<p>Hey, uh, everyone. I've been reading through some of the posts here for quite some time now. And I was wondering, what more can I do? Everyone else posted amazing achievements (ie. winning gold in this competition, first place there, etc). I feel like I NEED to do more. So, any suggestions? By the way, I'm currently a junior and I plan to take my SAT's next May. The school's I'll most likely apply to are: CalTech, Princeton and Standford. </p>
<p>First Year:
Class Public Relations Officer, Student Catholic Association (member), Dean's Lister
Second Year:
Class Vice-President, Student Catholic Association (member), Girl's Soccer Club, Varsity Basketball, Rehabilitation of the Environment (club member), Dean's Lister
Third Year:
Class Vice-President, Varsity Basketball, Rehabilitation of the Environment (club Vice-President), Physics Youth Honor Society (member), International Coastal Cleanup (volunteer)</p>
<p>So far, that's all I have. I'm not exactly at the top of my class. Above average maybe. What do you think? Long shot, or do I have even the slightest chance?</p>
<p>Write great essays, get great SAT scores, and do great in your interview. I know a lot of people disagree over essays and especially interviews, but really, I felt that those two parts helped me most to set myself apart.
You have picked quite a few very competitive schools. You might want to think of adding a couple of other schools; look into the Seven Sisters colleges; some of them have amazing science departments (at least I know that Wellesley does), and they really look at each student individually and not only test scores, and they are also very much concerned about diversity, so being international might help you (which is true for a lot of LACs).
Also, if there is one activity that you are very passionate about, make it stand out.
I really didn't have a lot more to offer when I applied, and it all worked out well...</p>
<p>I'm sorry, but I'm not too familiar with the Seven Sisters colleges. What are they? And what are LACs?
I'm also not sure if I will be able to take the interviews though...</p>
<p>Seven Sister colleges are old, all-female schools located in the northeastern US that were created to provide a top notch education for women in an era when most colleges admitted only men - sort of a female Ivy League.</p>
<p>Their importance has diminished somewhat over the decades as more and more colleges went coed and admitted women, but they still remain a prestigeous alternative for women who want an education that is focused solely on them.</p>
<p>The original seven are Wellesley, Mount Holyoke, Vassar, Radcliffe, Bryn Mawr, Barnard, and Smith. Of these, five are still all-women's schools. Vassar started admitting men 20 or 30 years ago, and Radcliffe merged with Harvard.</p>
<p>A surprising number of US First Ladies attended Seven Sisters schools. A few examples:
Hillary Clinton = Wellesley
Nancy Reagan = Smith
Jackie Kennedy = Vassar<br>
Barbara Bush = Smith</p>
<p>LACs = Liberal Arts Colleges. Small colleges that teach the liberal arts and sciences but do not teach professional courses of study such as business or engineering. The highest degree that most LACs offer is the Masters. For doctoral or professional degrees you need to go to a University.</p>
<p>You can request an interview online with most schools. Most schools do alumnae/alumni interviews abroad, and you will be assigned someone from your region. Mostly, alum interviews are far less stressful than interviews with admissions reps.</p>
<p>If you are serious and not just being modest about being just above average, the schools you list are unlikely to admit you. The competition is fierce and you must be a very top student.</p>
<p>[flywithme] It<code>s great that you ask for some suggestions</code>cos I have the same problem. I will apply to Cambridge so I need more activities in my list but I don`t know what to do... You know in Germany(in my area) aren't so much clubs. I'm searching all the time maybe someone can help me? flywithme where are you from?
[bobby100] not so daunting..... I think she can make it, if she works hard and get great SAT scores.</p>
<p>So even if I get great SAT scores, my chances are slim? What about Cornell? Maybe you can give me other alternatives, aside from the ones already mentioned above. I'm planning on an engineering course.
Uh, by the way I'm Asian.</p>
<p>I usually dont write stuff regarding Chances but.. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>You declare that you're an above average student but not in the top range- are you sure you're not even in the top 10%?</p></li>
<li><p>To summarise your ECs:
Member of Catholic association - 3 years
Environment club - member 1 year, vp 1 year.
Student government (+ public relations) - 3 years
V Bball- 2 years
Soccer - 1 year
Volunteering - 1year -- how many hours?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>How much dedication do you put forth into your ECs? Are they time consuming?
Just say you do get an impressive sat score. But hs transcripts outweigh sats by a LOT, in admissions.
And are you from an overrepresented country? Because if you're from Singapore or korea or china, etc.. you may need to add many many safties to your list.</p>
<ol>
<li>It's Stanford, not StanDford.</li>
</ol>
<p>I dont want to critique your chances but, just for comparison, people who have a silver in an intel olympiad, or semi finalists/ and even finalists of seimens/intel even get rejected from Harvard (happend last year).
But you still have time to do GREAT stuff until school finishes.</p>
<p>Anyway, thanks everyone for your insights and suggestions. At least now I have an idea on what to expect. (Even if it looks bad for me)
I will still try though. Hopefully, my grades will still improve. I only have 2 years left so I'm trying to make the most of it. </p>
<p>I might take my SAT's on January. I'll be lurking here, in case you guys have more suggestions. (Please do, I really need them) And I might post updates on how things are going with me. </p>
<p>hey, flywithme I also have just three years left, but I try to do my best :) So I started a club(something like this) with some friends. tfk (means: TeensForKids) We colect money for orphanages or stuff like this.
<a href="http://www.tfk-limburg.de.tl%5B/url%5D">www.tfk-limburg.de.tl</a> thats our page(still in work).
So I think when you can`t find a club just start one :)</p>