<p>First of all, Brown University is my first choice and I would go in a heartbeat if I were accepted. But then, I have all these questions... What if my financial aid package isn't enough? Currently, my parents make less than $60,000, but obviously, that could change. I hope to double major in political science and international relations with a minor in Middle Eastern studies. Georgetown is my third choice and it's ideal for my areas of study. I guess I could apply to both Georgetown and the University of Chicago EA and Brown RD, but I don't know if I could wait until April to find out Brown's decision. Also, I think my chances of getting in would decrease even lower if I did apply RD. I'm also planning on applying RD to these schools: Mount Holyoke, USC, Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Vassar and Claremont McKenna. So, hopefully I get into one of those. </p>
<p>Some of this is predicted. I’m hoping to get a least a 30 on the ACT or a 2070 on the SAT. I’m taking SAT subject tests in US history and Literature next summer. My essay should be good. </p>
<p>UW GPA: 3.94
W GPA: 4.5</p>
<p>Course load – most difficult schedule possible.
Senior schedule: AP Biology, Concert/Marching Band, Varsity debate, AP English, Pre-calculus, AP Psychology, Computer Applications.
Speech and Debate since 7th grade (Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Mock Trial, Original Oratory, Extemporaneous Speaking)
Band since 6th grade (Contest and Marching Band) (Co-section leader)
4-H since 7th grade (foods and photography) – Secretary for one year and reporter for 2 and a half
Knowledge Bowl (10-12th)
Key Club (11-12th)
Heritage Club (9-12th)
National Honors Society (11-12th)</p>
<p>Awards:
4th place at a debate tournament freshman year. Competition was pretty tough.
State qualifier in foods
Grand champion at local fair two years in a row for muffins and cookies
Grand champion at local fair for photography
Numerous blue ribbons in arts and crafts, foods and photography
Lettered in: academics, band and debate</p>
<p>Volunteer work:
Assistant kindergarten Sunday school teacher for 5 years
Put together and delivered Christmas food baskets
Decorated and delivered Valentine’s Day cards to nursing home
Volunteered at local county fair by working in the cook shack and by picking up trash and cleaning up exhibit buildings
Picked up walnuts at cemetery.
Baked banana muffins for Joplin tornado relief</p>
<p>You don’t yet have enough information to possibly make an ED decision. ED is definitely NOT for students who will be heavily dependent upon Merit and Need Based Aid. This is precisely the knock on ED… that it favors the rich.</p>
<p>SAT/ACT scores are the single most important determinant of merit aid at most of the schools you listed. Not knowing what merit aid you might receive makes it impossible for you to guesstimate what your Brown FA package might look like compared to Georgetown, USC, etc.</p>
<p>I’m sure you have chances threads out there, but let me caution you that your GPA and ECs are really good but not exceptional. ECs especially speak to volumes of activity but not any stellar accomplishments academic, athletic, civic, or business.</p>
<p>I hope you get into Brown, and Georgetown, and USC, etc. but Brown is a long, long shot, Georgetown is a long long shot for SFS and merely a long shot for the rest of the school, and USC is a low match. If you come back with 2200+ SATs, I take back this entire paragraph :)</p>
<p>Last thing about ECs for highly selective colleges – there is no point listing Jr. High activities, or awards from country fairs, or groups you participated in but in which you did not have a leadership position. Now, don’t get me wrong – your ECs tell me you are highly involved in your community (but not as a leader), have a big heart, and are probably an incredible friend… those characteristics will undoubtedly come across in your personal statements/essays, but don’t do much in the EC section other than clutter it up. Given my reaction to your ECs, I would, if I were you, find a way to eliminate a lot, so that you can focus on two or three of your most important EC accomplishments…</p>
<p>DunninLA: Did you mean ED instead of RD? Also, I’ll be a junior in the fall. Actually, this is the first time I’ve posted any of my stats. Thanks, by the way. I think I’ll try the SAT. I took the ACT for the first time in June, but I wasn’t happy with my score. </p>
<p>I listed that I was secretary for my 4-H club and I’m currently the reporter. Isn’t that considered leadership? I’m just asking…</p>
<p>Oh, and I live in rural Missouri, if anyone wants to know which state I live in. :)</p>
<p>OK, I’m giving further thought to this. You are from rural Missouri. OK. That’s actually interesting in itself. I’ve never met anyone from rural Missouri, and adcoms probably haven’t either. Some northeastern schools whose adcoms are intent upon building a diverse and intersting student body might consider your rural sensibilities to be a real asset to their primarily urban, northeastern campus. “Prairie Home Companion meets Ivory Tower.”</p>
