<p>I'm down to my last application, and I told my counselor I was going to apply to Davidson, but I'm rethinking that because a) it's way on the other side of the state and it would take me 4-5 hours to get there, probably; b) it's a little small; c) it just never really had that "special" something to me; d) I've heard about it being kind of like one of the "old boy" Southern colleges...definitely not what I want, even though I know it's a fantastic school. I am definitely not a cookie-cutter type person, though I'm not a freak or anything. I do like to be different and be myself, and I'm not going to conform to the masses...and I don't really want a school where there's some insane pressure to conform. Even though I know my list so far has a few of those conformist schools:</p>
<p>Wake Forest
William and Mary
U. of Richmond
UNC-CH
Elon</p>
<p>Anyway, I've been thinking about replacing Davidson with Duke, a school I've been toying with applying on and off for quite awhile now. So...is it worth me paying $70 or whatever for the app fee, or is it going to be a waste of my money? Be realistic. It won't hurt my feelings.</p>
<p>My stats:</p>
<p>White female at a small private school in eastern NC
I live an hour away in a more rural area, a small town of 10,000 (which I know is pretty underrepresented at Duke) and have been making the daily 2-hour commute to school since kindergarten
We don't rank, but I should be in the top ten kids of a really competitive senior class of 33 students, lol.
GPA: 3.8941 out of 4.0 (we don't weight GPAs, either), it's going up this year
PSAT: 200 selection index junior year: 62 V, 66 M, 72 writing skills (or whatever that section is called). I got an 80 on the writing skills part in sophomore year.
SAT: 1410 composite - 710 V, 700 M (not entirely happy with it, but I guess it'll have to do - I've already taken it 3 times)
SAT II: 730 on Writing and US History and 660 on Math IC
ACT: 31 composite
APs: 4s on World History, US History, and Biology - by the time I graduate, I will have taken every AP except European History and Studio Art (which is new this year)</p>
<p>Senior Class Schedule:
AP English, 95 first nine weeks
AP Spanish Language, 92 first nine weeks
AP Calculus AB, 101 first nine weeks
Honors Physics, 90 first nine weeks
General Psychology, Developmental Psychology, and Intro Sociology (dual enrollment at the local community college), got a 96 in general psych for course
Band</p>
<p>ECs:
-Played flute in school band from 9th-11th grade and am playing bari sax this year
-Member of church handbell choir playing bass handbells
-Softball: I made All-Star team in 9th grade for the city recreation department and we went to the state tournament. I am also a 4-year starting and lettering catcher for the varsity team at school and won an award for spirit and made all-conference team last spring.
-I'm keeping stats for the Middle School boys basketball team this year (lol...I'm on pretty good terms with the coach and he needed somebody "responsible" to do it, as he said. I guess none of the middle schoolers fit the bill?)
-SGA rep 9th grade
-Inducted into National Honor Society 10th grade and am secretary this year
-Performing Arts Club which puts on a show in the spring: 10th-12th grade
-Spanish Club: 10th-12th grade
-Quiz Bowl: 9th-12th grade. I have been on the "starting" team for the public library quiz bowl competitions since sophomore year and am captain of the team this year.
-Junior Class Treasurer: this involved taking care of over $3000 worth of money that we raised for prom
-Writing Center Intern: 12th grade. Our English teacher handpicked 8 of the best writers from her 11th grade honors class to serve as interns this year. We volunteer during our study halls and help kids with papers, etc.
-Volunteering: unfortunately I don't have a lot of hours or anything because I babysit my little brother after school and all summer and couldn't drive until last summer. However, I did work about 50 hours this summer at the city parks and recreation office this summer doing clerical stuff and helping with field maintenance. I also voluntarily maintain my dad's work's website after I redesigned it a couple of years ago. I don't know if this counts because it was really part of the class, but last year, our Spanish class volunteered to go teach the kindergarten and first graders Spanish one day a week for 12 weeks.</p>
<p>Other stuff:
-Summer Ventures in Science and Math: kind of a big honor here in NC, almost as big as Governor's School. I spent 4 weeks on a college campus learning about...well...science and math, lol.
-Job: In addition to volunteering there, I also got paid to work for the parks and recreation department last summer, keeping score for baseball and softball games. I worked about 7 hours a week from June through August.
-Sailing Camp: again, I don't know if this counts, but I went to a sailing camp for years and hope to get a job there on sailing staff this coming summer after graduation. I got my lifeguard and CPR certification last summer in anticipation of applying.
-I had a science fair project about snails in 9th grade that won first place and the Naval Science Award in the biological division at the regional level and won 4th place in biology at states
-I've been on honor roll with an A average every grading period
-AP Scholar</p>