What schools are good for me?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m very confused on what my activities and transcript are actually capable of getting me into. I know that one cannot just say if a person will get into an Ivy League school, but I was just wondering if I would be considered a weak, average, strong candidate, etc. and if I should even bother applying to any ivies. (The ones I was considering were Cornell, Brown, Dartmouth, UPenn, and Duke). Also based on what I’m about to write below, if anyone has any other college suggestions for me that would be great. I am undecided, but I am interested in Languages, Social Sciences, Animal Behavior, and possibly Writing.

SAT Super score (taken 3 times):2050 (700 CR, 720, Writing, 630 Math)
ACT (taken once and plan on retaking): 32 (33 English, 33 Reading, 31 Science, 29 Math, 21 writing)

Unweighted GPA will be somewhere around a 97, weighted somewhere between 98-99

Took all accelerated science and math courses

Languages:

-Italian from 7th-11th (96-100s)
-Spanish 2 (11th)
-Progressive French (12th)

APs:
-AP English (99), Lit
-AP Calculus
-AP Psychology
-AP World, US History, Gov
-AP Italian

Other Electives:
-Advanced Science Research- A 3 year program that involves research in the summer in addition to class research. I designed my own survey based research to study how the physical attractiveness of a mammal effects people’s support for its captivity. My mentor is a professor at NYU, however the research itself was created by me.
-Chorus

Highlights of Extracurricular Activities/Community Service/ Awards:

-Junior Representative at Site-based Meetings with Faculty, PTA, and Staff

-President of the Italian Honor Society

  • Active Member of Science Honor Society

-English Honor Society

-Tri M Music Honor Society

  • National Honor Society
  • Event Chair and Team Leader for District Wide Relay for Life- Worked on the event all year round, represented my high school as the first event chair to be from my school, raised over $1000 alone, organized garage sales and fundraisers to earn money for the event, etc.
  • Habitat for Humanity and A World of Difference- Build houses for the needy, Work in soup kitchens, visit single mother and child homes, Distribute Turkeys at local churches to the poor, etc.

-Summer Volunteer for 3 years at Vocational Bible Camp as a Counselor

-Santa’s All-stars at American Legion- Wrapped and sorted presents for local families who could not afford to purchase their children gifts

  • Volunteered at Community Street Fairs

-Student Government and Class Club

-Sports: Track 9th, Badminton 10th

  • Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation Leadership Academy (Cancer related)- Selected out of hundreds of applicants to partake in this experience as the only representative from NY
  • John Theissen Children’s Foundation (Cancer Related) Volunteer

-Work: Babysitting, Office Worker

Random Awards: Won St. John’s Women in Science Award twice, World Language 1st Place Essay Level 3H District Wide- Italian, “Multilingualism is a Super Power” 1st Place District Wide Winner for Italian/Spanish,
World Language 2nd Place Essay Level 2 District Wide- Spanish, AATI National Italian High School Contest Exam- Honorary Mention, Student of the Month, etc.

Musical Involvement:

Voice Lessons with Recitals at coffee shops, piano stores, etc.

Acapella Choir and Pirate Radio (Afterschool choirs and small performance groups)
NYSSMA- NY state music festival where students are judged on a musical piece, Have been doing NYSSMA since 5th grade

All County- A select group of students who performed well in NYSSMA are invited to perform in this select ensemble, performed 4 years in the All County Women’s Choir

Not sure if this matters but I am also first generation and in need of financial aid

I know that was really long, thank you to all who read it

2

You are such a student for Stanford, in my opinion. Frankly speaking, don’t send your SAT scores but only and only send your ACT scores. For your essay, write something you are passionate about–something about Spanish-Italian would make sense in your case. With a great essay showing your passion and actually good rec letters, I feel like you can get into Stanford.

3

@tryingforyale If the OP applies to Stanford, she will need to send SAT and AP. Stanford requires applicants send all test scores.

4

@tryingforyale
@pineapple86

What are the typical scores and gpa to get into Stanford?

5

Retaking ACT/SAT might be a good idea if you’re aiming for top schools. I would also suggest weeding ECs for “noise”- 5 honor societies seems a little excessive. I’m not saying they’re not achievements, but can come off as resume filling on your application. The same goes for every single volunteer activity you’ve done; pick the activities that are most important to you.

I think Ivies are a little bit of a reach, but then again they are for most people. Are you thinking of majoring in a language? If not, something else? That could help me find some other schools for you.

6

http://ucomm.stanford.edu/cds/2015

ACT: 31-35 is 25th-75th percentile
SAT: Broken down by subject

Percent in top tenth of high school graduating class: 96
Percent in top quarter of high school graduating class: 99
Percent in top half of high school graduating class: 100
Percent in bottom half of high school graduating class: 0
Percent in bottom quarter of high school graduating class: 0
Percent of total first-time, first-year (freshman) students who submitted high school class rank: 35%

Percent who had GPA of 3.75 and higher: 94.51
Percent who had GPA of between 3.50 and 3.74: 4.01
Percent who had GPA between 3.25 and 3.49: 0.91
Percent who had GPA between 3.00 and 3.24: 0.58
Percent who had GPA between 2.50 and 2.99: 0

7

@pineapple86 Yeah I know what you mean about how they come off as noise, but my issue is that I am very active in community service, but I don’t have a repetitive task that I do.
I basically just sign up for anything that comes my way and help in any way that I can and I feel like that is just as important as someone who commits their time to one thing, but writing it all makes me look obnoxious and I don’t know how to show I do a variety of one-time community service acts without seeming like I only do it to write another thing for college.

8

@pineapple86 Also I’m probably misguided but I thought that under the awards section I was supposed to label all of the honor societies I was inducted into and contests I won… Is that not what people do?( All the societies require being in clubs or doing service and having high grades)

9

No, you mentioned that SAT point you put is already superscore. Taking SAT more than twice is NEVER a good idea; my counselor says this and he is highly successfull at his job, seriously. Also, if you send your ACT, it will be enough (also putting SAT will do no good). So, if I were you, I would cancel my SAT scores. But, I don’t take responsibilities; you should arrange a meeting with a college counselor.

10

You can’t cancel SAT scores like you can cancel ACTs, unless that is something new.

11

@tryingforyale “Taking SAT more than twice is NEVER a good idea”

Nonsense. So if you’ve been PT’ing at 2100 but have test anxiety and got a 1700 and an 1800 on your test days you shouldn’t retake? Schools report the highest score, it’s utterly stupid to not retake if you think you’ve left a significant amount of points on the table.

12

Well, this is your opinion and there are experts making hundreds of students go to best colleges every year with decades of experience. @danfer91 I wouldnt say nonsense :wink:

13

No, nonsense. Are you one of these “experts”? No, I’m fairly sure you’re a high school student. And what about the hundreds of college students every year who get into elite colleges while taking the SAT 3, or even 4 times? What about the students at elite schools who have never taken the SAT or ACT? Should we just completely discount these examples? Don’t spread misinformation in the form of blanket statements like “it’s NEVER a good idea to take the SAT more than twice”, because for many people it’s a great idea. And guess what? I’m positive there are people at every single “top” school who have taken the SAT/ACT more than twice. There’s nothing wrong with it, given that you’re not already at 2200+ and you’re obsessing about minor score changes.