<p>I am currently a sophomore and as I am making my list of potential colleges I may want to attend, I began looking at Amherst. Heres some basic info: </p>
<p>-Native American Male (URM) from Oklahoma
-Should be in top 15 in class (of 370) at a magnet school
-GPA should be about a 3.8 for the remainder of HS. I had a 3.6 Freshman Year
-No test scores, however, I am already studying and am doing well enough on the PSAT to probably get National Merit
- I am very involved with: Student council, Leadership, and Tennis. These are the three things I LOVE. </p>
<p>:Student Council::
-Should be Vice President next year and President Senior year
-Am very active in my Leadership Class at school
-I will have attended two week long, selective leadership workshops (These are StuCo leadership workshops, not just leadership).
-District Student council member (selective, done by app, only a few chosen at each school)
-I am going to the National Student Council Confrence this summer… =) Im excited. </p>
<p>::Leadership::
-Numerous selective leadership workshops (Not related to Stuco)
-leadership class at school (kids chosen by application) </p>
<p>:
:
-National Ranking (Not a top ranking, however, I may be recruited)
-Varsity Tennis captain (9,10-I will be 11 and 12 as well) </p>
<p>Things I know are negative about my profile:
-Lower GPA
-class Rank?
-Only 2 years of a foreign language, math only through Pre-calculus(The math thing isn’t my fault- thats all my school offered. I can have my counselor say something about this?) </p>
<p>I am basically looking to boost my profile for a school like Amherst as I feel it may be a good fit for me. I plan on visiting next year. Thanks guys!</p>
<p>For one thing, get involved in your community. Find something that involves what you're good at and pursue it in such a way that integrates you with the rest of your community. Perhaps you could give tennis lessons or volunteer at a tennis camp. Do things outside of school. If your high school only offers math through pre-calculus, perhaps you could take a calculus course at a local community college. </p>
<p>Also, about your languages, do you have only two years of one now or will you have only two years of one upon completing high school?</p>
<p>Otherwise, you look good. Work on raising your GPA though and make sure your test scores are strong, and continue to take the most challenging courses that your school offers.</p>
<p>I was trying to add a little info, but it wouldnt let me edit the post. </p>
<p>I forgot to add what you say about community involvement- I do some native american stuff. I was trying to get some kind of native american organization going of my own but its been tough going.</p>
<p>As for the foreign language stuff i will only have two years by the end of high school due to a scheduling conflict. The advanced courses are all offered in one hour, an hour I must have for my sport every year.</p>
<p>Then you should note that (about the languages) in the Additional Info in your Common App and also maybe have your guidance counselor write something about it.</p>
<p>Honestly, though, being Native American is a great hook. Demographically interesting. Makes you a damn worthy candidate, especially if your GPA and scores are good.</p>
<p>I agree with Devorzhum; being NA is a great hook.</p>
<p>Nate, who really knows why one person gets accepted and another doesn't. I don't. I do think you look like someone any school would love to have. Prepare well for the SAT tests and keep on building up your GPA. I think they would like you a lot. If you explain the 2 years of foreign language I don't think they would disqualify you for that one thing since you couldn't control it. </p>
<p>At Amherst they really do seem to look at the whole person and the situation they are in with their high school and what is possible to do there. I think but I don't know for sure that sometimes when people are rejected it has less to do with anything about them and more to do with how many other people there are that are just like them, if you know what I mean. If there are lots and lots of students from a certain area with nearly perfect grades and test scores, well they can't take all of them or the college would be full of people from the exact same background and that would be kind of scary. I doubt there will be very many people with your background! So that's a good thing for you. But it's not automatic either, because they do care a lot about grades and the classes you take and stuff.</p>
<p>There are probably a lot of schools that would like you, but if you feel real strong about a certain school whether it's Amherst or somewhere else, and if you think the financial part would be okay (that you would get good aid, or else you don't need aid, I don't know) then I would consider applying early decision. It's not right for everyone, but they have more time to really look at the applications in ED and think about the students more individually.</p>
<p>Thank you all very much for your responses. That is one of the big reasons i am looking at smaller schools- they value your uniqueness and look at you holistically. I will take the early decision thing into consideration as well. Thanks all!</p>