I am a rising Junior at a very good high school in PA. I do pretty well in school but I am worried that my standardized testing will hurt me in the application process. I play soccer, tennis, and golf for my school and I am also active in a few clubs. I volunteer at my local hospital and at my local township affiliate board. My school goes by block scheduling so I only have 4 classes in one day. By the time I finish senior year, I will have taken 9 AP classes - a decent amount. If I maintain a B+ to A in all of those classes will I be a competitive applicant? My cumulative GPA at the moment is a 4.05 and my ACT is at a 29.
If I can raise my 29 to 31 and 4.05 to 4.3, will I be able to get into these schools?
Northwestern (Early Decision), Wake Forest, UNC, Clemson, UMich, Villanova, Penn State, UPitt
That’s on the lower end at Northwestern, Wake Forest, UNC, UMich for sure. Don’t really know about the others but even if you raised your ACT to 31 your chances are still pretty low. You should be shooting for a 32 or 33.
Also, does it help that my brother goes to Northwestern? I have visited the campus many times and believe that my “Why Northwestern?” essay would go quite well. If I stress that it is my dream school, will that help my chances?
For Northwestern I agree that you should shoot for a 32 or 33 on the ACT, but since you will be part of a minority and you have family attending there you may be able to get by with a 31. To raise your score I’d recommend getting a tutor for at least and hour weekly starting as soon as possible. Also, the book “Cracking the ACT” by the Princeton Review is very helpful. I would use the summer to study and then take the September ACT. Good luck!
I think with Clemson you should be okay and Penn State, Maybe even Villanova I don’t really know much about these schools other than Clemson, Wake, and UNC… I live in NC so I know how competitive Wake Forest and UNC have become. Your GPA might be low for Wake and UNC, but your scores are not bad for it.
Good luck with everything!