Any shot at all?

krista_bacon
Sat, 18 Aug 2007 03:34:10 +0000

Ethnicity: White Female
An underachieving public school in Vancouver, WA. Only roughly 60% of our students passed the state required exam to graduate in the math, similar numbers for reading, etc.

GPA: 3.94/4.0
Rank:7/306
SAT I: 1790(very bad, but I didn’t study) Am studying and retaking in Oct/Nov
-CR:580, M:600, W:610 (essay-8, mc-62)
Very bad AP scores Jr. Year: AP Lit.:3, AP Us history:2

Senior Year Schedule:
AP Comparitive Gov’t
AP Calculus
AP Environmental Science
Intro. to visual art (req’d)
Aerobics (req’d)/Teachers Assistant(no other classes this period)
Ap English language
-currently considering an extra class at the local community college, but not sure since im getting a job

-I took/am taking most of the AP classes offered at my school, minus one or two

EC’s:
-3years class council
-3 years mock trial (varsity last year and this coming)
-2 years NHS (officer last year and this coming)
-3 years legal magnet (officer last year and this coming)
-1 year math club (officer)
-1 year red cross club
-volunteer at various places (local library, local homeless shelter, etc.)

-Job at local burger place for 9months jr. year. (currently looking for another)

Summer Experience:
-Economics for Leaders sponsored by the Foundation for Teaching Economics
weeklong intensive camp at the university of washington in seattle.
-I also visit my family in alabama when i am able.

Hoping for really good recs and essay.

Economic disadvantige: I come from a really disadvantaged family. I live alone with my mom and she is disabled so we only get about 12,000 dollars a year.(hopefully will make me stand out)

Possible essay topics:
-the experience of living with my mom being in the hospital while she was fighting for her life. (why she is now disabled)
-visiting my dad in prison
-growing up in a family that is surrounded by drugs and realizing that i don’t want that life.
-…among other topics im considering

Basically, I do not have a lot of opportunities available to me. I would love to do some of the stuff that i see on these sites, but i have no connections to get me in and i am clueless about how to try.

I really want to go to a top 20-25 school, but at my school my counselors are more aiming to get students into washington state or western washington, not vanderbilt, if you know what i mean.

I would greatly appreciate any and all input on all areas of my stats and how i can really stand out without having to aid in microbiology research or some of the things i see on these sites. Also any good websites you know for scholarships (fastweb hasn’t really given me anything useful) would be appreciated.
So…do i have a shot? (I feel greatly inadequate)