I’m a rising senior from North Carolina, first gen. Wondering what my chances are for Cornell, Georgetown, Davidson, Dartmouth? Please be honest, and I’d appreciate suggestions to improve my chances.
SAT I: 1470
ACT: 33
SAT II: (Haven’t taken yet but planning to) US History, Korean with Listening
Weighted GPA: 4.3, unweighted unreleased.
Class rank: 2/180~190
APs: AP Lang (4), took APUSH, AP Bio, BC Calc, AP Euro this year (retaking AP Euro senior year)
Senior schedule: AP Euro, AP Psych, AP Lit, AP Gov, year-long internship at police office.
Major: Government/Political Science
Extracurriculars:
Piano (5 years)
Tennis (9-11, co-captain for one year)
Swim (9)
Teen Court (10-11, Leadership/Attorney team)
Model UN (VP of New Delegates committee)
Mathletes (9-11, secretary 9-10, co-president 11)
AMC participation (9-11)
ECSU and Chowan University math competition participation (9-11)
Jobs/Volunteering:
Police camp and National Night Out
Admin volunteering at Interfaith Community Outreach
Math tutoring
Awards:
NHS
Academic/junior marshal
Silver Seal award from NCMTA Piano Performance Festival
All-Conference Player award for Women’s Tennis
2nd place for backstroke at conference swim meet
Poetry Out Loud school winner (9-10)
Reaches are reaches for everyone. Look at the acceptance rates from the common data set for these schools.
Note that Georgetown requires 3 SAT II subject tests.
Why are you re-taking Euro?
If you have Korean heritage, be aware that there are schools that are less impressed by a Subject test in a heritage language- a few say it specifically, others just metaphorically raise an eyebrow.
An interesting array of college. What is the draw for you to these particular places?
Your weighted GPA is not meaningful without context. You can calculate your unweighted GPA yourself. Take your core academic courses and assign grades a value according to the A=4, B=3 and so on scale.
Your SAT is low, see if you can get that up in the time you have left. And the best angles you have to play for your college essays are Teen Court and Model UN, as those are the closest you have to your intended major. Also, participation in a contest, regardless of how high-profile it is, isn’t enough to go on a college app.
Asians are under represented at Davidson so that will play in your favor there, along with being first gen. An ED to Davidson could be a smart strategy
I would say also if it wouldn’t be hard bump your scores up. 34/1500 is what is revealed to be considered the highest mark on an application for standardized testing through the harvard lawsuit