Hi, I’m an uprising junior in highschool and I’m interested in Vanderbilt with other schools. So what did u do to get in? I know grades and act score are important, but what about outside of that? What helped you get in besides grades? I wanna do as much as I can in junior year to help my chances. I will most likely do the pre med route. Thanks! Looking at colleges is very fun!
Just for starters, you can type in “common data set” in most edu websites and see the stats of all sorts of categories re the admitted class and the Yielded class who actually deposited and attended. You should have a serious sit down with your parents by opening a FAFSA account and doing some preliminary data entry to find out your EFC. You should apply to finanical safety schools that you can afford to attend as well as to safety schools for test scores etc. You should do all the practice exams in either the Ten Real ACT exams book or a SAT prep book. You should come up with a testing strategy that may include taking at least 2-3 SAT Subject exams. You should buy those prep books and practice before taking them (few people do and they regret it if they don’t). Vanderbilt is a very difficult college to gain a seat in now. It is a reach school for everyone. Even a high reach for most students. Good luck getting on your feet. America is rich in excellent colleges. Play the long game. If you are going to go to a graduate school/med eventually, read up on pricetags of those degrees and don’t blow all your money on undergrad without a long view on your twenties and your future educational needs.
You will need to work on your writing skills (for example, the term is “rising” junior, not “uprising” junior. Your first conversation should be with your guidance counselor, not a forum on here because each case is different.
@Faline2 offers great advice.
I will add that D’s guidance counselor was worthless. Early on in her high school career she told him that her goal was an Ivy or Top 20 - that she knew they were lottery schools, but she wanted help to best position herself. He pretty much blew her off and said that it was impossible. At that point, her ecs, gpa & standardized test scores were at Top 20 level - I have no idea why he was so negative. He wasn’t realistic - he was downright negative. I feel for all the kids who ended up w/ him has a guidance counselor.