So I just got a 36/take that C in Spanish 4 Chances!

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>Hey Guys! After tons of hard work over a period of 4 months, I managed to raise an impromptu Kaplan Mock ACT score of 25 (Kaplan is evil...) to a 36 Composite (32 E/W) on the FEB ACT!</p>

<p>Here's my situation! I'd love to chance back!</p>

<p>Chances at: Dartmouth, Brown, Georgetown, Tufts, Wesleyan, Claremont MC, Emory, UVA, UNC, UMich, William/Mary, Brandeis.</p>

<p>Areas of Interest:
Political Science/Economics/American Studies</p>

<p>School: Consistently ranked top 60 public USNWR. 2150 kids. Washington DC area. </p>

<p>ACT: 36 Composite, 9 on writing (E/W 32) - First and only sitting!
SAT II: Projecting 750+ on US History/Math
GPA: 3.71 UW, 4.36 W - I spy the problem! (will end with 8 APs)</p>

<p>Rank: School does not rank, but colleges told 15% are 4.51+. However, Honors and AP are equal weight at my school...so our GPA/Rank is pretty much illegitimate. </p>

<p>Longstory Short
Pre-Highschool: (3.33) - Did not allow honors.
Freshman Year: (4.14) - 4 honors, 3R.
Sophomore Year: (4.28) - AP US GOV (5), 4.5H, 1.5R (Spanish 4 C/C...)
Junior Year: (4.95) - AP USH, AP Lang, AP Theory, H Chem/World/Precal/Jazz
Senior Year: (good!) - AP Lit, AP Econ, AP Euro, BC Calc, H Physics, H Jazz, Gym (req)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Music: Electric/Upright Bass
- Jazz Band (3 years), Showband(3), Pit Orchestra(2), Yearly music production(2),
recorded professional EP w/ Outside band (08-09), Independent Singer/Songwriter.
- Tri-M Music Honor Society, Creative & Performing Arts Academy.
- Cantor/service leader at Religious Camp</p>

<p>Leadership:
- BBYO Youth Group; Chapter Treasurer (raise $1000), Vice President.
- Youth Leadership Greater Washington (accepted by application)
- Anti Bullying Club</p>

<p>Other:
- Forensics: Poetry
- Campaign for Member of Board of Education
- Campaign for State Delegate</p>

<p>Ethnicity: White (Jewish), 3rd Generation Holocaust Survivor
Family: My entire family has gone to UMD. We are able to pay, but would like merit aid from state schools.
Essay: will be nice and poetic and romanticized and hipster. :D</p>

<p>Thanks so much guys! And if you need to raise your test scores, don't lose faith! With proper studying you can get the score you want!</p>

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<p>Gahhhh bump!</p>

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<p>You seem like a really cool kid, and congrats on the 36! Minus your gpa, your stats and ecs look good. Just as long as you work on your gpa, I don’t see you having a problem getting in to a bunch of those schools.
Darthmouth - reach
Brown - reach
Georgetown - low reach/ high matchish. I see you being accepted hear though!
Tufts - low reach/high match.
William and Mary - match!</p>

<p>Unfortunately, I don’t really know the other schools you mentioned so I’m not exactly a good judge of those. In any case, I’m sure you’ll be fine in the majority of schools you apply to :)</p>

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<p>The problem is, my GPA is going to END UP at 4.36. After my junior year 2nd semester, it will fall on 4.36 no exception.</p>

<p>That being said, i’ll be tending upwards, culminating on straight A’s</p>

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<p>You seem like a really cool kid, and congrats on the 36! Minus your gpa, your stats and ecs look good. Just as long as you work on your gpa, I don’t see you having a problem getting in to a bunch of those schools.
Darthmouth - reach
Brown - reach
Georgetown - low reach/ high matchish. I see you being accepted hear though!
Tufts - low reach/high match.
William and Mary - match!</p>

<p>Unfortunately, I don’t really know the other schools you mentioned so I’m not exactly a good judge of those. In any case, I’m sure you’ll be fine in the majority of schools you apply to :)</p>

