What Do I Need to Improve for Wake Forest?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Wake Forest University
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Academic Achievement:
∙ First Honors, 94.2 Weighted G.P.A. National Honor Society 11,12
Citizen of the Year Award for VFW Post 11th
-First teenager to have received this award
National History Club Lessons of Leadership Essay Contest 11th
-Awarded 3rd place for my essay on Gandhi and a monetary award from the National History Club in Massachusetts
National Honor Society 11th, 12th
-Conducted a 20 hour leadership project coupled with 80 other community service hours
National History Honor Society 11th, 12th
-Raised $2,100 for VFW Post 1838, interviewed numerous veterans of the foreign wars, established reading groups for veterans, entered numerous historical competitions, assisted in the organization of Veterans’ Day at High School, awarded one of the top 10 History Honor Clubs in the United States for 2016-2017
Honor roll 9th, 10th, 11th
Student of the Month 10th

Outstanding Volunteer Award at English-Spanish Learning Club 9th
∙NSHSS National Society of High School Scholars. 10,11

Leadership:
∙ Founder and President, club
Club that meets to create bracelets, drawings and other goods to give enjoyment to those with special needs, in the military, in elderly homes, in assisted living, and/or in foster homes. Events are held monthly to gather donations for foster children at The Children’s Home Society of New Jersey. Members volunteer at least once a month at Sunrise of Wall Assisted Living.

9, 10, 11, 12

∙ Participant, Donor, Committee member, organizer, Dance-A-Thon
Organized 12 hour dance-a-thon for local families affected by pediatric cancer. Participants must raise at least $200. Committee members spend the year prior to the event planning, having marketing events, and holding fundraisers. 1st junior in history to invited onto the committee. Raised over $121,000 in 2017, beating the previous record of roughly $106,000 in 2016 9, 10, 11, 12
∙ Created, hosted, and participated in Pat’s Reading Group.

Organized rotation of six students, including myself, to read and keep company to a blind 92 year old World War II veteran every day of the week after his wife had a crippling stroke.
11, 12
∙ Peer Leader for Peer Leadership Program
Highly selective leadership program to befriend a child to help them with their problems, whether socially or at home. 11, 12
∙ Secretary (11th), President (12th) National History Honor Society
Assisted in the organization and decoration for High School’s annual Vietnam Veterans’ Day. Updated Wall of Honor board for alumni of High School. Publicized events and recruited new members for the History Honor Society. Orchestrated, publicized, and led GoFundMe fundraiser for Veterans of Foreign Wars Post . Raised $2,100 in two months to build a ramp and revamp some areas of the VFW .
11, 12
∙ Invited to highly selective R.Y.L.A.
Selected to attend Rotary Youth Leadership Forum held at University 11
∙ Teacher for Library Computer Class
Instruct elderly on how to use their electronics, computers and social media every week.
10, 11, 12
∙ Founder and organizer of Help Us, Help Haiti
Organized three local elementary schools to raise money elementary schools for Haiti. Raised $1,000 for Clean Water for Haiti. 11
∙ Delegate for the Federal Girls’ Career Institute
Highly selective, one of four juniors nominated, nominated and sponsored by the e\ Women’s Club to attend the four-day event. 11
∙ Delegate for the Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide Youth Wellness Summit at Community College
Highly selective, one of three juniors selected, nominated to participate based on leadership, ability to reach out to numerous types of groups and strong involvement in school and community. 11
∙ Captain of Out of the Darkness Suicide Prevention
Organized fundraiser and raised over $750 in three days for suicide prevention and led a group of 30 students in the Out of the Darkness Suicide Prevention Walk in September of 2016 11

∙ Creator, leader, and Orchestrator of Candy Drive
Organized group to gather and donate candy for local hospitals with people unable to celebrate Halloween due to hospice. Collected over 300lbs of candy between the years of 2015 and 2016 for CHOP, the Jersey Shore Medical Center and Soup Kitchen. 10,11

Extracurricular Activities, Clubs:

