my application, i would really like to get in, Pomona is my dream school.</p>
<p>Express interest, visit, talk with students, show Pomona how much it would mean to you to get in. As far as your app, make sure you have some meaningful EC's and try to boost your GPA (although I am sure you will with all those AP's). Otherwise you definitely look like you are on the right track. Good Luck!</p>
<p>When my high school class graduated (years ago), 7 from my class were admitted to Pomona. 5 were in the top 3%, the other 2, myself included, weren't. I was in the top 7% and had the benefit of several softs that you can probably take advantage of.</p>
<p>1) Personal statement. Make it sincere. Make it golden. The ability to write well is one thing I noticed about a lot of my classmates and it certainly makes other things more forgiveable.
2) Rec Letters. I've seen them break kids who are virtual shoo-ins, statistically speaking. (By virtual shoo-in, I mean, top academics, alumni legacy, good personal statement, etc.) Rec Letters saved my ass.
3) it'd help to win the robotics thing.
4) AP scores, in my opinion, influence the readers.
5) Eagle Scout helps. Maybe even talk about it.
6) Get an interview; shine during it.</p>
<p>Being from a rigorous high school? Well...that doesn't help much. There are tons of those across the country, and just because your high school might be ranked higher than High School B doesn't mean much in the real world.</p>
<p>Re: rec letters -- does that mean it'll kill you if they're decent/good, but not great?</p>
<p>Make sure you schedule an interview, early! There's a very specific deadline to request an interview about a month before the application deadline. Check their website for more info.</p>
<p>I would recommend you call about interviews as soon as school begins next year. Depending on where you live, locating an alum interviewer might be difficult. And an interview can only help you.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Schools such as Pomona do take into account the quality of your high school in judging your transcript.</p>
<p>You should definitely re-take your SATs and try to improve the scores. Right now they are borderline for Pomona, and that, plus the fact that you are not in the top 10% of your class, are not so great. You'll have a stronger application if you can improve your SATs by 20-30 points.</p>
<p>Hey wantPomona, </p>
<p>I forgot to mention. Being a recruited student-athlete helps. Basically when admissions officers ask for a complete picture of you, they want an idea of the kind of person you’d be in the community. That means the classes, the intellectual interests, the social circles you’d run in, the hobbies you pursue.</p>
<p>Decent rec letters won’t kill you. Glowing rec letters will make the difference, as they did in my case. </p>
<p>And obviously, if your numbers are higher that only gives them more reason to admit you.</p>
<p>Best of Luck.</p>
<p>Rec letter and essay got me in. They really try to see what kind of person you are through those two rather than more objective datas.</p>