Olive_Tree

So now that regular decisions are done, it's crunch time for seniors, myself included. Am I a strong applicant for Yale EA (dream school)?

Location: Michigan
Ethnicity: Hispanic immigrant
Sex: Female
First generation college student, low income.

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

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.

ACT: 26 (Retook it in June and expect a 28 or 29, and yes I know it's low.)

^ Is this the only weakness to my application??

SAT IIs:

U.S. History (Took it in June and expect a 780-790, maybe even an 800.)

Will take the SAT Subject Tests in Biology and Lit. in October, and expect low 700's for Bio and high 700's for Lit.

APs:
10th
AP US History (5)

11th
AP Biology
AP American Gov.
AP Spanish (Self-study)
AP Psychology (Self-study)

- I'm certain I received 5's in all except Bio.

- Expect AP Scholar with Honor by the time I apply in the fall.

12th
AP Environmental Science
AP Statistics
AP English
AP European History
AP World History (Self-study)
AP Art History (Self-study)
AP Comp Gov. (Self-study)


ECs:
*Editor-in-Chief of high school newspaper
- Accepted and attending a summer program at Michigan State University for high school journalists in Michigan; will take an InDesign class.

*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, most likely President next year.)
- Co-Chair of the Community Service Committee
- Chair of the Government Education Committee
- Paid Summer Intern at Civic Academy where I will introduce prospective members of the youth commission to youth enfranchisement and leadership.

*NHS (Vice President)

*"Girls to Women" Conference
- Created, and in the process of organizing, a conference on issues young girls have to combat as they reach womanhood; working with local and state leaders and heads of women organizations and movements.

*Young Women's Commission
- In the process of working with my county's Women's Comm. to organize and implement a commission which will appoint young women from my county to lobby, organize, and discuss matters and events relating to young women.

*Internship with a Michigan State Senator this summer.

Possible Majors & Minors:

Sociology
Psychology
Women's Studies
Directed Studies


Community Service
221+ volunteer hours

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

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. I was featured in newspapers around the country due to this.
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

Well... chance away!

AmbitiousMind07

I think that you have a VERY good chance. The only thing that you need to worry about now is making sure your test scores turn out the way you want them to and making sure your essays shine (which I'm sure they will, considering your passion for writing).

However, I have two criticisms: The first is simple and relatively easy to correct if you are willing to. Your projected senior year courses are, quite honestly, going to be difficult. I took seven APs this year (4 of which are on your list) and I struggled. (The valedictorian of my school also took a bucket load of those courses and she barley got straight "A's" because Art History is A LOT of work. I would suggest taking away one of the history classes for a study hall. AP World History is easy if you read. AP European History is easy if you pay attention. But AP Art History is just too much work for you to deal with during senior year. Trust me, don't stress yourself out like I did this year...my GPA improved, but not by a lot. After all, you said that your GPA will not improve by a lot anyway, so I would not suggest stressing yourself next year. Definitely take hard courses, but NOT ART HISTORY! Haha...trust me. (I hated Envi. Sci. also, but it's managable...) (But like I said before, it's a matter of personal preference and if you think you can handle it, and you are willing to literally kill yourself with all that stress, go for it.)

My second criticism is more general. Simply put, you have achieved so much in high school; definitely let yourself shine with all that you have accomplished. However, I would try to centralize your ECs a little more. When I was reading, I was like, "that's cool. I like that." But when I got further down the list, you started naming so many things that I kind of forgot what you did before. My advice is to generalize the minor ECs and highlight the major ones. Perhaps list your greatest accomplishments first and then generalize your minor ones last; start off with a bang! But I'm sure you will get most of this across in your essays!

But like I said before, you have a REALLY great shot! Your GPA and rank (and demographic) will definitely help! I don't think that your test scores will have a big impact on you because the way you described your school. I'm sure the admissions officers know about your school, so they will understand why your standardized test scores are not "perfect." (But, personally, I think they are excellent!) Good luck next week when you get your test scores back!!!

Keep up the good work and definitely apply; you have a really great shot!

