well, how am i doing? :-P

<p>I'll be a senior this year. I'm an African American female with a unweighted GPA of 3.9 and an ACT score of 28 with a writing subscore of 9. i'm captain of the track team (4V) and have competed in the state meet and all. I also do volleyball, orchestra (second chair second violin) and quiz bowl. I have an unique living situation because I have never met my father and i have been living with my grandmother and aunt for most of my life. I also come from a low income family in the middle of Kansas. my class rank is 4th of of 186 students... once i finish HS i will have completed 6 AP classes, however none in math and science....</p>

<p>so that's the good stuff... on the bad side my SAT IIs are sucky. I got an 680 in U.S. History, and 640 in Literature and a 560 in World History. Also i don't come from an elite private school. only about 3 or 4 kids each year make it into a selective college. most kids (even the ones who could get in) don't even bother and go to state schools. Our school is also weak with science and math classes below pre-calculus. Foreign languages are a joke (except for German) so i haven't bothered to study them... which is biting me in the butt right now.</p>

<p>well, i'll let you total strangers asses my chances for a top private or ivy school. good luck to all this year! class 09!</p>

<p>all ivys and top 20 private are reaches for u.</p>

<p>haha thanks.</p>

<p>and sorry for the typos</p>

<p>Don't let BigWeight discourage you.
I believe you have a legitimate chance at the top private institutions. Just make sure your personal essay is superb because it has the potential of overriding (explaining) your average (but still great) SAT IIs. Have faith in yourself! :)</p>

<p>On a different note..</p>

<p>You went to the state meet?
That's cool...</p>

<p>Just out of curiosity...
What events do you do in track?
What are your times/distances?</p>

<p>I jump. Long and Triple</p>

<p>my best Long is 17'6''
my best triple is 36'7''</p>

<p>I'm proud of how I did this year becuase I sprained my foot early in the season and had to sit out two weeks.</p>

<p>what about you? do you run?</p>

<p>You have a lot going for you- URM from Kansas, which is an underrepresented state, with great grades/rank, a solid ACT, and varied ECs.
Besides a 'top' school, what are you looking for in a college? size? location? urban vs rural vs suburban? do you want to continue with sports? or music?</p>

<p>I'm still not sure whether I want to play a sport in college. That's kind of up in the air right now. I'd like to continue to play music but I'd have to see the school's orchestra before I decide.</p>

<p>I'd rather have an urban school but I've visited some in nice rural areas. I do want a big city to be within a reasonable distance of the school. Size I'm still not sure on. I'm open to any size college as long as it doesn't make me feel claustrophobic.</p>

<p>I just want a serious, yet fun and laid-back school that is fairly diverse and open minded. I also want I to be far away from where I live.</p>

<p>@ BananaSandwich15:</p>

<p>Yeah, I run track...
But I'm not so great. :(</p>

<p>I run the 400m in 51 sec.
I run the 300 hurdles in 41 sec.</p>

<p>Anyways, congrats on overcoming your injury! :)</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>It's cool if you're not great the best part of the track meets are the down time</p>

<p>I tried hurdling... it wasn't pretty... the hurdles scared me and I stuttered like crazy... so I gave up haha</p>

<p>Get into contact with the coaches for the colleges you're interested in ASAP. A good friend, an incredibly gifted track running who will be doing D1 next year, waited for a while to get into contact. Though she got a full scholarship to a school she's quite happy she chose, she didn't have as many options because she did the contacting so late.</p>

<p>Get on it now!</p>