<p>My daughter is planning to apply Early Decision at Vanderbilt this fall. Any idea what her chances are?</p>
<p>Stats are:</p>
<p>GPA:
Unweighted 3.89
Weighted 4.05
(All challenging courses throughout HS, including AP, honors and multiple advanced and dual-enrollment courses. Five additional dual-enroll courses will be completed this year, including calculus.)
ACT:
10th grade - 30
11th grade - 31
(She will be taking it again before deadline)
NHS:
11th grade - Treasurer
12th grade - President
Choir - 4 years
Volleyball - 4 years (co-captain 2 years)
Pre-Cal award - 11th grade
Spanish award - 10th grade
Spanish II award - 11th grade (her dad's parents are Cuban so she had an advantage in that)
Tutors Pre-Cal & Algebra</p>
<p>Hello. I am a current student at Vandy. Standardized testing-wise, I would say she is on the lower side. However, her GPA is very promising. Her extracurriculars are not very impressive. However, I think she definitely has a shot IF she does early decision. She will have a better chance if she can raise the ACT score to a 33 or 34. But I encourage her to apply early decision. There is a place for everyone at Vanderbilt, and I have not heard one student say that they are not happy at this school. Early decision would greatly benefit her with her chances of getting in. For early decision, I would say she has a 50/50 shot of getting in, honestly. </p>
<p>Thank you for the input! We are hoping that the ACT score will come up some. Regarding extracurriculars, she goes to a very small private school that honestly doesn’t offer a whole lot in that realm. However, she is consistently involved in organizing the blood drive (Blood Assurance) and volunteers for the ESL program. I didn’t mention those earlier since they are volunteer activities set up through NHS. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if they should be counted separately since they are done as part of her NHS commitment. Thanks again for your response!</p>
<p>No problem. Do not be discouraged with the test scores. I know many students here who were in the same position as your daughter and got into this school. She definitely is a competitive applicant because her GPA is very good. </p>
<p>I should also have mentioned that her senior project is implementing a sadly lacking recycling/go green program at her school and starting a club to continue the work and advocate for the cause after she’s gone. Hoping that will be well underway by the time she applies so she can include it on her app.</p>
<p>Hi there … my daughter was admitted ED1 this past year. And the gist I get from all of the admits that I know about is that their GPAs were near perfect, ACT/SAT were very high and though they were very busy with ecs, there was one ec that really stood out … if musically talented, then lots of involvement and all-state band or all-state choir, if forensics, they were national qualifiers or there was a twist on a “typical extra curricular”, etc… And not a twist for a twists sake but their passion really showed through. </p>
<p>But from personal experience, if Vandy is her first choice, ED is definitely the way to go. I believe the acceptance rate is somewhere around 20% for ED and drops drastically for RD. </p>
<p>The admission process at the most selective U’s is not an exact science. Parents and students want to know #'s and boxes to check but ADCOMs talk about building a class, diversity, and the holistic process. How does OZ behind the curtain determine which qualified students get to go to Kansas???
The best you can do is look at the admission data to get an idea of what each U looks at. Vandy’s SAT/ACT scores are now higher than 5/8 ivies , Duke and Stanford. It’s fair to say someone is looking closely at these scores. The Vandy admissions blog year after year report 100% of incoming students received significant awards or held significant leadership positions. Not 99%, 100%. Someone is looking at these EC’s. 47% are varsity athletes, 37% held major positions or received awards in the fine arts. So it helps to excel at something outside the classroom. Schools also like students that use their smarts to improve their school or the community.
Your D has a strong application. Get that ACT to 33, take the SAT too and send the higher score, write a great essay, and talk to teachers who can write her an outstanding LoR. </p>
<p>Good info! Thank you:) Yes, she is working hard to bring her score up a couple points. And the LoR’s will be no issue. My main concern is extracurriculars…also leadership. I’m not sure if NHS pres and VB co-captain is enough. Thanks for your encouragement!</p>
<p>Please let me be brutally honest. I am sorry but I do not think your daughter is a strong ED applicant, as yet. Her GPA is very good, but most successful Vanderbilt applicants have similar or better GPAs. Her test scores obviously are a bit too low for a strong candidate. Vanderbilt is ranked 7th in the nation by SAT/ACT scores. Its average scores (including ED) are 1490 and 33 respectively, which place Vanderbilt above Stanford, Duke and UPenn, and only Harvard, Yale, Princeton among the ivies are better than Vanderbilt. Further, your daughter’s ecs do not seem very impressive. </p>
<p>So, if your daughter is seriously interested in Vanderbilt, I believe she NEEDS to
improve her SAT/ACT scores (which will also give her a better chance at other good schools)
keep on her good work at school so that she could maintain/better her GPA
write a really impressive essay to demonstrate why she is special (Remember, it takes time to write a good essay)
be realistic (only 20% of very qualified ED applicants will be admitted) and make good backup plans</p>
<p>Your daughter has been doing excellently, and you should be proud of your daughter regardless of the outcome of her Vanderbilt application. I hope she will get admitted to Vanderbilt if that is what she wants. </p>
<p>Big decision day is getting close…one more question for anyone that wants to weigh in. High school guidance counselor told her that Vanderbilt called “asking a whole lot of questions about her”. Is this pretty routine or a good sign? Counselor didn’t elaborate on the conversation, nor did Kris ask her to. She DID say counselor seemed excited for her…but then Joan is ALWAYS happy and bubbly lol…so IDK how seriously to take this:/
Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Or is it, heaven forbid, a bad sign? As in, they’re picking her apart or questioning something on her app? But I can’t think of anything on her app that could possibly be in question. Also, I can’t imagine her counselor would have been so cheerful if she felt the conversation with the Vandy person was a negative. I’m probably just overthinking it:/</p>
<p>I would hope for the best. They’re probably not making phone calls about the definite “yes” kid but they’re <em>certainly</em> not making calls for a clear “no.” She’s probably on the bubble and they’re trying to gather additional information to help their decision making. Good luck! </p>
<p>I think it is a good sign!! I remember the wait all too well. I saw the “letters were mailed today” in a admissions office post at a choir concert for my youngest… I couldn’t sleep that night. I knew then we would know the next day, since we are local. yep…12/12/12 the letter arrived. I hope it’s good news for you as well! </p>
<p>Thank you:) yes, I think it’s almost as hard on the parents as the kids. I know she’ll dig in and do well wherever she ends up because that’s the kind of person she is…but I just know she really wants this:/ </p>
but their passion really showed through. </p>