<p>Daughter is OOS and leaning towards Chemical or Biomedical Engineering or possibly Applied Math. We believe she has a really good shot at early admission and was hoping someone could give some chance insight into the President's Scholarship or other merit awards. Here are the stats:</p>
<ul>
<li>ACT Composite of 36 (one and only sitting)-will use this, 2250 (one sitting) for SAT (710R/770M/770W)</li>
<li>SAT II Math - 800, Chemistry - 790, Lit 710</li>
<li>National Merit Semifinalist - PSAT score of 230, assume she will make finalist</li>
<li>4.0/4.9 uw/w gpa, I.B. program, all A's for entire high school career, will probably get 40+ points for I.B. diploma, will have 6 years of high school math up to Math HL, in second year of Chemistry HL. </li>
<li>Ranking: 2 out of 500+ in decent I.B program that produces ususally 5-10 HYPSM accepted students a year </li>
<li>Year round gymnast with some National results, but probably not upper D1 level and many top schools do not have sport. Commitment requires 22 hours a week practice with only two weeks off a year</li>
<li>Multiple honor societies, plenty of volunteer work, some academic awards, but not hardcore with STEM EC's. Athletics is her stress escape outside of school, but loves her math and science classes and has great relationships with teachers that will be writing recommendations. </li>
<li> No URM hook, caucasian</li>
</ul>
<p>she does seem like she can get the president’s scholarship!! but it’s never predictable…</p>
<p>A few questions come to mind:</p>
<p>1) Does she have any leadership experience in any of her clubs or through gymnastics? This doesn’t have to be in the form of an official title. If she can explain in her application how she has motivated and inspired her fellow gymnasts, that would be a great addition to her story.
2) What type of volunteer experience does she have? Did she start a new club to volunteer at her school, or did she just volunteer a lot of hours through already existing programs? Do her volunteer activities show some sort of evident passion, or was she just completing the hours required by her clubs and activities?</p>
<p>Your daughter is clearly very intelligent and has done exceptionally well academically. She will not have to worry about that part of the application, and I agree with you that she should easily gain early admission. However, I’m having a hard time seeing how she stands out outside of academics. Her success in gymnastics, which she apparently devotes a lot of time to, will certainly be noted and indicates she is a very dedicated person. However, I’m not really seeing the profile of a student who is clearly going to become a great researcher or a leader on campus and in the community. That is where your above profile is lacking.</p>
<p>Does she stand a chance? I think so, and I would certainly interview her if I were making the decisions, assuming her essay is compelling. She needs to tell a persuasive story about why she is more than just a high performing student athlete. Her application, and especially her essay, need to show that she is someone who leaves an impact on those around her and that she has plans to continue to do so at Tech and beyond. With a good application, I would expect her to be selected as a PS semi-finalist and to get an opportunity to tell her story during an interview. At that point, it depends on how well she convinces her interviewers that she is even more exceptional than the other semi-finalists. Once she makes it to the interview stage, which I think is likely but not guaranteed, she really just needs to be herself and tell her story.</p>
<p>Whatever the results of the scholarship, your daughter should be very proud of her accomplishments, and I’m sure she will go on to be very successful at whichever university she chooses.</p>
<p>InPursuit knows his stuff. Good answer. Taking some time to be able to explain her story, and figure out where she’s headed, what she stands for, why she would be a good investment, etc., might be good exercises. Interviews might be key in moving forward, so practice that aspect with family friends, video even, to get feedback and improve.</p>