Chances of admission

Catfish
Sun, 13 May 2007 16:38:05 +0000

A few things that stand out to me:

You should try to raise your math SAT, as it is below Amherst’s middle 50%. For [url=http://www.amherst.edu/about_amh/cds/2006/CDS2006_C_First_Year_Admissions.pdf]2006[/url] (class of 2010), the middle 50% on Math was 660-760. You will be competing for admission in the Most Competitive Year Ever, so that range will likely be even higher. Your scores on the other two sections are right in the middle of that range, so you should be fine there. Raising them would not hurt, of course, but focus on the math.

Your taking 4 AP’s and 2 honors classes this year, but 2 honors and 3 AP’s next year. What’s your sixth class?

Be sure to prove to the adcoms your dedication to your most important activities. I used the “other information” box on the common app to give a one or two line summary for each of my most important activities explaining major accomplishments and leadership positions. The EC grid doesn’t have nearly enough room.

Also, cut out the stuff like “one year of marching band”. That just distracts from the more important things.

No varsity sports won’t hurt you; I’ve never so much as played little league and I’ll be at Amherst in the fall.

Best of luck.