Will I get accepted with my tough classes and awards for research?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Georgetown University
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<p>Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: Male
Residence: Minnesota
HS Class: 2012</p>

<p>GPA: 3.74 Weighted
International Baccalaureate Diploma Program
ACT: 22 </p>

<p>AP Biology - (Testing Senior Year)
AP Psychology - 4
AP Spanish - (Testing Senior Year)
AP Chemistry - (Testing Senior Year)</p>

<p>IB History of the Americas HL - (Testing Senior Year)
IB English HL - (Testing Senior Year)
IB Chemistry HL - (Testing Senior Year)
IB Spanish SL - (Testing Senior Year)
IB Psychology SL - 5
IB Math Studies SL - 6 </p>

<p>University of Minnesota- Twin Cities CIS Principles of Microeconomics</p>

<p>IB Creative Action Service (CAS)</p>

<p>C - Science Fair
A - Triathlons
S - Volunteer in Ask An Expert Forum on Science Buddies .org</p>

<p>Awards and Experience</p>

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<p>Work Experience - Caribou Coffee Team Member since August 2010</p>

<p>Lab Assistant
August 2010 – February 2010 University of Minnesota: Twin Cities – Graduate Department of Neuroscience; Neurochemistry , Minneapolis MN</p>

<p>Lab Assistant
September 2009 – May 2010 University of Minnesota: Twin Cities – Graduate Department of Psychology</p>

<hr>

<p>Student of the Month - Chemistry
Student of the Month - Health</p>

<hr>

<p>Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF)</p>

<p>Grand Award: Third Place in the world for Behavioral and Social Sciences presented by Intel and Society for Science and the Public $1,000 (2011)
First place award of $1,500 for "Excellence in Behavioral and Social Sciences" from the College of Psychology at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) (2011)
$60,000 Tuition Scholarship to IIT for Outstanding Excellence in Behavioral and Social Science Research. (2011)
$50,000 Tuition Scholarship to Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village, Nevada (2009, 2010, and 2011)
Intel ISEF Finalist 2009, 2010, and 2011 </p>

<hr>

<p>Minnesota Academy of Science: Minnesota State Science and Engineering Fair</p>

<p>Recipient of Gold Medal (2009, 2011) – Awarded to top 5% of projects
Wolfram Award, Best in Category for Behavioral and Social Sciences and License to Wolfram Mathematica Software (2011)
Secondary Teachers of the American Psychological Association - Outstanding Research in Behavioral and Social Sciences and Best in Category for Behavioral and Social Sciences: (2009)
JMP Division of SAS Institute, Data Discovery Award – Best Data Visualization, Statistical Analysis, and Mathematics – 5 Year Personal Access to JMP Computing Software (2011)
Seagate Rising Star Award for Top 40 First Year Projects (2009)</p>

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<p>Minnesota Academy of Science: Tri-State Junior Humanities and Science Symposium</p>

<p>Callback Finalist – Top 9 Research Papers and Presentations in the Symposium: Recipient in 2011
Outstanding Achievement in Tri-State Junior Humanities and Science Symposium and Monetary Award: Recipient in 2011</p>

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<p>St. Cloud State University – David F. Grether Central Minnesota Regional Science and Engineering Fair</p>

<p>Secondary Teachers of the American Psychological Association - Outstanding Research in Behavioral and Social Sciences (2010)
Outstanding Achievement in Regional Research Paper Competition and Research Symposium – Advancement to Tri-State Junior Humanities and Science Symposium (2011)
Best of Fair and Advancement to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (2009, 2010, and 2011)
Premium Award and Advancement to the Minnesota State Science and Engineering Fair (2009, 2010, and 2011)
United States Air force Outstanding Achievement Award (2010)</p>

<h2>David F. Grether Memorial Scholarship $1000 (2009, 2010, and 2011)</h2>

<p>Young Epidemiology Scholars (YES) Competition</p>

<p>YES Semi-Finalist in Public Health Research Paper Competition sponsored by Collegeboard and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation $1000 (2011)</p>

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<p>Anoka-Hennepin District ISD#11 District STEM Fair</p>

<p>1st Place and Outstanding Achievement (2009 and 2011)
United States Navy Award for Outstanding Research (2009)</p>

2

<p>Is 22 on the ACT a typo? If not, you need to boost that significantly to have a shot. You have impressive extracurriculars but they won’t compensate for subpar academic numbers. That ACT doesn’t put you anywhere near the ballpark, the GPA is pretty underwhelming, and the AP/IB scores are nothing special.</p>

<p>I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but as I look at your resume I see a lot of prizes you’ve won in and a lot of extracurricular activities in psychology/social science, but then just a 5 on the IB Psych exam. If those achievements are genuine you should’ve blown the IB Psych exam out of the water, not walked away with a five. My immediate (though possibly unfair assumption) is that you’ve bulked up your resume with a lot of help from parents/friends/sympathetic adults in an effort to compensate for poor grades and scores. You’ll need to convince an admissions officer that this isn’t the case or your file won’t be getting a second look.</p>

3

<p>With all of those awards, the ACT will not be the deciding factor. If they want you, that little number won’t mean so much.</p>

4

<p>^^I disagree with IRgovnmt
The number 1 factor in admission is academic profile. It will trumps extracurricular any day. If admissions see that your grade and score do not fare well compared to the rest of the pool and would likely have a harder time in college compared to other applicants, you will have less of a chance. Yes, people who don’t get perfect scores get accepted but that’s because they’re grades/test scores are good enough to show that they can take the rigor. When you have thousands of kids with GPAs of 3.9-4.0 (or reflect the rigor of your school such as top prep school kids who have lower GPA but would get 4.0 easily in non-prep schools) applying, then EC matters. But if your grades/test scores do not show potential success, then the admissions committee will have reservations.</p>