monabela

STATS:
Weighted GPA: 5.1/5
ACT: 32.
-Math: 34; English: 33; Reading: 32; Science: 28.
Took 3 AP's as a junior
Senior class schedule: religion, ap calc, ap physics, ap lit, ap spanish lit, ap us history
AWARDS:
NHS since sophomore year, NHRP, National Spanish Honor society
EXTRACURRICULARS:
Soccer- varsity all four years; most improved 10
Tennis- jv frosh/soph (cocaptain soph); v junior/senior (cocaptain senior yr) most improved jr year
Service club- representative all four years, president senior yr
kairos retreat leader
united way (community service club)
student council soph/junior
OTHER ACTIVITIES:
tutoring kids in mexico every summer
movie making

I go to a small independent school and take more APs than everyone else even though I'm not the smartest. grades are generally B+ (our grading scale considers B+s as 90-92). I'm hispanic- fluent in spanish it's primary language spoken at home. Should I go for the stanford, yale, princeton, duke, cornell, etc??

entomom

Hi monabela and welcome to CC!

It's good that you've taken a rigorous courseload, that's important to the selective colleges. Your gpa and test score are within range of these schools, it will be important that you work hard on your essay.

I don't think there's any problem with you applying to these schools, as long as you have a balanced list that includes admissions and financial matches and safeties as well. Can you tell us the other schools on your list and what your financial situation is (will you qualify for need-based FA, do you need FA or merit scholarships to attend)?

P.S. The Ivy league is an athletic conference made up of 8 NE colleges which are varied in their selectivity and personalities; some of the schools you listed are not in the Ivy league, but are excellent schools in their own right.

soccer_girl4life

you definitely should. If you feel that your stats are in the range (which i think that they are) and you really want to go to one of these schools, you should go for it. Of course, like entomom said, you'll have to work hard on your essays, but all you have to do is show them how much you want to go to that school. Good luck!

entomom

I'll have to disagree with s_g on this point. Everybody wants to go to the selective schools, and they don't really care that much because they could fill their fr class several times over with highly qualified candidates. A la Kennedy, they know what their school can do for you, what they want to know is what you can do for the school. IMO what you want to show them in the essay is the unique, interesting and thoughtful person you are. Show them something about you that isn't in the rest of your application, something that that demonstrates that you will make a strong contribution to your class.