Hi everyone, I am a rising junior but I want to be chanced early so I can get suggestions for areas of improvement (I really need it lol) so thanks for reading!
-Me: female, asian, middle class- probably won’t qualify for financial aid 
-High school: ranked around 100 ish in the nation
-Major: I’m a little conflicted but as of now, either Business or Engineering (maybe Mechanical or Aerospace)
Stats:
-Weighted GPA: 4.8571
-Unweighted GPA: not sure, my school usually only looks at weighted.
-ACT: 36
-SAT: 1420 (will retake- I was also sick that day rip)
-Past APs: AP Human Geography- 5, AP Gov- 4, AP Psych- 5
Junior year projected schedule:
English IV
Precalc
AP Chem
APUSH
Physics
Spanish III
ECs:
-played violin for past 7 years
-Key Club: class rep sophomore year, secretary for upcoming year.
-Mu Alpha Theta: liaison for upcoming year. recruited new members, organized math tournaments, won numerous awards at both local and state levels.
-Robotics Team: competed at 4 tournaments total, won one honorable mention award
-Track and Cross County: a few individual and team awards
-Environmental Club: president since 8th grade, beautify school campus and community.
-Summer Reseach Internship- completed this summer for engineering and 3-D printing
Schools: Univeristy of Notre Dame, USC, WashU, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Tulane
If you guys can give me advice on how to improve my chances so that I can get into these schools later, that would be much appreciated! Also if you have gone to any of these schools or you’ve applied to them before, I would love to hear about those experiences too, regardless of whether or not you chance me!
Don’t retake the SAT. 36 ACT is golden.
If WashU is high on the list, it’s time to show demonstrated interest. Go to informational fairs, visit the campus, and try to interview.
You are doing well. Don’t worry about taking the SAT1. The ACT is great. Check the schools on your list and see if any SAT2s are recommended.
Get the best grades you can. You are doing as well as you can. The problem about getting into the most selective schools is … they are very selective. That means they HAVE to turn down most of the applicants. So the mathematics are tough.
Notre Dame—15%
USC—11%
Wash U—14%
Northwestern—9%
Vanderbilt—8%
Tulane—13%
These are tough numbers. These are also composite numbers so if you apply RD, the chances are even lower.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t apply to any or even all of them. But it also means looking for some more likely schools. You have names of some well known schools that appear on many college lists the crux of college search is finding less selective schools, affordable schools and nail them down. Once you find these schools, you really only need one, if you know it will accept you, you can go to town on all the lottery tickets.
So you have your reach schools. It will be very easy to find more of them. Finding those safety schools that you like and that can you give what these name brands can do, that you can like is the next crucial part of college search.
Thank you for your advice! I actually do have a couple of safety schools in mind that will suit my interests and provide me with a bunch of scholarships, especially if I get national merit. I will likely apply to UND in their restrictive early action program and try to apply to the others EA or ED, depending on if the Restictive EA allows. I think I will be ok academically and I will definitely be taking a few SAT2s this year, but if you have any suggestions on how I can improve myself overall or my ECs, I would really appreciate it!
You can EA to another school under Notre Dame’s REA, but you can’t ED. So WashU will be out since they are ED1/ED2. Same with Vandy and Emory since they are both ED1/ED2. Northwestern is ED.
Tulane and USC are EA so you can do Notre Dame REA and Tulane/USC EA.
The 3 schools that have ED only on your list have some of the lowest acceptance rates in RD. So if Notre Dame is your absolute favorite, use your REA, but you will need to choose wisely.
If you are rejected from Notre Dame REA, there is the possibility of ED2 for WashU/Emory/Vandy depending on the application deadline.
Taking on leadership roles as a senior shoes grieth, intensifying efforts in one EC. More intensity in just a few rather than shotgun approach of a bunch of activities is far better. Have a job so you are paying some of your own costs. That is specifically asked.
Assuming APEnglish, AP Calc, AP Spanish senior year.
Check with your GC that you are taking the most rigorous school load and that she will check that on your application.