Hello. I’m an upcoming senior from Indiana who doesn’t really know what schools would be “reaches” and “safeties” for me to apply to in the fall. I’m planning on studying pre-med, and would really like to go to a school in an urban environment (NYC, DC, Chicago etc). Also, I definitely want to go out of state.
Here are my stats:
White male
GPA: 3.98 UW, 4.7 W
Rank: 4 out of ~580
PSAT: 1420 (690 V, 730 M) maybe commended but not finalist
SAT: 1410 (720 V, 690 M) weak but good writing scores lol (8/7/8)
ACT: 32 (36E/28R/32M/33S) very bad writing score though (23) Will retake both in the fall for 2nd try
Courses: all honors, AP World Sophomore year (5), APUSH/Lang/Bio this year (hopefully all 5s), 7 more next year (Lit, Chem, Micro, Gov, Spanish, Calc AB, Psych)
ECs: Student Government all 4 years (committee leader & treasurer roles)
Spanish Honors Society
NHS
HOSA (officer)
Quiz Bowl (hopefully captain next year) & Academic Super Bowl
also Ping Pong Club and other dumb clubs
Chance me for the following schools and suggest others that might be good matches for me
Any Ivies ?
NYU
Georgetown
Johns Hopkins
U Chicago
Northwestern
Vanderbilt
Colorado -Boulder
You have a good GPA and decent test scores. I know that an ACT score of 32 is average for some ivies and in the 25th percentile for schools such as U Chicago and Harvard. I don’t think your scores are going to limit you on which colleges you get into; conversely, I think your limiting step will be caused by your too-usual ECs. Nothing really stands out and makes me ask why a university should admit this student over the others with the same numbers. Make sure your essays are passionate and creative. That will give you a leg up in admissions.
what would be examples of more unusual ECs? like starting a business or something crazy like that? or just more time consuming ones like band/sports? I think that I can write very unique essays, so that should help my chances. Thanks for your advice!
@nw2this@ap012199 thanks for your help. what do you think should be my focus for improving my app now? obviously I will try to write compelling essays, but other than that, do you have any more advice?
If you can try to get a summer internship for the area in which you are interested. Also, make sure that the teachers you ask for recs will agree with what you have to say about yourself (for example: If you write about how intellectually curious you are, make sure that the teachers you choose for your recs know that you are very intellectually curious so their recs match with your own interpretation of yourself). Also, if you have a favorite school, try contacting your app reader and ask them insightful questions about the school (also that you’re very interested, obviously). I’ve found that that may too you in admissions.
@ap012199 I don’t really have time for an internship, as I work 3/4 days a week at my current job (at a grocery store). do you think job shadowing on occasion would be a good use of time? or maybe volunteering in my field?
As a boy you have a slight advantage in admissions for non-engineering programs, but your profile is pretty average for schools that get thousands of applications from real geniuses. Keep Colorado on your list, find more similar schools, and consider seriously the Boston area schools (as in post #6).