What are my chances?

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I am going to be a senior in August and I am looking to apply early decision to WashU. I am from St. Louis and WashU really is my dream school. I was wondering if you guys think I have a good chance of getting in and what I can do to improve my chances.</p>

<p>GPA: 3.93/4.0 (school doesn't weight advanced/AP classes)
ACT Superscore: 30
E: 31
M: 30
R: 29
S: 28</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
- NHS
- Played football freshman year
- Co-founder of a sports club at school
- I've worked 2 different jobs
- Over 350 volunteer hours
- Recognized by a program for grades freshman-junior year</p>

<p>I have taken a couple of advanced classes and have taken 3 AP classes so far. I am also taking 2 AP classes next year and an advanced class. What do you guys think my chances are? I am probably going to take the ACT one more time but I don't think my superscore will rise to anything above a 31.</p>

<p>ACT really is a bit low, and not sure how good your ECs really are. With amazing essay/recs you have a bit of a shot, but not great.</p>

<p>Agree with above- more than than the low ACT, the ECs don’t seem to convey depth- you are already showing deep interest in WUSTL by considering ED, but with a school as competitive as WUSTL, you will likely need higher test scores. You really can’t do much now to add to the resume, so very strong LOR and great essays will help.</p>

<p>I read over my EC list and I forgot to mention a couple of other things. I am the president of a club at my church, I did a 1 month program at a hospital last summer (included in volunteer hours), I played in a basketball league at a local rec center, I volunteered at a soup kitchen, and I have some volunteer hours from my church (also included in my 350 hours). I wasn’t involved in too many after school clubs because since 2nd semester freshman year I’ve had to babysit my younger sibling after school. Thanks for the feedback by the way, I’m shooting for a higher ACT but we’ll see where it goes. The next one is in September and I plan on doing a lot of studying before it.</p>

<p>Also, one more question, I tried googling WashU’s average ACT and I kept finding different answers. Do you guys know what their average ACT is and is their reported average ACT superscored?</p>

<p>The average ACT in 2008 was a 33. I can only imagine it has gone up since then (that includes superscoring).</p>

<p>The mid 50 ACT score is 32-34 (superscored). BTW, if you had to babysit a sibling, that’s a legitimate EC that you should list on the Common App.</p>

<p>@PsychoDad is it really? How exactly would I state that on my college app? I finished school around 2:30 and by the time I got home it was 2:45-3:00 depending if I took the bus home. I had to be at my sister’s school at like 3:30 so I had no time to do anything. Especially freshman and sophomore year when I couldn’t drive</p>

<p>List it under the activities section and time spent- if you had to babysit because of family finances then you could try to mention it because not everyone can get a job or have the time for a lot of EC’s- my son helped my wife with all her computer records and bookkeeping for her Acupuncture practice and listed this- believe it or not, this topic was brought up during an interview with an Admissions officer, who was pretty impressed.</p>

<p>Alright, thanks for the advice. I’m going to try to get my ACT, especially my superscore, up before applications are due for ED. I still have the September and October ACT I can take so I’ll prepare a lot for them</p>

<p>Bballpro- since you are looking to apply ED and as WUSTL does not have a supplemental essay (unless they change things for 2014), consider making a separate Common App setting for WUSTL only- this way, you can customize any essays for WUSTL alone.</p>