Need advice for my sister

Applying to College
1

<p>Hey CC!</p>

<p>My sister is a female (stereotypical) Asian. She goes to a small private school that is not really competitive (Majority of the kids go to schools like Providence, Fairfield, Villanova, BU). Financially, my family is well-off and can pay for any college.</p>

<p>She has a 2150 SAT, 4.0 GPA, takes AP classes (APUSH, Comp Sci), president of mathletes, science olympiads, and debate, and plays violin. </p>

<p>She is currently a junior and she has taken the SATs twice and wants to know if she should:</p>

<p>a) retake the SATs for the third time (she is out of practice tests from the BB and the online course)
b) try to take the ACTs
c) work on her research project
d) try to do something "interesting"
e) none/all of the above</p>

<p>In other words, should she spend time getting into college via the "interesting" route or via the test scores route. </p>

<p>I personally told her that she should pick choice c or d. One of my other Asian friends got a 2400 and was rejected from all ivy leagues. He went to Caltech though. I got a 2400 recently but I'm worried about whether colleges will find me interesting.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Is this a joke, she is perfect for those schools it seems to me. I would say do something different, not improve scores. That score is really good. Unless she can study to get 100%, i would say it is not necessary. The research project sounds interesting, but what would come of it? Science fair placing?</p>

3

<p>@ccnube: yeah, she’s trying to enter the Siemens and Intel contests. It’s a bit of a rush for her since she procrastinated. She’s good with computers which will giver her an edge I think. And well, my entire family (parents, cousins) has gone to Ivy League Schools so we’re both under a lot of pressure to get into one (my sister and I are twins). </p>

4

<p>Oh god, in a family that is pressing her into that upper league lifestyle and having a twin to be compared to? Both of you should make the best of your free therapy sessions - just let it all out so that it does not mess with your academia. The best to you both!</p>

5

<p>@ccnube: lol, thanks. </p>

6

<p>Definitely c if possible - after a threshold is reached, what matters at top schools is national-level extracurriculars.</p>

<p>Have your sister look into the women’s colleges, plus Scripps, Agnes Scott, Simmons.</p>