Please Chance for these schools!! Will chance back if wanted

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

GPA: 3.86 on 4 scale
ACT: 26 (TERRIBLE test taker) Retaking it in December
GPA has shown big upward trend (4.2 junior year)
I will graduate with 4 APs (solid grades in all of them)
Rank: My school does decile I don’t know my exact one but definitely in top 40%

ECs
-Volunteer at Interfaith Food Pantry (once a week for an hour, 45 weeks a year)
-Eucharistic Minister and Usher at my church (one hour a week, all year)
-CCD Teacher at my parish. For two hours after mass I teach CCD to sophomores
-Future Business Leaders of America member (all four years, participated in events for business)
-Habitat for Humanity Volunteer (spent a week in West Virginia two summers in a row to help build houses. Won Rookie of the year which is hardest worker, total of 72 hours)
-I row crew for a competitive club for my sport (20 hours a week, 16 weeks a year)
-Board member for Special Needs Athletic Program (twice a week for an hour I help kids with disabilities play sports. 18 weeks a year)
-Work at an ice cream shop/cafe. (9 hours per week, all year except summer)
-Work as a director summer camp counselor in my town. (20 hours per week, played sports with kids. Some days I lifeguard at the town pool)
-Class of 2016 representative (includes planning events for our grade, fundraising, etc. meetings are pretty frequent and I put a good amount of effort into it)

English is my strong subject so I am confident in my essay and editors have said it’s excellent.
I have strong recommendations, one from the youth minister leader at my church.

Anyways here are the schools I think I’m applying to. I consider them all reaches to don’t sugar coat.

Colleges
-Bucknell (visiting soon)
-Holy Cross (visited twice, legacy, interviewed)
-Cornell (just for the hell of it. Uncle went there and sometimes they accept some under average students)
-Lehigh (visited once)
-Penn State (as a safety maybe)
-Providence College (visited, tons of legacy)
-Villanova (visited once, probably my top choice)

I was thinking about apply to Michigan because it’s always been a school I’ve liked but I don’t think I have a chance.

Thank you for reading all of this. Please be honest and if you could provide some schools you think I should consider I’d appreciate it. (Better schools if you think I can get into anymore)

2

Bucknell - Don’t know enough about it
Holy Cross - Accept
Cornell - Reject (I wouldn’t even apply. I think it’s a waste of time)
Lehigh - Either Waitlist then Reject or straight Reject
Penn State - Hesitantly Accept (it’s not a safety for you because of your ACT)
Providence College - Don’t know enough about
Villanova - Reject (I think the test score is going to be too much to overcome)

Chance back? http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1815927-chance-me-upenn-ed-uchicago-ea-columbia-rd-and-others.html#latest

3

Re-take the ACT in Oct or Dec. If you don’t improve, do not send the 26 to Holy Cross. Providence is also test optional,but a 26 is okay for them especially since you are a legacy. Villanova you will need a higher ACT as they focus on scores more than other schools. You will need more than a 26 for Bucknell and Lehigh

4

Why don’t you also look at Marist, Trinity, Lafayette, Gettysburg, Dickinson, Fairfield, Hobart

5

Hello, I am a sophomore at Marist College. After looking through your post I would consider looking into the school. It was founded in 1929, and its campus overlooks the Hudson River and is located halfway between New York City and Albany. There is great opportunities here at Marist especially with our outstanding internships. Personally I applied to 17 schools and got into 12 including Holy Cross and Providence. Both of those schools were in my top 5 with Marist. In the end you will be able to choose the school that fits you best. I don’t think you should worry about if one school has a higher recognition than the other. If you like a school apply. I would say I found Marist and Providence similar in many ways so it wouldn’t hurt to check it out. https://www.marist.edu/about/ here is the link to the website! Check it out and hopefully come visit.