RD Applicant Holds Out Hope Despite All Odds

london2va
Thu, 04 Dec 2014 02:45:34 +0000

Probably shouldn’t even bother still applying, but here goes nothing!

SAT: 2220 superscore (750 CR, 770 W, 700 M, 11 Essay)
ACT: 32 (28 M, 29 S, 36 R, 35 E, 11 Essay)
SAT II: 710 Lit, 720 US History, still waiting on French
AP: 5 English Lang, 5 US History, 4 French, 4 Environmental Science
GPA: 4.05 W (I attended a non weighted school and then a weighted school, so my GPA is kind of really weird/awful)
Rank: 53/526 - just on the cusp of the 10% mark; I expect this to go up at least 20 when my senior grades kick in at the end of the semester
Senior Year Classes: AP Macro, AP Literature, AP Comp Gov, AP Calc AB, AP Physics: C (2 block class), Advanced Band

Extracurriculars: I moved after sophomore year, so a lot of it isn’t really consistent because of the differences in my two schools. Gay-Straight Alliance all four years (co-president in 10th, founder and president in 11th, president in 12th; initiated an LGBTQ scholarship fund at my school), MUN in 11th and 12th (USG for Personnel and Administration in 12th, Co-organizer at our high school conference; Awarded “Most Promising Member” in 11th), Academic Team 11th and 12th (Regional Champions), Theatre in 9th and 10th (Performed in 6 productions, attended three theatre honor festivals, won school theatre award), Boy Scouts in 9th and 10th (awarded Eagle Scout, patrol leader twice), French National Honor Society in 11th and 12th (president in 12th), National Honor Society in 12th, Student Government Board in 12th (senior representative and public relations director), South Africa Club in 9th and 10th (raised money for ubuntu education fund, traveled to Cape Town and Port Elizabeth on a learning trip), Alto Saxophone since 6th grade, Manager of girl’s lacrosse in 11th and 12th

Awards: National Merit Semifinalist (hopefully to become a finalist), AP Scholar with Honor, DAR Good Citizen’s Award, Honor Roll, Eagle Scout

Recs: Counselor was amazing, first teacher was just as great, second teacher was pretty boring, and had to fix an error in his rec after it was submitted, so that’s really scaring me.

Summer/Programs: High School Diplomats at Princeton University last summer, Theatre festivals both last summer and the summer prior

Essays: Really proud of my Common App (it was about how traveling is my biggest comfort because of how often I’ve moved), supplements are pretty solid

School Type: First school was a small private international school in London, known for being very difficult. Second school is a medium-sized public magnate school in the Northern Virginia area.
Gender: M
Race: White
Hooks: Very international? IDK I tried to play that as much as possible
Negatives: Definitely my GPA, and my SAT IIs
Positives: Lots of ECs, heavily involved even though I’m new to this high school, SAT score is amazing in the context of my school, the only other applicant from my school is much worse than me?

Other: The superintendent of my county called Brown to recommend me personally after I gave a presentation to the school board. Our county is one of the largest in the country, so it’s kind of a big deal, but IDK how much impact it would really have.

Any thoughts? Should I just rescind my app now?