<p>Age: 17
Male
School: Small public school in rural Georgia, an underrepresented (unrepresented in the case of my school) at highly selective schools and the Ivy League
Numbers:
Current ACT: 34 (34, 29, 36, 36 subscores with a 10 on the essay, highest ACT in the county)
Current SAT: 2040 (probably not going to submit, but 700 CR, 670 M and W)
SAT IIs: Taking Literature and US History in October (the first time anyone in my county has done them in years)
APs: Taken all the APs offered for sophomore and junior year: APUSH 5, AP Lang 5, AP Gov 4, currently taking 6 APs out of 7 classes (which is according to my counselors the hardest schedule ever done at this school): AP Micro, AP Lit, AP Bio, AP Psych, AP Stat, AP Human Geo
Class Rank: 8/370 (Weighted GPA, however my school uses a confusing weighting system)
Cumulative GPA on a 1 to 100 scale: 96.476
Unweighted GPA on a 4 point scale: 4.00</p>
<p>ECs:
4 years of FBLA, qualified for Nationals in Business Law and won various State performance and recruitment awards along with a regional officer position
4 years of Mock Trial
4 years of Model UN, current team captain, delegation won last year at UGA and I plan to go to more conferences this year
3 years of FCS, I lead their activities on Fridays
2 years on Interact Club, went to RYLA and currently the president
3 years of NHS
3 years of Beta Club
Founded the GHSA.tv broadcasting team (we videotape the football and basketball games in a full fledged ESPN-esque format) for my school last year and I am the play by play announcer for the football games
Started a Boy Scout troop at a church in my county (brought it from the 3 member minimum to roughly 13 now and thriving); about to receive Eagle Scout after 5 years of service
I independently offer ACT and AP review
Roughly 200 hours of community service combining Boy Scouts and organizations</p>
<p>Athletics:
3 years Varsity Cross Country (10th, 11th, 12th)
2 years Varsity Track (9th, 10th)
2 years Varsity Soccer (11th, 12th)</p>
<p>And the list of schools is:
Cornell (ILR, most likely Early Decision)
Duke (Trinity)
Swarthmore
Washington and Lee
Haverford
RPI
Georgia Tech
Georgia</p>
<p>Any input or suggestions on other schools to look at is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>Wow you’re an actual genius (or at least compared to me haha). I heard Cornell’s standards for ILR are slightly lower than their general admissions standards so I think you will get in (especially ED) and you’ll be set. If you get deferred or don’t apply ED, you’re set for Georgia, RPI, and W&L. I don’t know much about Haverford, Georgia Tech, and Swarthmore. Duke might be a little iffy but you will probably get in. Good luck :)</p>
<p>I’ll chance you back in a second. Thanks for the input, it really means a lot. I hope my SATIIs turn out well, and I left awards out of this chance thread so that might factor in more considering they will be on my applications.</p>
<p>Cornell: Match (but only because your status at Cornell is ED)
Duke: Match
Washington and Lee: Match (leaning towards safety)
Swarthmore: Match
Haverford: Match
Georgia: Safety
RPI: Match (leaning towards safety)
GA Tech: Match (leaning towards safety)</p>
<p>You look fairly solid. I would agree, don’t submit your SAT, your ACT is quite solid by itself and colleges do not have preference. </p>
<p>You didn’t mention your essays! Those are vital. In addition to making them about YOU, not what you think colleges want to hear, I also always suggest EDIT, EDIT, EDIT. Having chanced me, you know I’m deep in the process already myself. I’m currently on draft 7 of my common app essay and draft 4 of my general supplement essay. And I still have a month until my deadline. Cut out unnecessary words. Don’t have clutter. Make it sound like YOU. (Read On Writing Well. Thank God that’s required at my school. A great book.) </p>
<p>Overall, your chances look solid. Just don’t underestimate the only parts of your application you can now change, your essays! (And teacher recs but…)</p>
<p>My teacher recs will be solid, my APUSH teacher (only person in 2 years from my school to 5 that test, in addition she is my Model UN and Mock Trial advisor) and my AP Lang teacher (one of two 5s this year, she is also my NHS and FCS advisor). At least AP Lang should be great in terms of writing ability for her rec, APUSH has a lot of material to draw from for hers. I’m on draft 2 of Common App and draft 2 of Cornell ILR.
Additional things I didn’t mention:
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Income bracket: 70k-80k
Attended the Georgia Governor’s Honors Program; majoring in Executive Management</p>
<p>Claremont McKenna: High match (now that I make use of the low/high qualifiers for matches)
UNC Chapel Hill: Low match (OOS playing against you)
Cornell (revised): High match</p>
<p>Passing from match to high match status means that, upon revision, your chances were lowered. I use 3 grades of match statuses now, high match being the least likely to be in and low match, the most likely to be in, leaving some room for acceptance and rejection respectively.</p>
<p>I’m not sure at all. On one hand, school diversity is probably one of the aims of the Ivies, on the other hand, Cornell is so selective that it is like getting your file on a dartboard and playing your acceptance at a darts game.</p>