Hello, so my freshman and sophomore year of high school my school only offered honors, so i took all of the honors course available. Coming junior year, I switched to a different school so I could take more rigorous classes. So, Junior year I am taking (at a state college):
college classes:
-Comp 1 and 2 at the state college
-US History at the college level
-Macroeconomics college level
-Environmental Science college level
reg. HS classes:
-Honors Physics
-Honors Algebra 2 (plan on taking pre-calc over summer so i can go on to stat or calculus senior year)
-Honors Spanish 3
-Honors Family Finance
These are the most rigorous courses I could possibly take… would schools such as Stanford see this?? I am one of the most passionate people i know and most motivated… I don’t want to go into detail but i do in fact think I will do amazing things in my life and write great essays for schools such as stanford. I own my own business (selling tee’s I designed and giving the proceeds to help save the sea turtles… something i am actually passionate in since I am PADI certified), have my blog which gets over 10,000 readers a month, I have over 10k on Instagram (I am a social influencer and get the opportunity to get to work with many top brands and companies through my blog) and I intern at a startup magazine and write for it also, and I am a her campus high school ambassador, along with a couple of other things that tie in together quite nicely displaying my passions.
-3.9 UW GPA
-4.4 W GPA
-took ACT once so far… got a 28 (i can explain haha: That morning when i woke up I was ready for the test, ate a good breakfast, and then when i drove there I started getting a MAJOR headache and got really dizzy. I proceeded to take the test anyway since I thought it would just go away… Well it didn’t and during the test I felt dizzy the whole time, and then when we got a break during the test I nearly threw up, but held myself together to finish the test because I knew I could push though it. Turned out, I got a bad score , and I AM taking second time this year, and will do better). This really isn’t an excuse and it is what really happened, as phony as it may sound.
-I think every other part of my application is strong right now, except for my ACT score and possibly teacher rep’s because I am kinda quite and reserved… :-/// so not really sure because my teachers know I am a great student but I don’t really talk to them much unfortunately (I should start)
FORGOT TO ADD: Schools I am interested in are as follows: Stanford, UCLA, USC, UMN Twin cities, NYU, Wake, UVA, Vanderbilt, UNC, UF, and Boston College
Hopefully you’ll raise your ACT so Ill do your chance with ACT28/ with ACT 31
Stanford – High reach/high reach – either way your scores are just too low and theres not really that much to compensate although your EC’s are decent
UCLA – Reach/High match – Your GPA is on par here so hopefully you can raise your scores
USC – Reach/Low reach – USC cares a lot about scores and I’d be fairly surprised if you got in with either
UMNTC – no idea
NYU – Low reach/ high match – If you raised your score it would be very doable
Wake – not sure
UVA – not sure
Vandy – High reach/Reach – It’s hard to get into
UNC – not sure
UF – not sure
BC – reach/ high match – Id say you’d have a good shot if you raised your score
I’d say that you’d get into at least one of the colleges that I answered for if you got a 31 or higher but with your 28 it would be very hard
Best of luck
Chance back if you have the time? http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1846622-chances-for-usc-ucb-ucla-ucsd-will-chance-back.html#latest
Yes, they would take it into account (at schools that use holistic admissions, like Stanford and most of the others on your list). Keep in mind that they would also take into account your EC’s and such, not just your GPA/test scores.
For example, at UF, where your GPA/Test scores make you a match, they also consider ECs.
Each school on your list does admissions a little differently, but this gives you a rough idea.
In terms of courseload rigor, I would drop Environmental Science and keep Macroeconomics. Honors Alg. 2 is kind of low for a junior aiming for selective colleges. Perhaps add a college statistics and/or precalc course over the summer?
@goldenbear2020 ok, thanks! That was my plan for the summer. But, my plan was that since I couldn’t take an AP or IB science in junior year (bc my school didn’t offer it) I would show initiative and take a science at the college. But, it sounds like environmental science is only considered an elective. Is this true? I thought it would be considered a main course… Also, my top school is Stanford, so keeping environmental science wouldn’t really make a difference to schools such as mentioned above?
There is no special preference for environmental science over econ - your ‘core’ science this year is Physics. If you’d rather do econ, then that’s fine. They are both considered electives.
If your school doesn’t offer AP or IB, that won’t have been held against you. Since you’ve now transferred to a school that offers state college courses instead of AP or IB then taking those courses is a good idea. Competitive schools expect you to take the most rigorous course load available at your school. At your school, that’s college courses.
As long as your schedule is being rated by your guidance counselor as ‘most rigorous’ in his/her letter of recommendation, you are fine. If you have concerns about dropping a class, he or she is the one to talk to about whether that impacts the ‘rigor’ rating.
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