Junior interested in Ivies, Looking for advice! =)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hello! This is quite long, sorry! =)</p>

<p>Male
Public High School
Basque (Spanish) - does this make me an "underrepresented minority"?</p>

<p>SAT Scores:
First time (Dec4): 800v, 670m
I am confident I can bring my math score up above a 700.</p>

<p>Rank: 2/240</p>

<p>GPA: We don't use a 4 point scale, we do a 100 point scale. I have only gotten 1 B so far.
Unweighted: About 95 (~3.9?)
Weighted: About 103 </p>

<p>I am taking the most rigorous schedule possible. I haven't had a free period my entire time in this damn school. Last year, I doubled up on histories and took A.P. Euro (got 5 on exam), and I was the only sophomore in a class of seniors. This year, I am doubling up on sciences and taking A.P. Bio. All my courses are honors that are offered as honors.</p>

<p>Freshmen Year: Honors Lit/Comp I, Honors Biology, Honors Geometry, Modern World History, Photo I, Creative Writing I & II, French II</p>

<p>Sophomore Year: Honors American Lit/Comp, Honors Chemistry, Honors U.S. History I, A.P. Euro, Intro. to Journalism, Honors Algebra II</p>

<p>Junior Year: Honors World Lit/Comp, Creative Writing III & IV, Honors Physics, A.P. Biology, A.P. U.S. History, Honors Precalc/Trig, French IV</p>

<p>Senior Year (prospective): A.P. English, A.P. Physics, Human Behavior, Honors French V, A.P. Calc BC, Ceramics (woohoo!!!), Creative Writing I.S.</p>

<p>SAT IIs (taking in June):
Biology (molecular)
U.S. History
Literature (maybe!, what do you guys think?)
I expect to do well on the New SAT writing. I got an 80 on the New PSAT Writing section, and I can write a mean extemporaneous essay!</p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities (prospective 12s):</p>

<p>Amnesty International (10, 11, 12) - Founder and President
Crew (rowing) - Novice (10), J.V. (11), Varsity (12)
Amaranth (school's literary mag) - Editor (9), Co-Editor-in-Chief (10,11), Editor-in-Chief (12)
Book Club - Member (9), President (10, 11, 12)
Mock Trial - Understudy (9), Defendant (10), Defense Attorney (11, 12)
Model UN - Representative (9, 10), Committee Rapporteur (maybe 11), Chair (12?)
Interact (Community Service) - Active Member (9, 10, 11, 12)
S.A.D.D - Member (9, 10, 11, 12)
S.T.O.P (Students Teaching Options & Prevention) - Core Member (9, 10, 11, 12) (through this club I have gone to grade schools to speak to kids about peer pressure and drugs)
Future Educators of America - Member (9, 10, 11, 12) (through this club I have worked with grade school children on their writing and I have also volunteered weekly in the grade school library)
Science League - Competitor (9, 10, 11, 12)</p>

<p>Following clubs only open to juniors & seniors, by selection:
N.H.S - Member (11, 12)
Cinnamentors (mentoring program) - Mentor (11, 12)
Physics Olympics - Competitor (11, 12)</p>

<p>I've gotten a ton of awards for being the best in the Social Studies department, some in the Science Department, too. I've also been Student of the Month. I've been published in the newspaper, and have had an article about me in the newspaper (about when I was starting an Amnesty International chapter in my town). My poetry has been published in a few ( admittedly unimpressive) periodicals, and I have finishing writing a play that I am submitting to a bunch of competitions this year.</p>

<p>Freshmen summer I worked at the town library. Last summer, I went to the National Youth Leadership Forum for Medicine,. This summer, I am applying to the N.J. Governor's School for Int'l Studies (highly selective) and T.A.S.P. (impossibly selective), and I will most likely be accepted to Gov School.</p>

<p>OK, here are my target schools =) :</p>

<p>Yale
Princeton
Brown
Amherst
Williams
Swarthmore
Reed
Tufts
Bowdoin
Middlebury
Vassar
N.Y.U
U. Chicago</p>

<p>Thank you so much for reading through all of this! If you think certain schools are too much of a reach, please give me some advice if you think I should make some changes.</p>

2

<p>I can tell you've worked hard. I don't think breaking 1500 would make a difference in acceptance, I would thinking taking the SAT's just to break more than 700 is pointless.</p>

<p>I think you have a pretty good shot at most of them. You should have no trouble getting into NYU. As far as the other schools, I don't know them all but schools like Amherst, Swarthmore, Bowdoin, Princeton is anyones call. I think you have a great shot at all of them, and I'm pretty sure you'll get into 1 of them for the least.</p>

3

<p>Well, thanks! NYU is what one would call a "safety," I believe. Not saying it's not a fantastic school, I just aspire to a different sort of school. Yale, Princeton, Brown, and Swarthmore are where I would most like to be, and one of them (probably Yale) I will apply early decision to based on how I feel about the campuses after visiting extensively this summer. </p>

<p>Also, I am not taking the SAT's again to break a 700. I am taking them again because I am a Junior, and most colleges want to see the New SAT scores for us. But alot of schools (like Yale) are accepting highest math/verbal scores from either test, so I decided I would take the old SAT once since I thought I would be good at the verbal. Now, since I have to take the New SAT, I just thought I'd note that I will most likely break into the 700 range because a) those pesky quantitive comparisons are gone! and b) I don't think a 670 was really indicative of my mathematical abilities. I'm no whiz (I'm more of a history/arts/english kind of guy) but I still think I am pretty proficient.</p>

<p>Thanks again! =)</p>

4

<p>Any more advice, guys? =)</p>

5

<p>You are a solid candidate, but Princeton and Yale are what they are, lottery tickets. For the rest of them, you have great chances.
Good luck</p>

6

<p>Thanks, buddy!!! So, you think I have a great chance at Brown? That's pretty neat. I know its a crap shoot for any of the ivy league schools, especially Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, and that's why I was wondering if I was shaping up to be a formidable candidate. </p>

<p>I know on the applications you can only put X amount of extracurricular activities (unless you want to add a seperate "brag list" - which I don't know about...). Do you think any of my (14) extracurricular activities aren't really worth putting? I am pretty proud of my participation in all of them, (except maybe SADD, since they hardly ever had meetings, and Environmental Club, which is so defunct I didn't even bother listing). I don't just join clubs and sit for the meetings, I'm active. </p>

<p>I would like to write in an essay on the application about certain activities (like Amnesty Int'l, Amaranth, Crew, and Mock Trial) to show them that I have put tons of time and heart into them. Do most college applications have some sort of essay option to talk about extracurricular activities that are most important to you? But does this essay topic usually mean you can only talk about one activity?</p>

7

<p>for the activities, I think you should put down the ones you won an award in or have a leadership position, just lisitng some clubs without achievements might not be useful. I don't know about activity essay, because essay can be the difference maker, so make sure the whatever activity you write about shows something valuable about you.</p>