Chance a junior? Low SAT

kanjea11 · April 15, 2012, 10:54pm

Hey! Thanks for checking out this thread. My SAT scores are STRESSING. ME. OUT., but I’m wondering if my stress is founded. Chance me, please?

Profile:

Sex: F
State: California
Ethnicity: Latina
Hooks: First generation
Income range: Below $20,000/year
High school: private Catholic school, full scholarship

UW GPA: 3.9 / W GPA: 4.4

SAT: 1970 (630CR, 630Math, 710Writing)

CLASSES

Summer before Freshman year:
Data Processing

Freshmen Year (all A’s):
English Honors
Ancient Cultures Honors
The Foundation of Catholic Doctrine/Old Testament
Algebra
Biology
Spanish
Chorus
PE/Health

Summer before Sophomore year:
Computer and Information Tech
Health II

Sophomore (all A’s):
AP Euro (got a 5)
English II Honors
Spanish II Honors
Geometry Honors
Chem
Chorus
New Testament/Sacraments

Summer before Junior year:
Algebra II

Junior:
AP Lang
APUSH
Spanish 3 Honors
Precal Honors
Physics
World Religions/Ethics
Physics
Photography
Teachers Assistant

Summer before Senior Year:
Conversation in Spanish

Tentative Senior:
AP Eng Lit
AP Span Lang
AP Gov
Genetics
Calculus
Church Service
(*maybe AP Bio or AP Calculus…what do you think?)

Extracurriculars and their years:

Junior State of America (VP this year, Prez next year) 9, 10, 11
Class Council (our only position is class representative) 9, 10,11
Astronomy Club 10, 11

Mock Trial 11
National Honor Society 10, 11
California Scholarship Federation 10, 11Reading program aid at my library 9, 10, 11

Sacramento Outreach (English and Drama mentor for inner city students) 10, 11
Concert Choir 9,10,11
Teaching ESL 11
Technology Coach at my library 11
Volunteering at a shelter for homeless women 11

Awards:
Girls State Nomination
Selection for the Rotary Youth Leadership Conference
Award and Scholarship for being the best student in the humanities in my high school
Excellence in English every year

Additional info:
I’m incredibly passionate about my studies in English, history, and Spanish and feel I can secure well-done recommendations from teachers in these areas (I already know one teacher I’ve grown very close to who can write me a letter). I’m also in love with the LGBTQ community and am pretty vocal about my opinions at my school, but no teacher wishes to be the facilitator of a club and there are few LGBTQ organizations relatively close to where I live (generally upper-class, conservative). I have written papers and given presentations regarding the community.

The schools I’m planning to apply to include:

Wellesley (top choice)
Carleton
Barnard
Wesleyan
Grinnell
WUSTL

Thanks so much!

CandlesOnFire · April 15, 2012, 11:15pm

Hey!

Your stats actually look a lot like mine did. I’m also first gen. Hispanic, low-income, and my first SAT exam score was around the same as yours. (I applied ED this year and was accepted.) Although it is a bit below Carleton’s average, don’t worry too much about it. You can still retake it again the fall of your senior year, and generally those scores are better than the ones your junior year. At the very least, you can superscore and show Carleton your best out of all 3 sections, even if they’re different test dates.
Like I mentioned, I also had a score similar to yours; I retook it fall of senior year and did much better on two sections (scored lower on one), and ended up with a better SAT score.
As for the rest of your stats, they look great. Your GPA’s really good, which is more than I can say for mine, so just remember what you’ve probably already seen everyone else on CC say: it doesn’t depend on one thing, but rather a whole-rounded account of your academics, extracurriculars, etc. that goes into an admissions decision. :)

kanjea11 · April 16, 2012, 12:14am

Thanks so much! And congratulations on your acceptance to Carleton - did you visit before you applied ED? The acceptance rate of ED is very tempting, but it is very unlikely that my family will be able to afford a trip to any of the schools I hope to apply to…

Youdon_tsay · April 16, 2012, 12:36am

kanjea, Carleton has a diversity weekend where they fly minority prospies out, as does Grinnell. You should look into it. Unfortunately, my ds’s year they were on the same weekendand ds went to Grinnell’s, but I do know someone who asked whether they could fly out another weekend, and they allowed it.

To answer your original question, I’d retake the SAT or try the ACT. It would be great to break 2000. But don’t stress out about it!

Sparrow00 · April 16, 2012, 6:23pm

I did much better on the ACT than the SAT (33 v 2070), so try taking it. I sent both scores when I applied ED and was accepted with similar grades/classes. If you’re worried about grades, showing a lot of interest in your top collges is good- they’ll want you if you want them.

CandlesOnFire · April 17, 2012, 1:42am

I actually did have the chance to visit Carleton - with the help of that same diversity weekend Youdon’tsay was talking about. It’s called Taste of Carleton, and it usually runs for two days from mid to late October. TOC pays for your round-trip flight, pairs you up with a host, and provides your meals during your stay there. Here’s this year’s past TOC thread on CC: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/carleton-college/1218064-taste-carleton.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/carleton-college/1218064-taste-carleton.html</a>.

It was the only way I could’ve afforded to fly out and visit a college, as well. There are actually several colleges that do this type of thing. The two that I went on were Carleton’s and Barnard’s (which is called Barnard Bound, and actually ran the weekend right before Carleton’s last year).

Here’s a 2010 CC thread that I still have in my bookmarks that lists many of the fly-in programs: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/770660-fall-diversity-visit-programs-compilation-6.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/770660-fall-diversity-visit-programs-compilation-6.html</a>
Some of the links are dead, but there’s websites listed there that have a more updated list.

I’d already heard so many incredible things about Carleton, but going there and getting the opportunity to see for myself the amazing environment Carleton has just reassured me that I had found a home I would be completely comfortable in for the next 4 years.

I hope this helped, and if you want to know more about the fly-in programs, just let me know and I’d be happy to go into detail!

kanjea11 · April 17, 2012, 6:53pm

Thanks for all the responses! About the Diversity Weekend/Taste of Carleton…could I apply to the program or do I simply receive an invitation? From what my guidance counselor has told me, schools are usually quiet about these programs.

Youdon_tsay · April 18, 2012, 12:03am

Looks like you can do it yourself: <a href=“https://apps.carleton.edu/admissions/visit/TOC/[/url]”>https://apps.carleton.edu/admissions/visit/TOC/</a>

CandlesOnFire · April 18, 2012, 12:04am

Colleges are usually the ones who send out the invitations, but it definitely doesn’t hurt to contact them about it. I received the Taste of Carleton invitation by mail without previously knowing about it. Once I found out what it was, I looked up other schools that had similar programs.

Barnard Bound was one of the ones I was interested in, and even though they didn’t directly invite me, I e-mailed one of the admissions reps and asked if there were any diversity weekend programs. They replied saying there was, and gave me the link to the website, and I applied from there. For both, you still need to write a brief paragraph stating why you want to attend the program, regardless of whether or not they invited you or you sought the program out.

Chance a junior? Low SAT

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