Is this unrealistic? I am entering my junior year, and I am a white female from New York.
GPA-3.75(will rise, slacked Freshmen year)
Rank-top 10%
AP scores- world-4
Junior year course load- APUSH, AP English, AP bio, honors precalc, spanish4Honors, anatomy, chamber orchestra(highest level)
Took the PSAT with no prep, didn’t really try(bad, I know), scored 156.
Extracurriculars-
NHS(since sophomore year)(secretary since sophmore year)
TRI-M(music honor society)-since freshmen year, secretary since sophomore year
English honor society(since 10th)
Foreign language honor society(since 10th)
Very active with playing double bass, scored 96 on Allstate solo, have been invited to play with professional orchestras, play with the school’s select orchestra, as well as pit orchestra. Played in all-county orchestras, as well as all-island orchestra( I live on Long Island). Been in highest orchestra since freshmen year.
IEA-interscholastic equestrian association. Varsity rider since freshmen year, 1st place at regionals, and placing at zone finials. captain of the team since sophomore yeAr.
JV track freshmen year, not sure if I would include
Intended major- biology, then med school
I know a lot of these are a super reach, but what do you think?
UNC Chapel Hill
Emory university
Vanderbilt
Notre Dame
I think my answer will be just like the those of everyones’: you have to work on, take the SAT, the rest looks pretty good.
If that PSAT score predicts future SAT performance, then I’d say your chances are very, very slim. Come back to us in spring with SAT/ACT scores and junior grades. Those will be critical, but none of those schools will be very likely without at least a 2000 (or 1300+ on revised 2-test score). I’d say Vanderbilt and UNC (if from out-of-state) should require at least a 1400+ for CR/M. Vandy is legendarily focused on high scores, unless you are a varsity athletic prospect. You can major in Biology and fulfill pre-med requirements at most four-year colleges. Your test scores seem to be your weakest component, and so you should begin looking into some test-optional colleges (fairtest.org is where to start) before you become overly fixated on achieving some unlikely test scores in the future.
@woogzmama for my psat, I took it with out any prep just to see what to expect, and if I was remotely questioning an answer, I skipped it. With that being said, my goal for the day is between 2100 and 2200
ally2468 - Goals are lovely, but every student taking the tests hopes to do well. Someone will undoubtedly tell you an anecdote about someone whose scores rose 600 points (which is what you’re presuming), but that’s very, very rare. Your first attempt was as a sophomore, which means that you have time, but I just want to suggest that you begin considering colleges that would be within reach with less than a 600-point increase.
@woogzmama so what is the average point increase?
UNC is a public school, and takes something like 20% OOS. Those are going to be top-top applicants.
ally2468 - I saw some official statistics from the College Board last year. They involve the SATs, and you can probably expect to improve your performance over the next year. Bear in mind that the College Board has a vested interest in registering as many students for as many tests as possible, so they would be unlikely to publish falsely pessimistic results. The majority of students (approximately 55%) improve their scores. Roughly 35% of students see their scores decrease, and approximately 10% of scores will remain the same (although super-scores might change). So, the good news is that you have an excellent chance of increasing your scores. Here’s the wake-up call: less than half of all the increases will be more than 50 points over three tests. Both my sons had 150+ improvements from their SATs in spring of junior year to fall of senior year (primarily, in both cases, to huge jumps in their CR tests). They beat the odds, and were justifiably excited with those results. A 100+ increase is cause for celebration. I want to cry for all the rising seniors on this site who are still talking about raising their scores by hundreds of points, and I want to throttle those who exhort them to abandon everything else in life to pursue those unlikely outcomes. You should take the PSAT again, and use that as a baseline. Try the ACT, but don’t build your dreams based on chimerical test scores.