Hey everyone! I’m a senior interested in psychology and vocal performance and applying to a bunch of colleges, one of which is Vanderbilt. This is my dream school and I was wondering if anyone could give me an idea of how likely I am to get in. I’ve used college calculators but they aren’t very reassuring and take only my scores into account. I’m taking 3 AP Classes this year, and I am in Speech and Debate, Peer Tutoring Club, and National Honor Society. I hold a leadership position in Speech and Debate and my tutoring club. I am a National Hispanic Scholar and an AP Scholar with Distinction. I have several singing awards and have been taking private voice lessons for 4 years, and I have been doing debate for 2 years and have won awards for Public Forum debate.
Here’s my scores:
GPA: 3.927 (Unweighted), 4.727 (Weighted)
Class Rank: 10 of 235
Test Scores
ADVANCED PLACEMENT
English Language & Composition (5)
Calculus AB (3)
Psychology (5)
Chemistry (3)
Human Geography (5)
SAT (1510) - 2017
ACT (31) - 2017
Thank you thank you thank you for anyone who takes the time to go through this and to answer it. I’m trying to apply early, so any responses would be greatly appreciated.
P.S. Other schools I want to get into include:
USC
Brown University
Yale University
Northwestern
University of Michigan
If anyone has any other schools that are similar to Vanderbilt and offer psychology and vocal performance as major options, those recommendations would also be greatly appreciated. <3
You seem plenty qualified although I would try to get your scores up a little. Just make sure everything on your app paints a picture of who you are… They want people not robots. If you can make that come across then you have a solid shot!
Any way you’d be willing to chance me back? It’d be extremely appreciated!
Thank you, contdes! I’ll definitely look into Rhodes.
In re: Harpguy2022
I don’t want to chance you only because I don’t know that I’m qualified to do so, considering I’m not even sure of my own chances xD
However, I do have one more thing to add: I just found out I am a National Merit Semifinalist, yay! I don’t know if that helps chance me more, but it’s worth noting.
(I couldn’t figure out how to edit my original post O.o)
Grades/scores seem pretty solid (I would send your SAT only though since it’s a bit better, unless you retake ACT and score higher this fall). ECs are good, nothing amazing that will make you a lock, but certainly not deficient. URM could also give you a little bit of a bump.
I would say your chances are quite good for EDI; RD is a little bit less certain. Obviously it’s impossible to make perfect predictions, but you’re probably competitive in the ED pool. Just make sure that the subjective parts of your app turn out well, so try to get good recs and do your best to write your essays ahead, make them interesting, and leave plenty of time for edits.
Thanks fdgjfg! How much of an advantage would I get if I applied ED? Even though Vanderbilt is my ideal school, I’m not entirely sure how much financial aid I’m going to get, so I think I’m going to apply RD…
Wow, that’s not exactly comforting… >.< thanks for the help, though <3
Do you think being a National Merit Semifinalist will help? Is there anything I can do to boost my chances? At this point, I don’t really have the option to retake the ACT, so I can only do so much
Your SAT score and GPA are excellent (send the SAT instead of the ACT). I’m sure being a NMSF will help to some extent, but Vanderbilt (and all of the other schools you listed) are all reaches simply because they have low acceptance rates. Do some research online and talk to your guidance counselor to find some target and safety schools to add to the list as well. Psychology is offered pretty much everywhere, so check the departments carefully to see if their specific areas of research interest you.
It’s difficult to predict how things will be interpreted in the ED vs the RD round, but admissions definitely becomes a good deal more selective across the board of stats/ECs in the latter. You’re competitive for the EDI profile stats-wise, but less so for RD. However, something that’s tough to account for is how URM will be taken into account (i.e. your stats might be fine for RD, but it’s impossible to know). NMSF doesn’t really help because that aspect of your app is already captured by your solid test scores. No need to retake the ACT, just don’t send the 31. 1510 is equivalent to ~33, which would be fine for EDI definitely. If you did decide on doing RD, you might be able to take another shot at the October/December ACT or the November SAT. Probably not necessary for RD either, but it could put you in a little bit better of a position.