Olive_Tree

Thanks, AmbitiousMind07! I know my GPA won't really increase, but I'm taking some classes, including AP Art History, because I'm curious and I love the subject. I'm well aware of its less-than-stellar reputation. LOL! Also, I know a lot of my classes will be a lot of work and that's one of the reasons I made sure to at least have Sociology because in my school it's relatively easy so I don't have to kill myself with six tough classes senior year.

Have you taken AP Art History? I want to know what I can expect from it.

Any more advice?

AmbitiousMind07

Yes. I've taken AP Art History this past school year, but the only difference is that I took it online. Worst decision of my life! Don't get me wrong, it was an interesting class, but just a ton of work. I think we had about 55+ hours of homework per week. I had several sleepless weekends this past school year.

The course starts off with prehistoric relics during the BCE time and the CE time periods (i.e. cave painting, cave statues, etc.) Then you work your way up from there. The European art is simple because you learned it all before, but African art, Japanese, Chinese, Hindu, and ARCHITECTURE were killer...especially architecture (good luck with memorizing the floorplans...haha!) You really can do it, I believe. I think the only reason why I had such a rough time was because I took it online. I was assigned a countless amount of essays per week, 1-2 powerpoints per chapter, and at least 3-4 short answers per chapter. It was ridiculous.

I finished the class with an 86% (I barely got a "B"). But I just want to caution you: please take into consideration all the "horror stories" you hear about the class...it's wicked. (That's just my opinion.)

AmbitiousMind07

One more question. You ARE taking a study hall right??? (I made that gruesome mistake this past year...you should definitely take one!)

2blue

I don't know anything about AP Art History, but having watched my son go through the application process this year I do know about two other things:
a. Senior year is far busier than we ever could have imagined. Far busier. With applications, testing, scholarship applications, college visits, ECs and all those senior year activities, my son was unbelievably busy.
b. Senioritis happens to even the best of students.
My son pulled everything off to his credit, but is so glad to be done. It sounds from AmbitiousMind's post that you've planned an extremely difficult schedule. You don't want to put yourself in a position of being one of the many posters asking, "Will ____ rescind me if I get a ___?"

Olive_Tree

Trust me, I know my limits. That's why I've steered away from classes like AP Calculus and AP Chemistry. AP Art wouldn't kill me, the former two on the other hand would. Yes, I'm a little nervous about senior year and that's why I've started going through the application process and yesterday I finished two college essays.

Thanks for the advice, everyone!

aminhamenina

You don't have great EC's, although the work helps. While your ACT is not that good, if your SAT II's and AP's are as high as you are predicting, you might have a really good chance because of your demographic. Definitely competitive, best of luck.

kwijiborjt

You're in a good position. You know the ACT is weak, try to improve it (or take the SAT I) if possible. I think if you write thoughtful/original essays and have good recommendations, you have a good chance.

Olive_Tree

Well, I know I'll do a WHOLE lot better on my SAT II's, including the US History exam I took in June. The main reason why my ACT is not as high as it could be is because of Math. The subject has always been a struggle, but that's basically it. On my last ACT I got 33 and 32 in Reading and English and with the ACT I just took I only had one question on each of the two tests which I wasn't sure about.

Also, my school's average ACT is in the very low 20's, if not even lower, so would this cause Yale to see my score with a different view? I will definitely make sure my GC mentions that.

ivyleague_fan

yes, you do have a good shot, but what is your unweighted GPA?

Olive_Tree

Weighted, my school's transcript will only have weighted GPA.

smoda61

Olive_Tree - The question about your unweighted GPA is not inappropriate. It tells us more about your whole transcript. Just because your school only calculates and writes down a weighted GPA does not means the admissions dept can't do math and calculate it themselves. UPenn does. So you might want to give Ivyleague_fan the UW GPA for further input about your chances.

ivyleague_fan

exactly... nowadays it is really easy to have W GPAs over 4.00. Your UW GPA would provide a more realistic evaluation of your chances, but if you don't want to reveal it, it's fine. you shouldn't have asked about your chances at Yale, though.

Olive_Tree

Well, I haven't ever seen it, I'm sorry. I think I might have a 3.9 something. I have straight A's except two B's in (where else?) Math. I'll be sure to ask my GC that when school starts again.