<p>this is just some kid who wants the rest of the world to tell him he can get into ivies even though he knows he can....classic case of girl asking boyfriend if she's too fat even though she's far from it</p>
<p>Honorsstudent-</p>
<p>1- Did you take SAT2's? You will need at least 2 if applying to Ivy's and top schools.</p>
<p>2-Cornell will be your easiest Ivy to get into. Most from our area are accepted. The others will be more difficult and a reach for almost everyone, especially if you are a male from the northeast.</p>
<p>3-ACT vs SAT. My kids both excelled at ACT. Remember quickness counts. Neither studied for it but took it to try it out. Did better than SAT. Read the front section for hints. It all has to do with being quick, reading the questions first before doing the problem and reading. Science answers are all there. </p>
<p>4- Remember, there is nothing wrong with going to a non-ivy school. You have great stats (keep taking and retaking the ACT). You should also apply to schools that will give you good merit aid if you don't qualify for need-based aid. There are some great public U's so don't discount them. Many top, top students attend many. Also, lots of private schools will offer you good merit money based on stats if you apply to schools where you are in the top 25% of admitted students. (Look outside the box- My HS senior son received a letter from Wash and Lee for a full ride if he were to start a Hillel- guess they want to increase Jewish enrollment. Son was not interested in doing it or the school, but it is a top LAC. Apply to all the Ivy's you want. No reason not to. Then pick some great schools after that. Do not have to be all the well knowns. </p>
<p>5- Valedictorian son with 34 ACT, 13 AP's plus college level class was denied or waitlisted at Ivy's he applied to and some great top schools. Great EC's, leadership, etc. Only thing missing was a sport. Oh well. (The Ivy's did accept an athlete who is playing for them and at another, a student with minority ethnicity, so that may play a part. May not. Not worth worrying about. As I told my son when applying, it doesn't matter where you don't get in (no rejections) it only matters where you do get in. You deserve to get in to all schools but this will not happen.</p>
<p>Good luck. I hope you end up somewhere wonderful!!!</p>
<p>Rereading your posts.</p>
<p>Get your ACT UP and your chances will dramatically increase at all these schools. (If you are a minority, then I think your chances increase too over the general acceptance stats. That can be a hood in my opinion.)</p>
<p>Again, good luck.</p>
<p>Red_Glory- Well first off, I am a girl. And no, I am not looking for reassurance. There are thousands of valedictorians who get rejected from ivies with stellar scores and people who I don't even hold a candle to, while others less superior to them do get in because of sports and whatnot, so I am honestly just trying to see if I have a freak chance like them.</p>
<p>crazed- Thanks! Very helpful! And yes, I have taken one SAT II in US History and I will be taking math at the end of this year.</p>
<p>Ugg... yes, some valedictorians get rejected.</p>
<p>But many get accepted as well. Seriously, don't discount yourself so easily. Not the whole class (or even the majority) is made up of special cases.</p>
<p>my advice: take two hours of concentrated effort each week on ACT or SAT prep. Buy the book with the 8 real tests. Take a test every other week. Find patterns in the problems you got wrong, and right. Learn the patterns of your own faulty thinking and adjust -- and pick up a few skills in test taking. With effort like that you might be able to get your ACT up 1-3 points and all the talk about your 29 ACT score will be moot.</p>
<p>DunninLA- Thanks for the advice! I haven't started studying yet (besides reading one or two chapters from the ACT book about tips) and I'm taking it April 4th. I plan on starting tonight on studying hardcore. Do you think I'd be alright if I studied 30 mins-1 hour each night until then? I only have two weeks! =/</p>
<p>how the hell can you get a 4.0 and get a 28 on the ACT. thats ridiculous. either your school is ridiculously easy or you have no "real" intelligence, but only a good work ethic. that wont get you very far in life. standardized tests will never leave you. even if your schedule allowed for no test-prep, you should at least be pushing 30+ with just your school knowledge.</p>
<p>you better retake it. those are ridiculously skewed stats. i would seriously question what the hell is up with your school if i were an adcom.</p>
<p>zzzboy- That was pretty harsh. And it was my first time taking the test as a sophomore, we hadn't even learned some of the stuff on the test yet! (summations for example are taught in pre-calc which I had not yet taken) and also I kept getting distracted and left 10+ blank on the grammar section which resulted in a low 20s score on that section...</p>
<p>well the distraction thing you can fix pretty easily probably...but idk why you took it if you didnt learn everything yet lol.</p>
<p>Hahah, guess we had a misunderstanding. And I took it to get a feel for it. It was kind of a blow-off round to see what I was in for. That first time I didn't even take the writing section, and all of the schools I'm applying to want ACT with writing, so yeah, wasn't expecting anything great the first time.</p>