<p>Many of you have wonderful insight into the minds of adcoms, so I would appreciate it if you would take a look at my pseudo-app. I am expected to graduate in June of 2011.</p>
<p>I go to a very competitive school which sends a handful of students to many top colleges per year. I’m also asian.
Rank 120/750
My UW GPA: ~3.4
My weighted GPA: ~4.0</p>
<p>Yes, I know they spell out CRAP. I messed up, I’m aware of that. </p>
<p>SAT: 2180
I only took the SAT during sophomore year, don’t plan on using it to apply. I prefer the ACT.</p>
<p>ACT: 33, trying again and aiming for 34-35.</p>
<p>SAT2:
-Math II: 800
-Physics: 740
-US History: 700, taking again hoping for better score</p>
<p>E.C’s:
Research lab for 4 Years- experience with many machine tools, software programming
— Author of two published research papers in swarm intelligence, published in IEEE ICSI conference and IEEE CIS&RAM conference.
3 years+, One of the district leaders for a city-wide volunteer organization boasting over a thousand members.
— Congressman’s Service Award (awarded by House of Representatives congressman) for extensive community service
4 years +, competitive and ranked archer (yes, Archery, got a problem? :P)
— Attended several junior national team camps
— I am a U.S.A. certified/licensed coach for the sport
3 months, still ongoing:Started a local non-profit organization for teaching/coaching students interested in archery.
— Affiliated with the US Olympic Committee
— Over 20 students so far, and several other coaches
High school robotics team, fabrication leader
High school JV tennis team</p>
<p>I wish to apply to:
Columbia University (my FAR FAR FAR FAR reach school), and I want to ED, should I?
NYU Poly
Carnegie Mellon University
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Boston University
Washington University, St. Louis
Cal Poly SLO
UCSD</p>
<p>I would also appreciate it if you guys name some colleges I should consider.
Thanks!</p>
<p>Columbia - I can’t the reason not to apply for ED but it’s better to re-take ACT.
Other colleges - I think you are fine, no need to re-take the test. They are all match for you.</p>
<p>ED will significantly increase your chances, but I recommend applying ED to a slightly less selective school. While your ECs are solid, your grades are below those of the average admitted applicant. You’re in at BU and SLO.</p>
<p>Regarding your transcript - does your class choice show that you’ve challenged yourself? Do your grades show an upward trend? Did you get your top grades in your areas of interest (science and math)? I don’t think that your GPA is necessarily a deal-killer anywhere, although it will hurt you most at highly-selective schools that are very numbers-oriented, like the UC’s. </p>
<p>Don’t waste your time retaking History. 700 is just fine. You probably don’t need to retake the ACT either, but if you need to obsess about something, that would be more worthwhile than History.</p>
<p>I looked at which universities have Archery clubs, and the 3 that leaped out at me were USC, MIT, and Stanford. USC has a well-respected school of engineering, and your stats don’t seem at all out of line. MIT and Stanford are far reaches for everyone, but they also appreciate passionate, quirky people and will sometimes overlook an imperfect transcript or uninspiring test score if they like you. Don’t bother to apply unless you love them - too much work otherwise. </p>
<p>Add a couple of slightly less selective UC’s to your list. I suggest Davis and Santa Barbara, as both have very strong engineering programs, and UCSB has become hugely important in physics. It’s one application, then a click and $60 per school (or whatever they charge now), so why not?</p>