<p>As a rising senior, Georgia Tech is one of the top schools on my college list. I’m an OOS student from Rhode Island with decent stats (~3.9UW, 4.2W GPA and Top 5% of class of 300) and an ok SAT score (690CR, 670M, 730W, will take again this fall mainly to bring up my math score, which I think I can do easily).</p>
<p>I also have a few, though not many, ECs that should be good enough. I’ve taken the absolute hardest classes available at my school and plan to continue that trend this year. The only problem I see is that there is a whole section of the GT application dedicated to leadership…and I really can’t think of much stuff I can put for that section. The only things I can “stretch” are that I had an almost “Teacher’s Assistant” type role during my junior (and will do the same in senior) year where I would help out kids in a math class instead of taking some useless Skills class. Also, I worked at a library as a volunteer and I guess I could say I directed a couple of my peers while working there. Other than that, I don’t have anything. I’ve never been elected to anything in my ECs and I just don’t have the height or weight to compete in varsity sports, let alone be a captain or something similar.</p>
<p>Is this going to affect my chances greatly or should I not worry about it too much? And if it is a problem, can anybody give some suggestions as to some things I can do that would count as leadership?</p>
<p>It’s only one part of the application, and to know how much it matters, you would need to contact an admissions officer.</p>
<p>One thing that’s easy to do to demonstrate leadership is to start a club at school. It doesn’t have to be anything extravagant - it could be a chess club or a Red Cross club or a religious club or a club that researches the culture of a specific foreign country. Just pick something that you’re interested in and know something about and start the club for that. It’s usually not much more complicated than contacting the school to get the club officially recognized, then putting up fliers and holding meetings. </p>
<p>Another thing that’s easy to do is find a club that already exists but is in pretty bad shape (rarely has meetings, only has a couple of members, etc) and try to save it. This works well if you’re already in a club like that.</p>
<p>The good thing is that both of these can be done in a month or two, which is about how much time you have before college admissions (granted, only being a member in a club for a month or two isn’t spectacular, but it’s something). </p>
<p>With that said, I don’t think you have too much to worry about. Your Math SAT is low (about 30th percentile), but your CR score is high (around the 65th percentile), and your GPA is good. You’re probably a match/high match as it stands right now, and if you can get that Math score up 20 or 30 points, you’re almost certainly in.</p>
<p>Thank you for the in-depth reply. I have heard a lot of people talk about starting a club as a good leadership role. My school doesn’t have any science or engineering type clubs, though we do have Science Olympiad, which I participated in last year and plan to do again this year. I suppose trying to start a science/engineering related club would not only count towards leadership, but also show GT that I have a deep interest in what I want to major in.</p>
<p>There actually is also a club that is in really bad shape right now, the technology club. I know myself and at least 2-3 other people would definitely join it, so if we got just a few more it could turn into a working, productive club.</p>
<p>As for SAT scores, I do realize my math is very low. It’s very strange that I did so poorly, considering I have been in the most advanced math classes my school offers every year. I have the big SAT study book but I never really studied to rigorously for any of the section. Taking a few practice tests should allow me to break the 700 mark though my goal would be to get all the way up to 750. And a 700 for CR would be fine for me, so I don’t have to improve much in that regard.</p>