<p>i'm a rising junior, looking to see whether i'm on track for selective schools (university of chicago? top LACs?). be as harsh as you'd like.</p>
<p>caucasian female, large public high school that sends some grads to top colleges.</p>
<p>PSAT: took after freshman year, got 192. i'm hoping to make national merit when i take it in the fall.
ACT: just got results: 31 without any prep. goal is a 33 (is that possible?)
GPA: 3.6-3.7 uw, 5.2w
APs: will take 9 total. took US history last year. scores aren't in yet but if i didn't get a 5 i'll be floored.
rank: top 20%
course load is all honors/ap, essentially the most rigorous classes offered.
i had a few Cs my freshman year but it's been almost all A's since then, so my GPA should continue to rise.</p>
<p>ECs:
student council
key club
amnesty international (treasurer)
youth & government (committee chair)
american cancer society relay for life planning committee (committee chair)
summer job
summer internship at nonprofit
planned: NHS, spanish honors society, volunteer trip to south america next summer</p>
<p>hook: NONE WHATSOEVER</p>
<p>A 33 on the ACT is very within reach for you, especially since you haven’t had any previous prep according to your post.</p>
<p>Raise your unweighted GPA! I can’t stress that enough. a 3.6 unweighted is low for UChicago and other LACs. You need a 3.75 or higher by senior year, preferably higher. </p>
<p>Your rank is what’s probably going to hurt you the most. You need need need to be in the top 10% of your class if you want to go to the top-ranked colleges in the country. For the top 40 schools in the nation in USNWR, almost all of them had a student population made up of almost entirely students who were top 10% of their high school class. Most, if not all, of the exceptions to that rule were hooked applicants, and you don’t have any hooks.</p>
<p>Bascially, if you want a shot at UChicago and top LACs like Amherst, Williams, Swarthmore, and Wesleyan, you need to raise your unweighted GPA, get into the top 10% of your class, and boost your test scores with some prep.</p>
<p>Thankfully, you’ve got an entire year and a half til applications are due, so there’s ample time to improve. Get straight A’s this year. Take very challenging classes (as many APs/honors as you can). Get leadership in your EC’s. Once all these things have been successfully achieved, you’ll become a solid candidate for UChicago and all top LACs.</p>
<p>Best of luck! :)</p>