<p>Let’s create a hypothetical person’s stats.</p>
<p>SAT: 2300
Rank: 2/800
GPA: 4.0 Unweighted
Tennis: Varsity #3 for School that is consistently W:10 & L:4
Piano: 1st Place Winner of the State’s Largest Competitions ($2000 - $3000)
Cello: Assistant Principal Cellist (2nd Chair) of the All-State Orchestra as a Sophomore
Work Experience as Tennis Coach</p>
<p>What kind of schools does this person have a fair shot at getting into?</p>
<p>The grades, rank, and SAT score would qualify this “hypothetical person” for any school in the country and would be good enough to get you into schools like Emory, Tufts, CMU, Case, Lehigh, Boston College, UVA, etc. But to qualify for ivy-caliber schools: Duke, Georgetown, Cornell, Columbia, Brown, Northwestern, etc, I think you will probably have to step up your extra curricular involvement. Your tennis and music accomplishments are great, but every kid applying to ivy schools will have ECs like that. As college acceptance rates continue to decline, you need to have something to really make you stand out. I would also encourage you to get involved with some type of community service, another thing schools look for. Don’t force yourself to do things that you absolutely hate, but try to find things that your talents suit you well for. Maybe you could get some kids on your tennis team to start a free tennis camp for underprivileged kids or something like that. If you can beef up your out-of-school accomplishments you will be qualified for any school out there. (Even though nowadays being “qualified” doesn’t necessarily guarantee admissions. It really can be a crapshoot at that level) Good luck and hope this helps.</p>
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<li>thickfreakness -</li>
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