∙ My club, meetings twice a month to discuss, create, and brainstorm innovative ways to help bring joy to those with special needs, in the military, in elderly homes, in assisted living, and/or in foster homes. 9, 10, 11, 12
∙ English Spanish Learning Program, after school program to allow proficient High school Spanish speakers to work with Hispanic children with their homework and the English language. 9, 10, 11, 12
∙ Key Club, community service oriented club. 9, 10, 11,12
∙ We Stand Together, meetings during study hall hours to promote anti-drug use. Hosted Respect Week to enhance respect within the school and local community. Became incorporated in Hands Together after sophomore year. 9, 10

Community Service & Volunteerism:
∙ Spring Lake Public Library, volunteer with children monthly to create holiday or seasonally themed crafts. Assistant Chief for the library’s cooking club. 9, 10, 11, 12
∙ Blood Drive, Monmouth County Blood Bank, N.J. Donor, Volunteer, Organizer. Only sophomore in Organization Committee Spring. 10, 11, 12
∙ Food Bank of Counties, , Donor, Volunteer. 9, 10, 11, 12
∙ Salvation Army Clothing Driveyear round Donor, Volunteer.
9, 10, 11, 12
∙ “Holidays For The Homeless”, Boys and Girls Club Purchased and delivered gifts for homeless children and their families during the holiday season.
Donor, Volunteer, Participant. 9, 10, 11, 12
∙ Sunrise of Wall, volunteer, assistant to employees and elderly. 9, 10, 11, 12
∙ Certification in C.P.R. Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation. 11
∙ Lifetime Active Member of St. Uriel the Archangel Episcopal Church. 9,10,11,12

My GPA is a 94.2 weighted but will be around a 95/96 after my junior year!

My SAT is a 1200, but I am aware I need to get that up (Wake is test optional though)

So, what can I do to improve?

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bump

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@JuniorSav23, the common thread I have seen with successful Wake applicant’s are: top 10% (the higher the better if you are not sending scores), make sure you interview with Wake’s admission office and show Wake they are your first choice. Wake does not want to be your safety school.

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@WFUparent Of course! I am applying Early Decision in July and have scheduled my interview for July, as well!

Do you think not sending SAT scores looks bad? I am nervous that they say SAT-Optional but that SAT’s are actually a good insight.

Besides getting in the top 10%, how does my resume rate? Any advice?

Thank you so much for your reply and help!

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Your transcript is the most important. What is your course rigor like? Do you have mostly honors and APs? Have you had 4 years of foreign language? Which math and science have you taken? What is the caliber of your high school? Those are the types of things they will be looking at

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@wisteria100 yes, I have taken mostly honors and APs! (: Only allowed APs junior and senior year so I am still waiting on those scores. I went up to Spanish 4 Honors , which I figured is the same as 4 years essentially as I took Spanish 1 as an eighth grader! Math and science are not my strong suit, but I am an English major, so hopefully, Wake will see that is where the importance lies. My school is a public school that I am not quite sure of the ranking but has had kids go to Princeton, Brown, UVA, etc. solely on academics. (: Thank you for your response!

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@JuniorSav23 Sorry for chiming in so late, but I hope that I can provide some useful insight as a current Wake student. First of all, congrats on all your various achievements— very impressive! I definitely agree with the above posters about applying ED. This past year saw the lowest acceptance rate in Wake Forest history. The RD acceptance rate was 25% whereas the ED acceptance rate was around 37%, although WFU doesn’t publish this statistic. Anyways, interviewing with them and having a comfortable, confident, and interesting interview definitely helps your chances, too. With your GPA and extracurricular activities, I would say you are very well positioned as an ED candidate. As for improving things, I’d say that you don’t need to do much else— it’s clear that you have worked hard and high school, and that is what Wake wants more than anything! I will say this, though: When you apply, be prepared to take your time filling out the application. Wake has one of the more demanding applications in terms of the breadth of questions they want you to respond to. As with any supplement, especially take advantage of all the questions (both short and long) to demonstrate some of your unique qualities, the extent of your writing skills, and most importantly, why you are so interested in attending Wake. The bottom line is that you want to utilize every opportunity on the application and in the interview to convince Wake admissions of why you could see yourself there. I know that it seems kind of obvious, but so many applicants forget that this is neither a school presentation nor a research paper; it’s an opportunity for them to get to know you! Like I said, I believe that you are very well-positioned for admission. Best of luck, and please let me know if you have any additional questions!

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@wfufan thank you so much for your words! I really appreciate it and will take everything to heart!