You Already Know... CHANCES!

<p>So now that regular decisions are done, it's crunch time for juniors, myself included. Am I a strong applicant? </p>

<p>Applying to:</p>

<p>Yale EA (If accepted, I won't apply anywhere else.)
Princeton
Harvard
U of Penn
Columbia
Dartmouth
Cornell
U of Chicago
Northwestern
U of M
Johns Hopkins
Georgetown
Boston College
Vassar</p>

<p>Location: Michigan
Ethnicity: Hispanic immigrant (Cuban)
Sex: Female
First generation college student, low income.</p>

<p>GPA (W): 4.06 (My school's weighted GPA is strangely designed so that the highest a student can receive is a 4.2, which I'm pretty sure has never happened. The highest colleges will see my GPA will be a 4.08.)
Rank: 1/442</p>

<p>I've taken the hardest courses available at my school, which by the way is very urban and inner city. We are considered by Johns Hopkins to be a drop out factory, which pretty much says it all. </p>

<p>ACT: 26 (Will retake and expect a 30.)</p>

<p>Will take the SAT Subject Tests in US History, World History, and Lit.</p>

<p>APs:
10th
AP US History (5)</p>

<p>11th
AP Biology
AP American Gov.
AP Spanish (Self-study)
AP Psychology (Self-study)</p>

<p>12th
AP Environmental Science
AP Statistics
AP English
AP European History
AP World History (Self-study)</p>

<p>ECs:
*Editor-in-Chief of high school newspaper
*Academic Decathlon
*Excellers (President)
- Chief Coordinator or a school-wide International Day that showcased diversity and cultures. The club itself is devoted to diversity and community service.
*County Youth Commission (Secretary)
- Co-Chair of the Community Service Committee
- Chair of the Government Education Committee
*NHS (Vice President)
*4-H Peer Mentoring Program
- Created a peer education workshop program for middle schoolers and high schoolers with Michigan's 4-Hon college preparation.
*Girls to Women Conference
- In the process of organizing a conference on issues young girls have to combat as they reach womanhood.
*Currently working on implementing a program for at-risk girls through a community center.</p>

<p>Possible Major & Minor:</p>

<p>Sociology, with a Minor in Women's Studies</p>

<p>Other:</p>

<p>History</p>

<p>Community Service
221+ volunteer hours</p>

<p>Work Experience:
Library Page at a local library; 10 hours/week.</p>

<p>Awards:
Peter Jennings Project for Journalists and the Constitution Student Fellow
- I was the only student selected from Michigan to go to this convention for high school journalists in Philadelphia. The entire trip was covered, so it wasn't one of those run-of-the-mill youth programs you get in the mail.
Honor Roll
Ventures Scholar
Sophomore of the Year (School Award)
Academic Decathlon 3rd place in Speech
Academic Decathlon 3rd place in Interview
Academic Decathlon Highest Team Scorer</p>

<p>Well... chance away!</p>

<p>Your ACTs are pretty low for yale and that might hurt you, but considering your background (hispanic, inner city schooling...(im assuming u were not extensively tutored for the test) ) I think schools will look beyond your scores. I think you have as good a shot as anyone does, but than again no one has that great of a shot. this year yale was really hard EA, but i would still apply especially if u can pull up your ACTs to 30 or higher. Your gpa and extra curriculars are outstanding, and i think you will do well overall as far as acceptances.</p>

<p>agreed. get a better act score and you have a fair shot. especially with your background and ec. and count your unweighed gpa score, not weighed. most colleges dont really care about weighed since schools do it differently all around the country. not really fair to compare the gpa with someone who gets a 5.0 for ap classes compared to a 4.0.</p>

<p>Thanks! I'll have to check on my unweighted GPA. It doesn't show up on my transcript, only weighted and my marking period GPAs do. I think I'll find out after school is done this year and I get my report card. I'm pretty sure I can get my ACT up to a 30.</p>

<p>Anymore advice?</p>

<p>Bumping...</p>

<p>Assuming you will get a 30 on your ACT...I say you have a strong chance at most of them. Your background will definitely help not to mention your ECs and Awards which are great by the way.</p>

<p>I would still add a couple of safeties in there just to me on the safe side, but other than that, I say you're in great shape!</p>

<p>Thanks! I'm thinking about adding a few liberal arts colleges. Should I shorten my list or will 2-3 more colleges be fine? Am I going too overboard?</p>