I hate to start another chance thread, especially after reading how qualified most of the chance threaders are, but provided the following information on EC and Scores, could you chance me? And should I focus on bringing up my ACT or my SAT? And how highly are EC weighted in admissions?
AP scores (grade level):
AP World History (10): 3
AP Biology (11): 5
AP US History (11): 5
AP English Lang (11): 5
ACT (first)- E:34, M:26, R:32, S:29, W:8
ACT (second)- E:32, M: 27, R: 36, S: 20, W: 11
By the way, do they superscore the ACT? I get mixed reviews on that.
SAT- CR: 720, M: 630, W: 670
Rank: top 15% last year
UW GPA: 3.7-3.8 (GPA and rank isn't calculated until August for my school)
W GPA: 4.3 (same as above)
Senior courses:
6 AP courses, 1 Honors, 1 CP (I needed a 4th lab science)
Extracurriculars:
-FIRST Robotics: (7-12), started an FRC team freshman year for the county as well as an FTC team, we went to worlds my sophomore year, but I then moved and became Robotics Director (11-12).
-TSA: (9-10), Sgt. At Arms freshman year, Treasurer sophomore, placed 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 10th at the state level and went to the national competition both years before moving.
-Free Thinkers Society: (11-12), a debate club for politics and philosophy
-Creative Writing Club: (9-10), a club for emerging writers to develop new writing styles
-Cross Country: (9-10)
-Spanish Club: (9-10)
-Spanish Honor society: (11-12)
-Computer Club: (11-12)
-genetics internship: (11 summer)
Not to be mean, but the internship's really the only thing (if anything) that makes your application not *totally* mundane... Your test scores and grades are adequate, if barely, but your ECs are rather... Ordinary. Pretty low chance, just because some of the students they reject are, for lack of a better word, amazing. You never know though, if you get your ACT to 33, write a great essay and manage to make your ECs look less random, who knows, you just might get in.
I'd retake the SAT; aim for at least 700 in each section and a 2200 overall. For the ACT, I think you can just send both and be fine. Your scores on the SAT aren't great for Brown, but they aren't bad. Try taking a few subject tests; it seems to me like your best ones would be Biology, Spanish, and Literature. Your GPA and rank aren't great, but there isn't too much you can do about them, so focus on getting straight A's this coming term. As for clubs, you should have more leadership. You don't have to be president of five clubs; you can be president of one or two but do great things with them. It also helps to start a club (between you and me, it's an easy way to be president of one, and if no one joins, admissions doesn't have to know that).
If you changed nothing, I'd chance you at around 6-10%. You can improve that, though. Oh, and also make sure you come across as a good person overall - and one who's committed to a specific field and motivated (writing? philosophy? Spanish?) - in your essays and your interview (if you have one). Less overtly qualified students than you have gotten into schools like Cornell before. Good luck!
I'm currently signed up to take Biology, Literature, and US History subject tests as well as a second try at the SAT I. And I think I'll focus on technology clubs like TSA and FIRST because those held a greater impact on my life, while the philosophy and writing were just a fun thing to do. And the reason my clubs look so broken up is that I moved in my sophomore year so my math courses switched from an integrated system to Algebra II, and they did not have the same organizations I took part in my old school. I started my robotics club which was fairly successful, but I'll work on more! Thank you for all the advice! I'll aim to take the ACT again too just in case the SAT doesn't work out.
The conventional wisdom on chances threads is that they're dumb, but I found the responses here helpful. Are you applying early, guppy294? If so, you may not have time to take subject tests and the SAT I! Good luck though
