My Chances of getting in and what more I can do.

Colleges and Universities A-Z Tufts University
1

<p>I am going to be a Junior in a Maryland Catholic College Prepatory School. My current GPA is a 4.0 unweighted and a 4.4 weighted. My school does not offer AP Classes until sophmore year, and only a history AP is available to be taken. I took AP Government this past year. I have taken around 4 Honors Courses as well, the max I could have taken was 6 these past two years. However, there were scheduling conflicts and that is why I am not in the other 2 Honors courses. I think colleges end up seeing that. I have over 300 Service Hours that include me volunteering at the hospital every week, playing piano for elderly people in nursing homes, and helping autistic children at one of the local special education programs. I am involved in many clubs including The Latin Honor Society, Ski Club, A Club that Raises money for kids with Childhood Cancer, Student Ambassadors (40 students are selected each year to serve as a "leader" to new students for the year), Students Against Destructive Descisions, and A Club that involves debating on recent Political News. I am still preparing for the SAT. I play piano, golf, and ski (as said before) we are planning on starting a golf program next year that I will participate in. I am also pursuing an internship with either the hospital I volunteer with, which I will most likely get, or with NIH, which is up in the air because I am not yet at the applying stage for it. I want to go into medicine.</p>

<p>My Classes are:</p>

<p>Freshman-
English 09 Honors (A+)
Honors Beg. Physics (A+)
World History (A+) highest grade in the class for one semester
Geometry <a href="A">sophmore course</a>
Theology I (A+) Highest Grade in the class for one semester
Latin 1 (A+) highest grade in the class for both semesters</p>

<p>Highest GPA in Freshman Class (a tie)</p>

<p>Sophmore:
AP Gov (A+) {5 on the exam}
English 10 Honors (A+)
Bio Honors (A+)
Algebra II (A+)
Theology II (A+)
Latin II (A+) </p>

<p>Have a good shot at Highest GPA in Sophmore Class</p>

<p>My school gives out highest GPA's and Highest Grades in classes, but they do not disclose class rank overall. I am either number 1 or number 2 out of a class of 70 kids. </p>

<p>My Junior Course Load:
AP Language
AP Art History
Chem Honors
AP US History
PreCalc Honors
Latin 3</p>

<p>Awards:</p>

<p>Auxiliary Award for Hospital
100 Hours award for hospital
200 hours award for hospital
National Latin Exam Cum Laude Award</p>

<p>I left out my electives from my classes because they are not very notable, but I had no choice in taking them the past two years because I needed to take a theology course, health course, and music/art course the first two years, as a requirement. They were all A+'s if you're interested. my sat, through looking at my PSAT (180) and my recent practice and sat prep, figures to come out at a 2200, hopefully. </p>

<p>I feel like my weak point is obvious in extra curriculars because I do not have a sport on my resume, but I am hoping by the time I apply my community service and clubs will make up for it. The salutatorian at our school got denied from Brown this year, however she got into bates and the valedictorian of our school and another student got accepted into Cornell.</p>

2

<p>you should be proud of your accomplishments to date, but it’s really too soon to assess your chances. wait and see what your test scores and junior year grades look like.</p>

3

<p>“I feel like my weak point is obvious in extra curriculars because I do not have a sport on my resume”</p>

<p>What makes you think that’s a weakness? Schools want to see people who are passionate about and excel at something. 9th and 10th grade are good times to explore. By 11th, you should be developing some focus. It is totally unnecessary to do sports, music, 6 clubs, volunteer, etc…In fact, doing it all it makes you look like you have no sense of direction and you are spread too thin to contribute in a really meaningful way to the things you actually do care about. Pick the 2 or 3 things that you matter most to you and show a level of commitment, creativity and intellectual engagement that differentiates you from all the other people who are doing the same activities. If you are pre-med, then certainly pick something related to exploring that area further (research, volunteering, advocacy). If you care about music, pursue it. And if you aren’t interested in sports, then don’t bother because nobody cares.</p>

4

<p>Thank you for your comments. M’s Mom, I am contacting the school with ideas for starting up a science club right now, and I think the hospital awards will look good too. The childhood cancer club is also important to me and I am looking to be president of it. Also, I am going to try to expand with my teacher on the Latin Honor Society, I took latin in the first place because I heard it is important when becoming a doctor, if this is true I will try hard to tie this in in my essay. I am also going to participate in one of the internships stated above. Is this enough and do they present some sort of a theme?</p>

5

<p>Your ECs sound fine: Remember, it’s not about being president or what clubs you belong to, or how many hours you volunteer - it’s what you accomplish as a participant and what you got out of it. Awards based on sheer numbers of hours of service are often not as impressive as undertaking a project or initiative and making something happen in an organization. For each activity you engage in, ask yourself, ‘what would I be proud of achieving here?’ and ‘how can I make a lasting impact?’</p>

6

<p>Also be aware that in terms of activities it’s better to do a few things well than to have a huge laundry list of activities. I wouldn’t write about taking Latin to be a doctor, I’d try to write something that is more revealing about your personality or how you think. You want to show not tell what sort of person you are.</p>

<p>But really? This summer spend less time on CC and more time figuring out who you are and what you want out of life. I really think it’s more important to do what you love and explain why to college that to do things you think colleges will love. My son wrote about two quirky unusual activities that are on no one’s list of “how to get into college”.</p>

7

<p>Although I don’t like to comment much on these posts any more, but I got into Tufts this year. Trust me when I say I have absolutely NO athletic bone in my body and have never played any sport in school, including those required in physical education class =P So, needless to say, I totally wouldn’t worry about that. It’s early as others have mentioned, but stay true to who you are and just do your best. Be well rounded but do what you love. Don’t try to please the college. Show them you. That’ll be more impressive. It’s cheesy, but it’s true (probably).</p>

8

<p>That’s what I’ve done the past two years, I’ll continue it and I’ll see what happens. Also I am a semifinalist in a poem contest. The poem has been published in a book set to come out in September.</p>

9

<p><<<but really?=“” this=“” summer=“” spend=“” less=“” time=“” on=“” cc=“” and=“” more=“” figuring=“” out=“” who=“” you=“” are=“” what=“” want=“” of=“” life.=“” i=“” really=“” think=“” it’s=“” important=“” to=“” do=“” love=“” explain=“” why=“” college=“” that=“” things=“” colleges=“” will=“” love.=“” my=“” son=“” wrote=“” about=“” two=“” quirky=“” unusual=“” activities=“” no=“” one’s=“” list=“” “how=”" get=“” into=“” college".=“”>>></but></p>

<p>^^^Words to live by.</p>

10

<p>I do know what I “want out of life”. I was simply looking for opinions on something’s that would help and my chances. I am not really circling my life around it but sometimes it’s nice to know.</p>

11

<p>wait, i have a question. you said your PSAT score was 180 and you figured that should come out to about a 2200 on the sat. i understand that you’re doing prep now, so is that basically where the 2200 came from? because i got a 185 on the psat and my projected sat score was much lower than 2200. then again that was just from some random website once i put my scores in, but still. lol i guess i’m just wondering how you got from 180 psat to 2200 sat</p>

12

<p>My S got a 180 PSAT and did the SAT prep classes. After he took the SAT twice, his superscore was 2190. So it can be done if the effort is put in.</p>