<p>Hi, I’m a new user so I’m going to describe myself briefly and achievements and let me know what everybody thinks.
Super Reach: WashU St. Louis, Northwestern. Reach: Emory, Boston College, Rice. Normal: University of FLorida, Boston University, Wake Forest.</p>
<p>-White, male, rising senior in High School(class of 2013)
-Compositite ACT Score - 30, (Subscores: Reading-36, English-27, Math-28, Science-27). NOTE: I’m going to take the ACT once more, and I’m confident I can hit a 32 with practice.
-Unweighted GPA-3.78 . Not sure class rank.
-Secretary of FBLA (Future BUsiness Leaders of America), and I’ve won 1st place at District Competitions 2 years in a row and advanced to State Competitions. I placed 3rd at State Competitions once. Secretary of Phi Beta Chi (Science Honor Society).
-Member of: Mu Alpha Theta (Math Honor Society), FBLA, Phi Beta Chi, National Honors Society, International Baccaulaureate Program
-AP Scores/Tests: AP World-3, AP Human Geo-4, AP Euro History-3, AP US History-5, AP Lit-3, AP Chem-2. These are all the AP’s I’ve taken because I was limited since I entered my IB program.
-I do lots of sailing. Sunfish sailing around where I live, including racing.I was certified as a Level 1 instructor this summer by US Sailing, and am teaching 2 adult sailing classes, and 1 children’s sailing class as volunteer work. I’ve done other volunteer work. By the end of this summer I should have around 90-100 community service hours. This fall I plan to start an Eat Healthy campaign type thing in my area at ELementary schools also, as a community service project.
-Live in Florida.
-No legacies. Family Friend went to Emory and a large Donor for Boston University, as letters of recommendations. </p>
<p>What do you think? I realize my super reach are… super reach, Haha. I’m testing the waters I suppose.</p>
<p>Edit: Don’t worry about being harsh on me, I’m a realist, No harm no foul. I don’t want to waste an application if it’s really just not goinng to happen.</p>
<p>I’m really not sure about my class rank. I will go out on a limb to say I’m most likely in the Top 10% or very close. I know I’m in the top 15 for sure. But definitely not the top 2%</p>
<p>Northwestern is definitely a reach (like for pretty much everybody), but I think that if you raise your ACT and write a solid/interesting/passionate essay, it’s still worth applying. You’ll regret it if you don’t. It seems like you enjoy sailing the most out of your activities, just through the fact that that’s what you described in the most detail, so maybe that can be your topic? I think that with a few rough drafts/edits/revisions you could have a wonderfully written story of your love for the sport and the sea! Your GPA is a bit low when you’re competing with a pool of perfect 4.0’s, but at this point the only thing you can do it try to work on it when you send in a mid year report. What are your classes for next year? </p>
<p>I don’t know as much about Wash U, but the same advice would probably work for any reach schools. </p>
<p>For Emory and Rice you’re at the low end for ACT, and they’re still very competitive schools, so once again I’d offer the same advice. Show passion for a certain activity and show what is most important to do. Do activities that fall under that category and are related to your main interest, and make sure that comes across in your application. </p>
<p>I haven’t looked into U of Florida, but I’d say that you have a good chance at BC, BU, and Wake Forest. Make sure you put effort into their supplements (Wake Forest has 7 short answer questions!) and try to raise that ACT! That’ll help you everywhere. (:</p>
<p>Thank you for your reply.
I’ll be taking
-IB Chem HL
-IB History of the Americas HL
-IB English/Lit HL
-IB Psych SL
-IB Spanish SL
-IB Math Studies SL
-TOK</p>
<p>I didn’t have a choice in any of those classes really, Haha. But it’s the most rigorous course my IB program has ATM.</p>
<p>Ahh see the thing is that my school doesn’t offer the IB program, and although my best friend is in it at her school, the only things I know is what she tells me. But I believe that her schedule looks similar to yours (most rigorous), so in that case, even though I know that it’s difficult, just try to pull straight A’s (or almost straight A’s) first semester, which will always help raise your GPA and show colleges that you’re still trying hard despite senioritis and everything else that’s going on during our last year of high school. But the sheer course load always looks great! I’d suggest starting on all your essays pretty soon (I’m trying to pull myself together as well) so that once school starts up you can focus on revisions and getting letters of recommendation! Those are generally super important as well. I’m planning on one of mine being from my AP Physics teacher; It was the most difficult class I’ve ever had to face (the most challenging at my school) and my teacher knew it. I talked to him a lot during class and also went in for help outside of class. He knew how much I struggled and that I REALLY wanted to do well, so he knows a lot about my work ethic when I ended up being in the top 5 of my class with grades and test scores, and was one of the few who earned A’s in the class. Choose wisely for your rec’s and those should greatly help you out! (:</p>
<p>It’s really not too difficult I just don’t try hard enough most of the time. My only trouble would be in Spanish because, well, I can’t speak Spanish. The other classes I know I could pull an A in, but we shall see. </p>
<p>Also, if anyone has any other advice for colleges I should look into maybe? Since I know the majority of these are too far of a reach. Something like a moderately good school,
I prefer urban/suburban setting, and good reputation.</p>