<p>Given that, you should probably figure out a way, though interviews, personal statements, essays, etc. to sell the adcoms on why a muffin-baking, 4-H, Sunday school teaching, marching band humanitarian from rural America would be an interesting part of their incoming class.</p>
<p>DunninLA: Wow, thanks! I’ve never thought of myself as appearing that way. :)</p>
<p>Yeah, my hometown was basically blown away by a tornado in May, so maybe the admissions committee will remember… Well, I’ll start applying in about a year and a half, so it’ll be a thing of the past by then. I just hope they like me, as a person. Would it be cliche to write my essay on how strong the American spirit is? The tornado has affected so many people. I guess that would be a sob story. Or I could write about my height. My friends tease me because I’m so short. </p>
<p>One of my closest friends applied to Yale, Columbia, Washington University and Brown. She is so bright; it’s crazy. She’s been to nationals for a whole bunch of things. She studied in Beijing last summer… She’s so well-rounded and all the colleges rejected her, except for Washington University and she was wait-listed! I don’t know if she got in, but I felt horrible about the whole thing! I don’t think she applied to enough schools. I think she’s gonna try to transfer as soon as she can. Her situation makes me think, “If she didn’t get in, what chance do I have?” I guess I’m having those thoughts because she was the best my school had to offer.</p>
<p>99 percent of the people who graduate from my school will either go to community college or Mizzou. It’s crazy. My entire school only has 420 students, so I guess that’s expected.</p>
<p>My college list is: Brown, Georgetown, USC, Barnard, Mount Holyoke, Claremont McKenna, the University of Chicago, Bryn Mawr and Vassar.</p>
<p>Chelsea, Dunnin is giving you straight advice - and similar to what you got last fall.
If your grades and scores are good, these schools are going to give you a second look, based on geog diversity, at least. But, they need a stronger picture than food baskets, valentines, baking muffins…and picking up walnuts. Even for these women’s colleges, which have fought so hard to advance women’s opportunities, you are going to need to promote yourself beyond any image as demure and traditionalist. As a young woman, interested in poli sci, you have got to break out of this image. Adcoms know rural communities and review plenty of kids from across the country.</p>
<p>Weren’t you going to do shelter work? Something where you work shoulder-to-shoulder with adults and take on increasing responsibilities? Didn’t you have a few other ideas up your sleeve? Being secretary and reporter for 4H are not leadership roles. The trick to success, I strongly recommend, is showing your determination despite being located in a rural area. </p>
<p>Poli Sci and IR require a world view, an understanding of complex dynamics. Your competition, especially for these schools will have engaged in activities beyond what the high school offers and 4H. They may have worked on a local task force or repped the teen comunity (or the hs) to the local community in some way. They may have mentored, done service projects, worked charities (and held responsibilities) and so on. Instead of baking for Joplin, they may have helped the community dig out or distribute essentials or care for kids, etc.</p>
<p>I am sorry for the tone, but I sincerely want you to give yourself a fighting chance. It is mid-summer before jr year. You can pick up some activities now. I review for an Ivy. You can pm me, if you wish.</p>
<p>lookingforward: That sounds great! I guess I do have determination. Obviously, I have other plans for myself besides becoming a dentist hygienist (that’s my mom’s dream). </p>
<p>Hopefully, I’ll be able to enter scattered medical information at one of the hospitals. I could find a soup kitchen to help out in. Through Key Club, I’ll be able to do a lot of volunteer work, like helping out with the Special Olympics and working the blood drive.</p>
<p>I know what I’m capable of. I’m aware of what goes on in the world, but I can’t go spend the summer in Somalia helping orphaned kids or anything like that. I would love to, but it’s not possible. I would love to expand my views of the world, but really, I don’t know what’s practical for me to do… I would help with debris clean up, but I don’t think I could handle it. </p>
<p>You’re just telling me the truth. I need to hear it. So, thank you.</p>
<p>No, you don’t need an expensive program; there is need at home, too. </p>
<p>One issue with Key Club (or the like) is it’s a hs thing- you just head over to the meeting room, sit by a friend and see what the leaders have on the agenda. Their vol things are good, but much hs club vol work tends to be sporadic eg, the blood drive: you only spend a few hours doing it, then it’s over. You want something that shows you, Chelsea, can commit, over time, to the harder work. It’s one way, among many, that you show adcoms that you have the ability to take on a challenge. </p>
<p>For the schools you mentioned, the stakes are higher. The work you choose should show the strengths and vison that they want to see in applicants. </p>
