I’ll start out by saying I feel like the type of person who always believes there is a sliver of chance.
Test Scores:
ACT:29 (also taken in December)
SAT Subject Tests: I took 3 (Literature, U. S. History and World History, but have not received my results)
I have a 4.0 GPA unweighted
Courses:
I have taken all of the high rigor courses offered at my high school.
AP Literature
AP trig and pre calc
AP Chem
AP Physics
AP Calculus
I have also taken dual enrollment courses.
English I and II
Intro to Anthropology
Intro to Sociology
Intro to Psychology
Public Speaking
Interpersonal Communications
Western Civics
My school did not encourage us to take or notify us about the AP tests.
Extra Ciriculars:
4 years Swimming (Varsity letter recipient)
4 years volleyball (Varsity letter recipient)
National Honor Society
Beta Club
Key Club
Y-Teens (Mostly community service)
Drama Club
Thespian Society
Jazz Choir
Acapella Choir
Marching Band
Concert Band
Steel Band
Serbian Tamburitzans
Church Youth Group
Church Choir
I have always been outrageously ambitious and dreamt of going to top tier schools.
I applied to Georgetown EA (deferred) and University of Pittsburgh (accepted). I plan on applying to Case Western Reserve, Brown, William & Mary, U-Chicago and possibly NYU.
Please explicitly tell me my chances of getting in to any of the schools listed above!
Thank you! (Insert Rue’s whistling from the Hunger Games)
Yes, test scores DO NOT represent a students performance. Top colleges usually use this as a way to narrow down choices in order to raise rankings (chasing students with higher scores >>> higher SAT/ACT scores for the incoming class overall >>> higher USNews scorings). Some schools have dropped test scores as being a requirement, others have refused to accept it (like Hampshire).
If you got a bad test score it’s ok, just apply to rest optional schools.
Sorry, but top schools do see it as representative of a student’s ability. If your scores are low but GPA is high, it is often a sign of grade inflation at your high school. They aren’t just using it for rankings, they genuinely think it is the only yardstick against which students from different high schools can be compared evenly. The students who get in with low scores usually have something else in their application that the school really wants – athlete, URM, legacy, etc. Lower ranked schools may also be attracted by full pay students.
Your ACT is at the 25% mark for Case, making that a low reach as well. You a should look at a couple of test optional schools, too. Google, you will find the list.
If you have done well on your SAT subject tests/AP exams, test-flexible schools may also be an option for you. Though you are an excellent student, it wouldn’t appear that applications to Chicago or Brown would be productive. Your ACT is good, but at least a few points below the mean for these schools.