Chances for Amherst? Legacy RD

aristicslobe
Tue, 02 Jan 2018 07:45:31 +0000

Hey everyone, I just applied RD to Amherst College and was wondering if anyone would mind chancing me.

I’m from a small public school in upstate New York.

ACADEMICS + TEST SCORES:

SAT: 1540… 800 Math, 740 Reading/Writing
SAT IIs: 800 Math 2, 760 Biology
Did not take ACT

National Merit Semifinalist

GPA: 95.78 Unweighted (I go to a NY public school so our GPA scale is out of 100. Not sure how this equates to a 4.0 scale.
Rank: 7/131. School is small and fairly competitive. Sends a handful of students to ivies each year (last year I think about 7 or 8 went to ivies, so that’s around 5% of the class)

Junior year APs w/ scores: US History (5), Biology (5), English Language (5)
Senior year APs: European History, Chemistry, Literature, Spanish, BC Calculus

**Concerned that I received an 89 first quarter in AP Literature. This is the only B on my transcript, but I know that most top schools appreciate only As.

ACTIVITIES / WORK EXPERIENCE:

President of my school’s community service club (huge club, over 130 members). As president, increased club’s size by 30 members by using digital recruitment methods on Google Classroom and Remind Messaging. Also broke several club fundraiser records (presumably as a result of this increased membership).

Vice President of Class Junior Year. Talked about events organized and specific amounts of money raised.

Conducted scientific research at the Sidi Chen Laboratory of Cancer Systems Biology (Yale Lab). Wrote a research paper and submitted it to JSHS competition. Discussed the research in application.
*** The principal investigator of the lab wrote me a letter of recommendation. I did not read it, but my guidance counselor told me it was good.

Student Gov Representative for 4 years

Co-Captain of Varsity Tennis Team. Second singles position. Competed in Section 9 tournament.

National Honors Society

Community service trip to Rancho Quemado in Costa Rica

(Work): Little league home plate umpire

RECS + ESSAYS:
Really can’t say much about my recs, wasn’t able to read them.

Common App: Not sure how to rate my own essay? Maybe like a 7?
Failure prompt. Talked about experience as umpire and how I learned that criticism from spectators is inevitable, no matter how precise my calls are.

Supplemental: 6-7 Might be the weakest part of my application. I think it started off strong but the ending was a bit sloppy. Who knows though. I’d appreciate feedback on it just to get a better idea.

HOOKS:
Legacy, father was valedictorian and has donated (not a ton though). Also attended Dean’s Day. Not needing financial aid?

I’m hoping that the legacy, research, rec from lab PI, and national merit semifinalist might be able to compensate for my possibly sub-par supplemental. Not sure though.

Thanks!