Would love your input!

Applying to College
1

<p>Prepare for a long post. </p>

<p>I’m not looking for flattery by posting my stats/EC’s–I have a unique situation that I would appreciate candid comments on. </p>

<p>I am currently a junior at a very small, flexible private school that I chose specifically to accommodate my demanding competition schedule for my sport. There are great traditional schools in my area, but none would accommodate the days I miss per year (the very minimum is 10). I only set my schedule so that I only go four days a week, as most Fridays I am on a plane heading to the next competition. However, I have a typical school day schedule, but I am in one-on-one classes (like tutoring) and take online classes to supplement the AP’s that my school doesn’t offer. My teachers are phenomenal and make the classes challenging, but my school has developed a poor reputation for its high admittance of troublesome (such as recovering addicts), despite the fact that there are many kids like me who attend solely to accommodate sports. </p>

<p>Will attending such an unconventional school paired with online classes destroy my aspirations of attending certain schools, even if I am able to achieve decent test scores? </p>

<p>The school is accredited for everything, and students who have taken individual classes here have gotten into Ivy’s, but I don’t believe any full time students have gotten into a school better than UCLA—which is a fantastic school, of course, but not an Ivy, or even Berkeley…which are what I am hoping for. Actually, I believe one kid was admitted to Stanford, but he was an unusually fantastic football player. I’m actually not even sure if anyone else—other than the aforementioned sport star—has even applied to top tier schools. </p>

<p>Anyways, please let me know. I will probably apply anyways as I truly believe these are the ‘right’ schools for me and what I am interested in studying. But any tips or improvements you can suggest are welcomed, especially in terms of what classes I should take next year, as that schedule is not finalized. </p>

<p>Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Location: California </p>

<p>UW GPA: 4.0 (Nothing below a 94% in every class)
This GPA is in accordance with the UC system. </p>

<p>Test Scores: </p>

<p>SAT - CR – 740, M – 660, W – 800
I expect around a 2200+ by the time I am finished. Hopefully higher…I regularly score 700+ in math on proctored/timed practice exams, but I have pretty horrible test day anxiety when it comes to the math. For whatever reason I feel completely at ease during the writing and critical reading. </p>

<p>SAT II - Will take Literature, World History, and Biology in June. </p>

<p>ACT – Taking in April, but I have been scoring everywhere between 32-35. </p>

<p>AP - I will be taking these tests soon. My school does not offer AP’s to underclassmen, and only in the last year did I find out about online AP’s. </p>

<p>11th grade:
AP Literature
AP Language and Composition
AP Biology
Pre-Calculus
Statistics
Spanish III
Spanish IV
Western Civilization
Journalism</p>

<p>Summer after 11th grade:
Credited Stanford Summer Course (haven’t decided, but I have been accepted)
AP Macroeconomics (CTY Johns Hopkins)
AP Government (CTY Johns Hopkins)
AP Psychology (CTY Johns Hopkins)</p>

<p>My intended schedule for 12th grade:
AP Physics
AP Calculus BC (would it significantly damage me to do AB?)
AP World History
AP Microeconomics
AP….something else
Journalism</p>

<p>Should I add more here?</p>

<p>Extra Curricular Activities (so far…some may sound silly but I listed everything I could think of that I really put time into):</p>

<p>Academic -

  • Founded student government (10/11)
    -Student Body President (11, hopefully 12)
    -Founded school newspaper (11)
    -Editor in Chief, Formatter, and Writer for school newspaper (11, 12)</p>

<p>Sports -
-Heavily involved in sport (9, 10, 11, 12) </p>

<p>Volunteer/Charity work:
-100+ hours (and counting) of general volunteer work (9, 10, 11, 12)
-Founded a nonprofit that has raised over $10,000 (10, 11, 12)
-Cofounded another nonprofit that has raised over $7,000 (11, 12)
-Active member of a charity organization pertaining to my sport that I host fundraisers for and have personally raised over $9,000 for (10, 11, 12)
-Tutoring (Summer 11) </p>

