I have a score of 31 on my ACT and I am taking my SAT this weekend (but I am not yet sure how I will perform on that). I have high expectations in terms of college applications since I am an Indian international applicant and have to deal with a plummeting acceptance rate (thanks to being an intl and due to COVID-19). I know that for the UCs which went test-blind, this won’t really matter but I am worried about not having a satisfactory test score for my other schools. Here are my stats and ECs…I am also willing to send my essays separately to those of you willing to look at that as well to further evaluate my standing.
Stats:
Weighted GPA: 4.7 Unweighted GPA: 3.95 (I had 3 Bs in two classes freshman year…Not a perfect one so I was really concerned about not having a test score)
Extracurriculars:
Advisory Board for a National Women in STEM org through which I hosted virtual panel discussions and leadership conferences to engage girls in STEM during COVID
Co-Founded a Pre-med/Pre-Health org to engage high school and college students in STEM and medicine opportunities which has garnered 500+ members from over 20 timezones around the world.
Serve on my state department of Education’s Commissioner’s student council
Founded the HOSA (Health Occupational Students of America) chapter at my school and served as the chair of competitive events
Student Representative of my school’s Student Technology Leadership Program (STLP) club and currently the President.
Committee Chair at a local district environmental sustainability council
Spoke at a career/culture fair at my state university on the impacts of culture on cognitive development.
Awards:
Placed in the top 5 for the international HOSA ATC Anatomy/Physiology Test from over 500 test-takers.
Selected for the Khula Aasmaan International Indian Art Contest Shortlist (150 students in the 15-25 age group around the world)
One of 25% of artworks selected out of 1500+ applicants to be published for the national Celebrating Art contest (However, I wasn’t selected for the top 10)
Received the Society for In-Vitro Biology Award for having the best science fair project involving live animal/plant cell tissue cultures (one high schooler was selected from all life science projects/projects involving tissue cultures in the state science fair)
Received the best-in-fair team award in the STLP state showcase for developing an instructional website with 3 other highschool students
Placed 2nd for a State Academic Team Language Arts Written Testing Competition (however, I don’t know if I should mention this on my application since it doesn’t really tie into my “theme” of STEM, Visual Arts, and Student/Education Advocacy)
I also wanted to add that I included an accomplishment which I hadn’t mentioned here in my essay about a time when I had posted a social justice artwork on my instagram page and it got recognized by the daughter of a former South Asian Prime Minister (she shared it on her own IG story).
That was a lot…but I wanted to know if my ECs and stats, etc. are decent for T20 schools and if I would still be a strong applicant w/o a test score (bc the absence of a test score means more focus on the other components)…and lastly I had a couple activities and awards which seemed to not fit into my theme of STEM, visual arts, and student/education advocacy (such as the academic team accomplishment and the environmental sustainability club). I would love to hear your thoughts!