7dancer7

Class Year: 2013
High School: Competitive Public School
High School Type: sends some grads to top schools

Academics:

GPA - Unweighted: 4.00
GPA - Weighted: 4.33 (will be higher by senior year with more AP's)
Class Rank: Within the top ten out of ~300
AP Classes:
Junior Year - AP US History and AP Chemistry
Senior Year - AP Calc, AP Spanish, AP Bio, AP Psychology, AP English
*my school does not offer very many, and only allows you to take any starting junior year*

ACT: 33 (retaking in June, hoping to get it up to a 35...)

Extracurriculars:

-Dance (advanced level ballet, modern, pointe, jazz) since age 3; ~12 hours per week. Performed in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and local events. Will most likely join competitive companies senior year and compete statewide.
-Summer Internship at Art Museum - creating art with a social message and working with kids from inner city schools to make art
-Editor for school newspaper (~2-4 hrs per week)
-French lessons (2 hrs per week)
-Earth Club (~1 hr per week) though mostly freshman and sophomore years
-Women's choir at school and local performances though mostly freshman year

Community Service:

-Children's Center - organizing classroom activities and working with kids with special needs (2 hrs per week) mostly sophomore year
-Sorting food for anti-hunger charity
-Urban farm - working on sustainable agriculture initiatives and providing healthy, affordable produce to low-income communities (~2 hrs per week; much more in the summer)

Honors and Awards:

-Artistic Achievement Awards
-National Honor Society
-Academic Excellence Awards

College Summer programs:

-Northwestern University Summer Program - Sustainability and the Economy
-Ivy Scholars Program at Yale (Applying)

***Other factors***
International experience/background: Latina; lived in Brazil for 6 years, lived in Italy for 1 year, though I go to high school in the Midwest.

Legacy (although it doesn't matter much): Dad and sister went to Yale; my sister went to Columbia for grad school
******************
SCHOOLS:
1. Yale
2. UPenn
3. Brown
4. Columbia
5. Northwestern
6. Tufts
7. NYU

I know the Ivies are reaches for everyone and in the end it's a crapshoot, but some feedback on my strengths or things I could improve on would be lovely! Also this is my first post so I'm still figuring out CC but I will definitely look at your chances if you respond to mine! Thank you so much

bluenotebook2

Nothing extraordinary in the EC's as far as I can see. It's all a crapshoot though.

deontology

You have a wide variety in extracurricular and they don't really seem to relate. In my opinion, contrary to popular belief, colleges aren't looking for students who are a part of like, agazillion clubs, but rather people who are dedicated in what they do; as a result, you have to pay extra attention to not portray your extracurriculars in a very laundry-esque way and should emphasize your passion for your main extracurricular (which I'm assuming is dancing considering you spend 10+ hours a week on it!).

Also, a general tip, remember, colleges don't want to admit numbers or words, but a person. Make sure when writing your essay to not edit out your personality.

In my opinion, you'll probably get into NYU. The rest are a crapshoot, but I think you'll get into at least one of the other 6.

7dancer7

Thank you so much, that's really helpful... do you think I should just avoid including some of the extracurricular activities that I'm no longer involved in then? I did really try to go for depth rather than breadth with dancing but I assumed they wanted a more comprehensive list of how I spend my time.

Yeah I'm starting to realize how important the essay is compared to the "stats"--even perfect numbers can't guarantee anything. Hopefully if I write an incredible essay that can make up for my seemingly random extracurriculars...

deontology

I don't know if you have any of these at your school, but at my schools, we have what I like to call, extracurricular sleazes. They're the type of people who joins or even starts a club/organization, doesn't really do much, but puts it on their college applications so to pad it up. Because you have so many extracurriculars, you definitely need to make sure you don't come across as one of those people. From my experience, colleges look for dedication and passion in extracurriculars (I could be wrong, so ask for a second opinion).

Assuming that's true, I wouldn't necessarily say you should remove some of your extracurriculars, but you should emphasize the whole dancing thing in your application. Depth is probably better than breadth.

I know it's only anecdotal evidence, but when I applied to colleges this year, I really only had 2 distinct extracurriculars on my college applications (Speech and Debate, Library Volunteering). Honestly, I had what most people would call, lackluster extracurriculars. I mean, I got a couple awards in Speech and Debate, but I wasn't like, a national champion or anything. But in my applications, I talked about how I spend over 5+ hours weekly working at the local library and 20+ hours weekly on Speech and Debate; I talked about how though those two activities have really dominated much of my free time, they also have shaped who I am today and I don't regret ever joining them one bit. I managed to get into great schools like Northwestern, Vanderbilt, NYU, Berkeley, etc. with only two extracurriculars (I got a 2280 on the SAT, which is around a 33-34 on the ACT and a 4.0 UW GPA, in case you're wondering).

On the note of essays, yeah, they're REALLY important. For example, two of my friends this year who both had 2300+ SAT scores and 3.9+ GPA's, were rejected from most of the schools they applied to (One's going to UCLA, and the other UCSD now). Coincidentally, both of them procrastinated on their essays, doing them only days before they were due. Take that however you want. In my opinion though, your essays don't have to be absolutely incredible with impeccable writing and great style; what's important is that they have personality, and portray who YOU are.

xquiksilverx

^ Good advice from Deontology here.

Chances:

1. Yale - Reach
2. UPenn - Reach
3. Brown - Low reach
4. Columbia - Reach
5. Northwestern - Low reach
6. Tufts - Match
7. NYU - Match

Lyiiro

Cool, so you lived in Brazil!

Im from brazil and i'll try to get into Universities on the USA!

Do you have Windows Live Messenger or other contact?

ImSoAmbitious

You are a URM and Legacy for Yale? I don't really know if the other people have simply overlooked this or that it doesn't matter, but I THINK this is like a megahook and you should be good for Yale. But, I'm not exactly sure and no one else mentioned it so you should probably get some more opinions on this.

Johasua

^ I agree, you probably have a really good chance at Yale

lechugarapida

Your academics are stellar. Test scores could be improved, but still stellar. That puts you up there with the rest of the smarties, but your EC's define it for you. Dancing seems very forefront and I think it will do you well in the eyes of the AO's.

1. Yale- high reach
2. UPenn- high reach
3. Brown-reach
4. Columbia- reach
5. Northwestern- low reach
6. Tufts- fit
7. NYU- fit

mcknight95

SAT scores? get around 2300s, NYU is a really good fit. Yale is a bit of a reach but don't let that stop you. Aim for 5s on your AP exams and run for NHS president The legacy factor helps a bit. Chance me?

7dancer7

Thanks everyone! All your comments help a lot... If anyone wants me to chance them, chance me on here, post a link and I will chance you back!

Waverly

I'd focus on Yale as a legacy, applying SCEA and writing a winning essay. You're right that a great essay can win the day. Your biggest issue is lack of ivy type depth in ECs. The commitment to dance is nice, but ivies will look for you to have broken out of the crowd of girls who dance by taking it past the state level.

This is the big advantage to being a legacy. If you have the stats they'll often forgive ECs. So get that 35 and show your love to Yale SCEA.

Anchser

I think based on these stats alone you are a sure fit for Tufts and NYU. Like everyone else said, the essays will be extremely important. Living overseas is sometimes very helpful as people gain broader perspectives of the world. Also, you mentioned French lessons.. a trilingual student is also a very good thing.

I'd say Yale and Brown are your best shot in terms of Ivies. But you never know.

Chance me? Is my GPA too low for these schools?