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<p>Sorry for the double post! 4.36 isn’t anything to sneeze at, and your 36 makes up for it. Just write a steller essay, and I think you’ll be good.</p>

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<p>bumptown!!!</p>

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<p>William & Mary looks more at grades than ACT scores than other state schools. You still have a good chance though at all your choices. Good luck.</p>

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<p>Swish are you at W&M?</p>

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<p>Your GPA is a bit low, but you’re also not really targeting HYPSM, with their near-impossible expectations. Brown’s admission page shows that it admits about 30% of its 36-ACT scorers vs. 10% acceptance overall. I’d say you’ve got a good-to-excellent shot at most of them IF your class rank manages to be within the top 10% of the class (class rank gives the college a sense of your relative performance).</p>

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<p>I’ve never heard of anyone making that great a jump in 4 months; you must have really been screwing off AND been unfamiliar the test during your first practice session – or the Kaplan Mock ACT was intentionally very mis-representative of the real ACT. My son got a perfect score on the ACT (36.0) on his first sitting, as well as a perfect 240 on his PSAT, but it certainly wasn’t due to “hard work” – he took a few practice tests for the ACT (6 hours, tops) and did zero for the PSAT. Hard work rarely gets you more than 3-4 additional points, so I find this post rather curious.</p>

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<p>Yeah…to be fair, 4 questions on math were unsolvable. I came home with the booklet and my Logistics Major brother agreed with me; no correct answer choice.</p>

<p>So more like 27/28. But yes. I completed 5 practice tests in booklets, 3 in mock scenarios. another 2 section by section on an airplane/car ride. It got to the point in time when I knew what all the hard-level reading questions were asking, and knew every concept needed for the math section. Each math section I did, I got something else wrong (Inverse vs. Direct relations, then coordinate geometry, then trig rations, then law of cosines), and by the time I finished my last practice, I knew the formula/method for anything the test threw at me.</p>

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<p>Furthermore, my school does not rank, as it is

  • consistently in the top 60 schools in the country (we have ~20 valedictorians…)
  • AP and Honors are weighted equally (5.0)</p>

<p>Applicants with HS Grad year 2011 sent their colleges an overview stating

  • 4.51+ = 15%
  • 4.00 - 4.49 + 20%</p>

<p>So there is no way I am top 10%, but WGPA at my school happens to be a farce. I will end with 8 APs, but could receive the same WGPA as someone in 0 APs. And my counselor will definitely be writing “Most Rigorous” as my course-load.</p>

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<p>This is a major problem with most test prep material – sloppy proofreading, typos, and incorrect solutions that were never double-checked. I guess it doesn’t matter much with a mid-range test-taker, but it’s extremely frustrating when you’re vying for a perfect score. I thus highly recommend the book that contains 3 real former ACT tests (called the Red Book, I believe?) – you can count on ACT to have virtually error-free questions because they have been previously validated by thousands of student before they actually count.</p>

<p>Checking off “most rigorous course load,” your highly selective high school and your 36 ACT will all be strong positives. Not making the top 10% could hurt you in a few instances, but, again, you’re not shooting for HYPSM – your schools don’t expect absolute perfection. Focus on writing a great essay and choose your letter of recommendation teachers carefully because these factors could turn out to be decisive in your case.</p>

<p>If you can get your counselor, in his recommendation, to explain the problems/loopholes with the weighted GPA system in your school and how it hurts you, that could offset any weakness in your class rank standing.</p>

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<p>" If you can get your counselor, in his recommendation, to explain the problems/loopholes with the weighted GPA system in your school and how it hurts you, that could offset any weakness in your class rank standing" </p>

<p>Excellent suggestion!
I am rather confident that as long as I get past the preliminary “Eww…gpa…that C in spanish…he must not be good at languages” I’ll be able to win adcomms over with my essays/personality/ECs. That being said, I was SO excited by the 36. It will do loads in terms of jamming a foot in the door.</p>