<p>There’s more, but I’ll save it for later. How can you use that baking to make an impact? Think about it.</p>
<p>Lookingforward: I could hold a bake sale. I guess the best place to have it would be at my church. I like being committed, but I’m really having trouble finding something that has more stability. Honestly, I don’t know what to do.</p>
<p>I would look into some competitive summer program, and a lot of them are free if you get selected. Go over to the summer program forum, you’ll see threads discussing many of those programs. It takes some planning and work to make it through the selection process. </p>
<p>My younger daughter is at a summer program where they are focusing on human rights, looking it from political, art, history, religion point of view. The application process started in Nov of junior year. It included a comprehensive application, many essays, teacher’s recs, and transcript. They selected less than 40 kids in the whole state, but the program is free - room and board, all activities, and courses. </p>
<p>D2 is a very good writer and has genuine interest in the topic of Human Rights. You sound like you have similar academic interest as D2. You should look into what programs your state may have (Governor School), or some better known national programs (TASP). By getting into one of those programs will let adcom know how you stack up with other students outside of your school, and it also let them know your interest. </p>
<p>I think baking is a good EC (it’s also one of D2’s favorite thing to do), especially if you could use that talent to benefit other people - after school program teaching little kids, fund raising for a cause (like at your church).</p>
<p>As an old timer said on CC, no amount of great ECs could over come bad stats. To get into any of those top tier schools, you will need closer to 2200 on your SAT. I would spend time this summer in studying for SAT or ACT. Junior year is traditionally the toughest year, so you will need to pace yourself.</p>
<p>Oldfort, you may have seen all this sort of advice passed to her last fall or winter. Even working at a local shelter, mentoring, or reading to kids at the library shows how a kid can get up and do something. </p>
<p>Chelsea: a stranger on a forum says, months ago, make some impact, take on some responsibilities. You come back with a few more hs activities (not bad,) lots of baking and that comment about picking up walnuts. </p>
<p>Your area is slammed by a storm, volunteers come from near and far- and you bake muffins. I say, any way you can use baking (assuming you are really a homesy, baking sort of gal,) to make an impact? You answer, bake sale, at my church.</p>
<p>You are not asking about some sweet little colleges that primarily want nice, motivated kids who can do well. You are asking about premier programs with fierce competition. I see these apps. Applicants show vision, a willingness to push themselves, even get dirty, and follow-through. Thinking you have determination isn’t enough. </p>
<p>I don’t know what the hesitation is about. Why aren’t you in charge of baking for a local shelter, working with a local summer program for kids, doing anything you can for your devastated community? </p>
<p>If you want some serious advice, we’ll need to move to PM. Again, I am sorry.</p>
<p>oldfort: I looked into attending Girls State, so I’m planning on going next summer. You have to complete your junior year first. Otherwise, I would’ve gone this summer. I’ll look into the Governor’s School. </p>
<p>I love politics, so I’m pretty sure I’ll double major in political science and international relations in college. I’m also trying to hopefully volunteer somehow during the 2012 elections. I’m know that I’m not doing enough, but I feel very limited. I don’t know if I can break a 2200 on the SAT. Math is my weakness. I’ve been practicing, so hopefully that will make a difference. I also am trying to convince my parents to let apply to be a Page in the Senate or House. It would an awesome experience! It’s really competitive, though.</p>
<p>My schedule for next year is: Bio II, Honors Chemistry, Contest/Marching Band, Varsity Debate, Trigonometry, Honors English and AP US history. I know this probably isn’t even difficult compared to some, but it’s all my school offers for juniors. I’m the only one who’s taking bio II in my grade.</p>
<p>lookingforward: Okay. I know my volunteer work is pathetic, but most of it is through 4-H. Picking up 100 pounds of walnuts on a cold day wouldn’t be my first choice. </p>
<p>My 4-H foods leader suggested that we bake muffins for the relief workers, so we did. I’m also on a work team at my church, but I haven’t been contacted with an actual date to go out and help yet. </p>
<p>I do know want I want and I know how I’m going to reach my goal. I’m not the type of person who expects everything to be given to me. I’m willing to work. I do really like co-teaching Sunday school, though. When the school year starts, I could look into tutoring, but because my school has a program that requires students who are failing to attend until they get their grades up, peer tutoring isn’t necessary.</p>