<p>We wanna hear 'em! </p>
<p>Instead of the usual perfect score, perfect gpa, AND perfect EC student, how many of you "average" (meaning, BELOW perfect haha) students got into excellent & your top choice schools just by ignoring popular demand and just "going with the flow~" to see if you could make it?</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>me. ten characters.</p>
<p>I'm not a perfect student by CC standards (not an URM either), but I got into a lot of amazing schools (Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, Berkeley, and a lot of the top LACS). I read a lot of those chances threads before I applied and I'm pretty sure that if I submitted my own chances thread, a lot of the CC'ers would have cut me down. I think what really made the difference for me were the essays and my recommendations. I didn't try to come up with really creative topics for my essay, I just wrote them so that sounded natural. Recs are also really important so it helps if you actually form a personal relationship with your teachers/counselors. I was able to read over mine and my teachers and couselors wrote of me as their student AND friend. Compared to other standard recommendations that simply praise the student based on awards and achievement, I'm sure this appealed to the admissions more for the obvious reasons. So, I'm definitely glad I didn't give in to the assumption that you have to be perfect to make it to reach schools.</p>
<p>thats auesome</p>
<p>lol yea my GPA/class rank SUCKED (49 out of 550) cuz of some issues freshman year. Still, SAT's helped me out a lot along w/ rec's from teachers, research and essays.</p>
<p>in the end i got into all my schools except harvard (carolina, washington st. louis, Vanderbilt, emory and duke) so YEAEA!</p>
<p>I took 4 core classes (the other 2 classes were dance and ASB) my junior and senior years with "only" 4 APs completed. I did not take AP English my senior year and I took AB calc instead of BC. I got into UC Berkeley, so I would say I am one of those stories. My advice is to challenge yourself but do what feels right to you. There is no formula for getting into college and it's not whoever takes the most AP's wins. Good luck!</p>
<p>newbie_me, did you have any hooks?</p>
<ul>
<li>also I did not take a 4th year of science and my SAT scores were not all that hot.</li>
</ul>
<p>No, I didn't have any hooks and I'm not a legacy either. Just a few local awards for art and music but nothing major/nationally known.</p>
<p>I guess I qualify!</p>
<p>My SAT I scores are good (2240) but my SAT II scores were all 690 and below (including math IIC, my lowest!). I applied to Princeton last minute (the day the app was due...submitted the day after). My essays were nothing special at all. My GPA/class rank is good but my public school is not very good, and doesn't offer many APs and our grades are probably inflated too much. I had two good recs, one not so good one (I was a "he" many times in the letter).</p>
<p>My EC's suggest resume padding. My community service is not as stellar as it should be. I am actively involved in music but have only received minimal recognition at the regional level. I live in NJ, already (seemingly) putting me at a disadvantage for princeton admission. And I'm a caucasian female, no hooks there. No legacies. I'm not poor and I'm not rich. I have yet to complete any AP courses (took 3, all this year). This doesn't mean I haven't worked my ass off all through high school.</p>
<p>I got accepted into Princeton regular decision.</p>
<p>My advice: Go for it. Sometimes just coming off as a completely normal person helps. I didn't use big words, I didn't go all out for the creativity factor. Demonstrate your intelligence, sure, but really demonstrate that you love to learn and experience things.</p>
<p>Yeah...my scores weren't amazing. 2220 SATs--definitely not HYPSM material. I did well on SAT IIs --but only 79% percentile on my Math IIC. I am taking AB Calc, not BC, trying to get into engineering schools. I hadn't done math team or anything crazy like that, just the usual Beta Club, NHS story. I took tons of APs, but that's just because my high school isn't amazing, and if I took APs it would actually boost my GPA (I took 4 APs this year...4 100s on my first semester report card. i love it.) But I got into MIT, Cornell, JHU biomed, Emory, and other random ones somehow...it must have been my essays/recs. I seriously can't think of any other reason.</p>
<p>the last 2 post are not "SUCCESS STORIES"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</p>
<p>the are when AROUND HERE PEOPLE GET 2400s ALL THE TIME.</p>
<p>I was 25th percentile for math IIC, I mean c'mon, that's just sad.</p>
<p>Let's hope my success story works! >] I'll let you guys know when I get into the college of my choice! Woot 2007!</p>
<p>I'm sorry but someone with a 2220 trying to get into an HYPSM school is definitely a long shot. I don't care who you are. They're all like 2300 and above. Heck, my friend got high 2300s, like a 2360, and she didn't get into Yale. I thought it was a long shot, so I'm calling it a success story.</p>
<p>My score was slightly under 2100.</p>