<p>Entrepreneurial -
-Founded a photography business that grossed approx. $13,000 (9, 10)
-Freelanced for 7 different national publications (9, 10, 11, 12)
-Worked for two of the largest media outlets in the world within my sport (10, 11, 12)
-Photographed for an international modeling agency (11)</p>

<p>Other -
-Set to intern at a Biotechnology company (Summer 11)
-Created a Youtube channel that amassed approx. 32,000 subscribers from the editing of videos with Final Cut Pro (10, 11) Not a true EC, but it’s something I suppose…</p>

<p>Awaiting on possible photography and newspaper internships for the summer. </p>

<p>Awards/Other -
-Various national accomplishments in my sport
-Scholastic Arts and Writing Silver Key Photography Award
-Regional photography award
-Community photography awards
-Work (photography and writing) published in dozens of different magazines
-Accepted into summer programs by Harvard, Stanford, Cornell, and Brown
-Accepted into National Young Leaders Conference</p>

<p>Waiting on more contest results and acceptances to other programs. </p>

<p>Hooks: Stanford legacy, Decorated Athlete but not for a heavily recruited sport–many of these schools do offer this sport at the varsity level, however.
Financial Aid: None. </p>

<p>I am interested in pursuing a degree in the liberal arts or business and have begun drafting my essays and requesting recommendations. </p>

<p>Non-safety schools that I am interested in (in order of preference)
Stanford and Brown (tie.)
Cornell
Duke
Yale
USC
UCB
UCSB
UCSD
UCD</p>

<p>I have researched all of these schools, visited many of these schools, and the other few are schools I intend to visit soon. </p>

<p>Thanks so much for your input, it is greatly appreciated :)</p>

2

<p>Anyone? :/</p>

3

<p>I have a feeling that I go to the same school as you… PM me. I don’t have time to write out a full response right now but I’d like to talk to you about it in PM. :D</p>

4

<p>I’m really no expert (neither are most people here, for that matter), but your resum</p>

5

<p>Alex,</p>

<p>I really appreciate that–you have instilled me with some confidence. My EC’s aren’t bad by any means, but I know there are kids going to these schools who have accomplished so much more, have better test scores, and on top of that, go to prestigious high schools, which I haven’t :confused: </p>

<p>But anyways, thanks for your time :)</p>

6

<p>The whole “prestige” aspect of your school shouldn’t be too much of an issue, unless it’s been in the news for a shooting or something. In fact, it’s probably going to be an advantage. The more top-tier a school, the less applicants they will admit from a particular high school (this is a general rule–Exeter, for example, sends about 20 students to Yale each year, that would be an exception). So if not so many students at your school are aiming this high, you won’t have too much competition. That said, schools will also measure how “good” your high school is in relationship to your test scores. If you had a 4.0UW but a 1600 SAT I, then that would be cause for concern. In your case, however, you have a high SAT score (that will, I’m sure, increase by the time you send in these applications) with the highest grades possible, so don’t worry about that. </p>

<p>Believe me though, you’re very much on par with students who apply to these schools. If there’s any concern I would have is–how do all your varying ECs tie together? If I understand they are all tied to a sport, which you are a competitive member of as I understand. That’s great–it’s your edge. You’ve gone wayyy beyond in that particular area, and it shows. It’s really strong. If you can pull off some great essays (and an 800W doesn’t seem like a bad sign), don’t worry. Another thing-if you do not intend to apply for FA, that will be an advantage in today’s economy. Believe me. Although alot of your schools are need-blind, it will be a factor. It can only help you.</p>

7

<p>“you’re very much on par with students who apply to these schools”
This makes me feel a whole lot better. There haven’t been any shootings at my school or anything of that nature, but every day I go back and forth about even contending these schools…</p>

<p>Ah, I should have explained my EC’s a bit more. </p>

<p>All of that money is raised through the selling of my photographs/working for these companies/money I win from local writing contests (didn’t mention…oops), and the competition prize money I earn for my sport. I also forgot to mention that I’m extremely interested in pursuing journalism/something in the media industry as well, which sort of falls in line with my writing and photography I think. </p>

<p>Except the ‘other’ stuff…honestly all of that is rather random in context. </p>

<p>I apologize for my negligence…but thank you very much, Alex.</p>