Desperately needs advice on boosting resume!

collegekid123
Wed, 01 Aug 2007 14:03:57 +0000

ike you said, the EC’s appear a little bit disjointed but i think colleges will take the fact that you moved to another state into consideration when looking at your ECs- academically, however, I dont think they’ll give you much leeway. however you should really condense your huge list of extracurriculars and take away the smaller, less meaningful things cause they’re really distracting. and also some things the colleges just won’t care about, like how selective the process of getting volunteers for a hospital is. You obviously do well in music-type things so I suggest that you submit a performance piece, whether solo or ensemble it doesnt matter (as long as your 1st whatever type of instrument you play), and have the colleges listen/evaluate it.

Any type of interest/dedication you have in a science/engineering field doesn’t show- you have few science related ECs, some of which are really common (volunteering at the hospital). Also, let me just warn you that although your unweighted GPA is very good, the weighted is slightly lower than some of the other applicants whose GPAs are weighted the same way (AP/hon/adv is 5). E.g. a 4.47 is in the top 16-20% of my class even though your schools offer much of the same courses mine does. So on a comparative basis, you are not exactly the MOST competitive candidate but you are competitive.

That being said, i dont think you have any more or less of a chance at Penn or Duke than any other normal competitive theres-nothing-wrong-with-you candidate but raising test scores on SAT I/II and taking the ACT will probably help; its still a crapshoot. Concentrate on what you are definitely good at, and the school might just happen to want another really good member of their band, an area which you obviously demonstrate competence in. On your list i noticed yo uwent in order of competitiveness. You can definitely get into most of them, just present your strenths like band in the right way and you should be fine.