<p>Junior here, looking at my prospective colleges. My dream school is Brown, I'd love to get in if I could. What do you guys think my odds are?</p>
<p>I go to a pretty competitive private school in NJ, the Pingry School. </p>
<p>(I haven't taken the SATs yet, in Jan actually but I'm averaging around here)
SAT: 2200-2300
SAT II: chem, 760
PSAT: 234 with National Merit Scholar Award
(I have around an A- average on my most recent interim grades, although my transcript shows me as an average A - A+ student.)
GPA: 4.0 official transcript with Honor Roll
AP's: psych, bc calc, english (lang and lit), us history</p>
<p>Sports wise:
I've done Taekwondo for 6 years, have a blackbelt, and am an instructor at my dojo
I've done JV tennis for 3 years and will likely play varsity for my senior year</p>
<p>ECs:
I am an alumna of CRS, a really selective international youth leadership camp. One of 60 chosen girls worldwide.
I'm a part of the school's multicultural club
I volunteer at my grandparents senior center and at a farm that grows food to feed the hungry
I volunteer around my town for local township events (not sure if its an EC?) </p>
<p>This summer, I have two choices. Ideally I'm applying for TASP (telluride), and would love to go if I get in. However, since it is HIGHLY selective, I've already secured an internship at the UN through my family. </p>
<p>Hopefully for my app I can create a 'leadership/diversity' angle along with grades and SAT. </p>
<p>You look like a strong applicant who should have a good shot at Brown. But it is one of the most selective schools in the US, so by default the best almost any applicant can hope for is for Brown to be a low reach. That said, your ECs are still not particularly spectacular, so Brown would be a low reach to reach.</p>
<p>Do apply for other schools such as NYU or other ivies as safeties.</p>
<p>Well, I’ve won a couple of awards at my school for my writing, they are internal though. One was a poem for a Holocaust Remembrance day, that won first, and another was a short piece that placed third in a school wide competition. I am planning on taking AP Lit and Lang, like I said, but as a junior I take those at the end of this year. Do you think getting 5’s on those would be enough? </p>
<p>I AM writing for the Ayn Rand competition this year, as well, but that is super tentative. I can’t count on winning anything there, but if I do reasonably well, how would my odds look?</p>
<p>As for personal recs, again can’t say. I <em>hope</em> most of my teachers think well of me xD</p>
<p>APs are important if you are serious about IVYs, they are looking for 5 APs with 5s. That seems to be the common theme this year.
Guttentag said the bar for acquiring a top score in each of the categories is continually increasing. Seven or eight years ago, five Advancement Placement exams with a score of five would warrant the top score in Dukes achievement category. Today, about half of the applicants meet this standard.</p>
<p>Hm, what about AP classes taken in Senior year? </p>
<p>And I do make the five tests, though I don’t know if I could do anymore this year to boost that number any higher; its a pretty big workload as is. </p>
<p>At this point, besides taking more APs, is there anything really obvious or something that would be a no-brainer that would be useful for me to do to help my chances?</p>
<p>I think your stats look fine. Make sure you are in the top 5% of your class. Write a knock out essay, be creative on a volunteer effort this next summer, and 4 and 5s is what you need for AP scores. My daughter got into UPenn with a variety of ECs, lots of AP classes, leadership positions at school organizations, and a 30 on her ACT scores. UPenn is a great school you might look into as well. Make sure you understand how Brown curriculum works.</p>
<p>Sorry, but those score stats are a projection, right?<br>
You said, hoping to create a ‘leadership/diversity’ angle- maybe you can tell us what those thoughts are. The way you note the ECs here makes them seem a bit thin, some involvement, but not responsibilities and impact- that’s what you seem to convey here. You have a chance to increase your involvements now. </p>
<p>We also don’t know your major, whether you have taken the rigorous classes in that and done anything on the side re: those intersts- and will have good LoRs from those teachers. Good to be thinking about this now, but sometimes the key is in what you do next. k?</p>
<p>Very impressive! Grades and test scores are certainly up Brown’s alley. Althogh you’ll probably be competing against a lot of your classmates (seeing as it’s a competitive school), you have lots of distinguished honors. </p>
<p>Your ECs are very interesting – you seem to like world/cultural studies, especially regarding the UN internship – but it would certainly help to get an award or two in there, or leadership position, to show your devotion to these activities. Not saying you should kill yourself getting awards, but it will really help you stand out.</p>
<p>Other than that, really solid stats! Best of luck.</p>
<p>@Lookingforward: the only stat that is a projection is the SAT score, which I’m taking in 7 days (wish me luck!) I was thinking a leadership diversity angle with the CRS summer camp, which is a merit based highly selective international youth leadership program. It focuses heavily on creating leaders and on diversity as a whole (living with 60 kids from around the world for seven weeks is pretty cool, lemme tell ya). I’m hoping I can build on that with either TASP, which from what I hear is a very selective and prestigious summer program, or with the UN internship (though I do not know what that will entail just yet). </p>
<p>And I’ll be honest, I have no idea what I want for a major. xD</p>
<p>@Melodicdinosaur: what kind of awards are you thinking? Off the top of my head I don’t know of many leadership awards, externally or otherwise.</p>
<p>Actually, I can’t really think of any specific to your interests either (leadership wise.) The CRS summer camp is probably prestiguous enough to be considered an award! That and TASP/UN internship.</p>