Where should I even start?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>A "can I get in?" type of post. I'm not sure where they belong.</p>

<p>I honestly don't know where I should even be looking at. Here are some basics, I guess...</p>

<p>I want a small school (less than 5,000) with my majors available.... I want to stay in the midwest. </p>

<p>As you can see (if you look, lol), my grades have honestly made a huge upward trend. I have a huge theory about average classes hindering a student's capability... I took my first AP class this year and have had the hardest schedule of my high school experience, and I'm doing fantastic. I know it's because that because my AP class challenged me, I brought those skills to my other classes. I'm going to continue the AP track and take on more advanced classes next year. I'm really afraid that my experiences as an underclassman (which contribute to my poor GPA/class rank) will hurt my chances of getting into a lot of colleges... </p>

<p>I'm in Illinois and my dream schools are University of Chicago and Northwestern University. They're nearby and just... exactly what I'm looking for. Do I have any chance whatsoever?</p>

<p>I'm currently working on raising my ACT. I honestly think I can do better than what I showed... I really butchered the Science section, as you can all tell....</p>

<hr>

<p>Current year: Junior c/o 2006</p>

<p>Race/gender: White female</p>

<p>Potential areas of study: Double major in Political Science and Geography OR Religoius Studies</p>

<p>GPA: (uw) 3.33, (w) 3.36</p>

<p>Rank: (uw) 209/658—31.7%, (w) 217/658—32.9%</p>

<p>ACT composite: 26
English: 29
Math: 26
Reading: 28
Science: 21 (I know, I know)
Writing: 10(/12 incase you didn't know...)</p>

<p>AP Examinations (will have these taken by the time I graduate in ’06)
Human Geography
Macroeconomics
Microeconomics (independent study)
Comparative Government (independent study)
US Government
Psychology
European History</p>

<hr>

<h2>GRADES</h2>

<p>Freshman year
Comp Lit/Comp App: A/A
English: B/B
Spanish I: B/B
Algebra I: A/B
Biology: B/B
World History: B/B
Summer school Health: B</p>

<p>Sophomore year
English: B/B
Journalism: B
Women’s Studies: A
Spanish II: A/B
Geometry: B/B
Earth Science: C/B
Summer school Consumer’s Ed: A</p>

<p>Junior year (second semester grades are an estimate as of now, but I have no doubt that they’ll be all A’s)
Chemistry: B/A
English: A/A
AP Human Geography: A/A
Algebra II: A/A
US History: A/A
Spanish III: A/A
Also taking Summer school Independent Study Psychology</p>

<p>Senior year classes
Brit Lit/Expository Comp
AP European History
AP Macroeconomics/AP Govt
Spanish IV
Honors Trig/Calc A
Physics</p>

<hr>

<h2>EXTRACURICULAR ACTIVITIES</h2>

<p>Freshman year: Student Council
Sophomore year: Crier staff reporter (newspaper), Student Council
Junior year: Crier Entertainment editor, Tapestry (literary magazine)
Senior year (most likely): Crier Editor-in-chief (already notified of position and currently fulfilling EIC duties), Tapestry, SAE, NHS (hopefully)</p>

<hr>

<h2>COMMUNITY SERVICE</h2>

<p>Freshman year: Sunrise retirement home, March of Dimes
Sophomore year: Special Olympics—three different events
Junior year: PAVE--helped organize Walk for Awareness (program that raises awareness for sexual assault), Student Referendum Committee (the Referendum passed, by the way), March of Dimes, Special Olympics
Senior year: Hopefully I’ll just continue everything </p>

<hr>

<h2>WORK EXPERIENCE</h2>

<p>Sophomore/Junior year: Cashier at Frank’s Nursery, about 10 hours/week
Junior year: (looking for a summer job currently)</p>

<hr>

<h2>AWARDS</h2>

<p>Junior year: Quill & Scroll International Honor Society
Senior year: Hoping for NHS.......?</p>

2

<p>Ugh, sorry guys. I was looking at the "top forums" list on the side and didn't know there was a specific area for these type of posts. Is a mod able to move posts or should I just apologize profusely and hope nobody hates me? :)</p>

<p>(Edit)</p>

<p>Okay I see an edit button on my reply.... but you can't edit first posts? Or am I missing something....?</p>

3

<p>I would say northwestern and chicago are both longshots but don't let that stop you from applying (you never know)</p>

<p>You need to improve your ACTs to around 30ish and make sure you have a strong senior year to keep that upward trend.</p>

4

<p>yeah, i don't know if it will help u or kill u, but maybe u could try some college classes (like two or something) over the summer.........colleges like that really only want to see that u've taken full advantage of practically every opportunity available.......u've got a shot IMO......</p>

5

<p>"You need to improve your ACTs to around 30ish and make sure you have a strong senior year to keep that upward trend."</p>

<p>Definitely working on it, heh. I'm actually giving SATs a shot in June if that makes a difference -- I don't know how much I'll raise that science score. I'm just naturally bad at science, lol. Maybe with it eliminated from SATs it'll be a bit higher...? I hope.</p>

<p>And I'm totally not worried about senior year (except physics... it's the science thing). I'm actually looking forward to it! A bit nervous for AP Macro, too, though... and Spanish IV... I don't really enjoy Spanish, but I know it'll be of use so I'm sticking with it. Oh, well, I'm thinking very optimistically.</p>

<p>"yeah, i don't know if it will help u or kill u, but maybe u could try some college classes (like two or something) over the summer.........colleges like that really only want to see that u've taken full advantage of practically every opportunity available"</p>

<p>I was going to at a community college... I still might take one in religious studies (I'm fascinated with the subject, but I don't know if I should because I have SO many credits in social sciences already...) and I'm doing an independent study Psych course through my school. I also wanted to do independent study Sociology (it goes into your GPA, you get the credit, it's still a real class), but I'm not sure if two independent study courses is a good idea, or if I should stick with one independent and one community college course...</p>

6

<p>Improve that GPA maybe you have to many EC's cut than down a bit</p>

7

<p>"Improve that GPA maybe you have to many EC's cut than down a bit"</p>

<p>With all A's this quarter I'll still only be at 3.45 (uw).... then with my class at summer a 3.48. So if I apply early admissions, which I'm hoping to... that's what they'll see. :\ I'm still going to work my senior year, though... AND if they see those by any chance my GPA will be around 3.53 with a 3.65 when I graduate, which I know they won't see.</p>

<p>I've calculated this many times, sigh.</p>

<p>ECs though? Right now I'm only on magazine and an editor in newspaper. Next year I'll be EIC newspaper, continue magazine... and I just really want to add SAE (community service club)... and then I'm hoping for NHS. I don't really think four is too many? That's not even mentioning President's Forum which is all the activity leaders.</p>