<p>Hi,
I am an asian female, about to be a senior in the fall at an NYC private school. </p>
<p>I've had a rough time in high school: Freshman year i was at one of the top schools in the country and got a couple B+'s and B's, some C+'s and C's.</p>
<p>I switched schools for the remainder of high school, (Still a NYC private school.)</p>
<p>Sophomore Year my report card looked a little something like this
English: A/A-
History: B/B+
Math: A/A-
Science: A-/B+
Language: A</p>
<p>Junior Year Final grades:
English: A-
AP US History: B-
Honors Pre-Calc: B
Astronomy: A-
Language A.</p>
<p>Senior Year I plan to take:
AP English
AP French
Either AP Calc or both AP Stat + Honors Calc
Physics (Kinematics)
An Essays elective</p>
<p>Planning to take SAT again in the fall (I took it twice so far, not so great... :/)
1st time: Reading 670 Math 630 Writing 580 (In my practice tests i usually score in the 700's in writing... don't know what happened!!!) </p>
<p>Plan to take SAT 2 English (should be a decent score.) </p>
<p>I know this doesn't look so good but I have some pretty good extracurriculars and other factors:
- Have been playing piano at a top level for 14 years
- Have been enrolled in the Juilliard pre-college program for 8 years (piano)
- Letter of recommendation from world-class pianist Andre Watts
- Captain of Varsity Track Junior Year, will hopefully be captain again senior year
- Guest Conductor of an Opera run by an organization called the Lighthouse (for the visually impaired)
- Volunteering reading for the blind (will continue into senior year)
- Ex figure skater
- Ex Lacrosse player
- Track sprinter (100 meter is my strongest event, i'm heading to track camp to try to improve my best time - around 13.3 seconds)
- This summer I took an amazing trip to Asia on a medical mission to help in an eye hospital. I will be writing an article for a website on it. </p>
<p>Schools I have been looking at:
University of Michigan (Ann Arbor)
Tufts University
Tulane
Cornell
Yale
Boston College
University of Miami
Vanderbilt
Maybe USC/UCLA </p>
<p>Now that I am reviewing my test scores and grades, my hopes are starting to plummet and I have no idea where I stand. Can someone give me honest opinions and help me please?
Thanks everyone </p>
<p>What does your advisor at school say? They will have a better idea than anyone here. The are not really professionals here and further no one knows how people at your school do historically, but your GC does. Obviously you have stats and profile to get into hundreds of colleges. The issue is picking wisely. Do you have the Fiske Guide to browse? How did you pick these colleges, there doesn’t seem to be too much cohesiveness or point of view. Maybe I am overlooking it, but I think you can make it more personal. I see Large private, large publics, smaller private uni, small private LAC. East coast to West coast to South.</p>
<p>It doesn’t look like you were well prepared on your 2nd try for SAT. Don’t take it until you have done something to improve and done a bunch of practice tests. You probably should do the ACT because it seems some people do better on it. You didn’t give your gpa, but SAT is on the low side for most of these colleges. That’s okay but you need more likely colleges, or ones that will highly value your musical talent.</p>
<p>I think you should be cautious on Yale/Cornell/UMich/maybe Tufts/Vanderbilt. They are all extremely selective and you could still apply you seem to have great EC’s and if the Recc is true quality and not name-based then its a good idea, but your grades and scores arent there, there is an upward trend, but not enough of one to make a huge difference. But dont feel bad about it, with your EC’s I think you could get into some of the other schools on your list. You need a second SAT 2 as well to even be considered at some of these schools so take 2 but make sure you know the information cold (like your life depended on it) because if you are applying early anywhere you wont have the opportunity to see your scores. Consider taking the ACT some students do a lot better, start prepping now for the September Exam (worst case you dont submit it). </p>
<p>Additionally: Look at some LAC’s that are selective (very top schools) like Amherst/Williams type schools that have special music programs, its possible that you may be give special consideration due to your musical prowess. I dont remember the name of it but its a top LAC and it has a huge Music Hall (sorry about that). </p>
<p>Good Luck and dont worry about the Ivy League.</p>
<p>Agree about the safeties. Too many reaches on that list. There’s a good chance you won’t get into most of those schools on your list with your SAT scores and GPA. Miami and Tulane are the only decent matches.</p>
<p>I further agree. You have a super score of 1970 which isn’t bad, it just isn’t Ivy material.
You need to look where you will fit in. What area of the country are you interested in? What do you want to major in? Are finances a factor?</p>