i am applying to Questbridge, and one of my main concerns is whether I should take the October SAT or SAT Subject tests, as this is probably the latest date for which I can test, get scores, and send them to schools for early action/Questbridge if I get in. My current SAT score will be seen by all colleges because it was a graduation requirement at my school, so it’s on my transcript. Should I retake the SAT and have no SAT II scores, or should I keep my current SAT Score and take the subject tests?
Schools I have on my list: Stanford, Yale, Princeton, UPenn, Vanderbilt, Duke, Brown, Vassar, Northwestern, Pomona, University of Michigan.
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1400/1600 (700M, 700 CRW) - was forced to take it by my school, didn’t study at all.
ACT: 33 C ( 36R, 30M, 31R, 35E, 10/12 on writing)
SAT II: N/A
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.91
Weighted GPA (out of ??): 4.95
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): school doesn’t rank
AP (place score in parenthesis): Biology (4), Spanish Language (5), Psychology (5)
[school offered no APs to freshman, and only APUSH during sophomore year (I don’t really like history so I didn’t take it) should I include this somewhere on my apps?]
IB (place score in parenthesis): school doesn’t offer IB
Senior Year Course Load:Honors Criminal Psychology, Honors World Literature, AP Stats, AP Calc AB, AP Spanish Literature, AP Environmental Science
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Nominated for National Hispanic Recognition Program (get results in September), AP Scholar, nothing really big ;(
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Key Club (11th and 12th) , Literary Magazine (10th,11th,12th) (Editor), Volleyball (9,10,12) (MVP and Starter)
Volunteer/Community service: Helped coach Middle school volleyball team, volunteer at Open house at my school every year, did a 2 week summer volunteer program at my school where we do fun things and introduce the school to incoming freshman, volunteer at registration, and an array of different events that I heard of through Key Club.
Summer Activities: Taught myself how to play acoustic guitar one summer, then made a goal to save money throughout year to buy electric guitar summer before Senior year, which I just bought! Also read a lot and volunteered.
Essays: Wrote about my dad getting cancer and how at the time I had to become more independent since my Mom’s everyday workload reached an all time high. Tied that into how I now am more prepared to do things on my own and motivate myself, even in difficult or challenging times.
Teacher Recommendations: one from Spanish teacher and one from Psych teacher (who both saw me put a lot of hard work into each of their classes, both knew 3 APs was a lot for me but I still did it anyway. Both loved to talk to me and loved the work I turned in and highlighted how much effort I actually put in unlike many others in their class).
Counselor Rec: My counselor just left and I’m getting a new counselor so I don’t think this will be as good.
Other
State (if domestic applicant): Illinois
School Type: Public Selective Enrollment (have to test in to get accepted or rejected)
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: around 29K
Assets: None
Property: None
Extenuating Circumstances:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Gay, Hispanic, low-income, Dad is disabled and has had cancer since I was like 4 or 3 ? so we rely a lot on disability checks since he can’t work anymore. Mom babysits only like 2 or 3 kids at home because she has to be home to also take care of my dad.
I also took an accelerated math 2 course over the summer between freshman and sophomore year so that I could take math 3 during sophomore year, math 4 (precalc) during junior year, and AP Calc as a senior. Without doing this, I wouldn’t have been given the chance to take AP Calc.
Also know how to play guitar (acoustic and electric), flute, cello, and saxophone (alto and baritone). Should I include this somewhere?