I would look at the net price calculator using your family’s information; I found that to be fairly accurate. If it comes out with a reasonable number and Vanderbilt’s your first choice I would probably do EDI for the peace of mind. However, you’re not sunk for the RD round either, so if you’re not able to commit now I wouldn’t worry too heavily about it.
You should ED1 if (i) you really think you’d be happy one and done with Vandy and not considering other schools and (ii) the NPC gives your parents an acceptable price.
Under the ED rules, you can always decline an ED offer for financial reasons. But Vandy seems to be pretty good about estimating their need-based aid.
But if you need to get scholarships and merit awards (rather than need aid) to make the dollars work, then ED really doesn’t make sense. Getting the merit money to work usually means applying to a number of places and waiting to see what deals you get offered. FYI, there would be no merit money at Yale, NW or Brown. Vandy and USC have merit money but it is highly competitive to get.
No one can predict with college admissions. I suggest that you also have some state flagship as backup.
You may want to position yourself, or set yourself apart from others in your essays. D positioned herself as someone who is passionate about Stem and social justice which carried from CA to Scholarship essays. You need really good essays for scholarships, with RD. The more time you spend time on your essays now, the better off your chance for Vandy and others.
Your ECs seem a little light, but I am sure you don’t want to share too much on CC. Vandy does have competitive singing group, so maybe going from that angle on one of the essays?
@seniorclass2018 The one thing I am wondering about is why you only took 3 AP classes. Is it because your school only offered so many and you have taken them? I know you have already a good number 5, but was just wondering if you were light on the AP classes because the classes werenot available or you just wanted to take it easy senior year. I know Vandy likes 20 credits AP and honors classes.
@fun1234 what do you mean “vandy likes 20 credits AP and honors classes”…are you saying to count up each year 9-12 the number of AP or honors classes one took? This is not always possible at every high school. many limit the number you can take in the first 2 years of high school. I would like to know where you got that information. thanks
@fun1234 I’ve actually taken 8 AP classes, including the ones I’m taking now, but any other exams that I took I scored a 3 on, so I’m not sure if those scores are worth reporting. Also, I only took 3 because I knew my extracurriculars and my college applications would be really overwhelming, and I’m glad I made that choice, in retrospect. My school doesn’t limit the amount of AP classes I take, but I figured my mental health was more important than what colleges want.
@LyMyKids2 This is what is on their website.Vanderbilt uses a holistic admissions process – we do not employ cutoffs for standardized testing or grade point averages. In our review process, we evaluate students’ academic records, looking for students who have performed well within the context of their high school’s most challenging academic programs. We evaluate activities outside the classroom in terms of depth of involvement, roles and responsibilities, and leadership. We also evaluate applicants’ writing through the application essay and short answer. Finally, we consider letters of recommendation – these often offer the admissions committee context about the applicant, both in the classroom and in the wider community. I do know on college board it says they need at least 20 credits not including visual and performing arts. So it seems they look at each school and as long as you are taking the hardest classes available. I do realize some schools do not offer a lot of AP class and sometimes must take college prep the first year. It seems I read more into it and was comparing it to my sons high school since he did have a chance to take honors from the start.
@LyMyKids2 My son took 5 AP senior year plus anatomy and physiology and it was tough. He was in the Academic Decathlon which also took lot of work, but he put off studying until after the applications. He also did ED for Rice University so he only applied to 6 colleges. He was all done and knew where he was going by December. I do know what you mean he was not having much social life at that point and he did cut back on the boy scouts because of the time crunch. Though by December 20th he knew he was in. He did not play sports other than frisbee in the spring. I am not sure what your extracurricular was but if it was sports I can see it woud be hard with a lot of AP’s He did get 4’s and 5’s on his AP’s and took a total of ten. Though I don’t think Rice even let him use many at all. It was more for the practice of the classes so if you have to take them again they will be easier. Like this year he skipped right to organic chemistry. Yes mental health is important. It is honestly hard to judge anyones chances because so many people apply now a days especially regular decision. Your odds get better with ED. I think Vandy gets quite a bit better.There are so many great schools out there and many schools can be a great fit. I am sure my son would of been happy at many of the schools he applied to. The other 5 schools my son applied to were equally important because he knew the chances of getting in were small.
