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I am a white female junior from an extremely competitive private school in Oregon.

National Merit Scholar (At least I think so...221 on psats)
SATs: Haven't taken yet, but have been scoring about 1470 on practice ones
GPA: 9th- about 3.45...i think
10th- 3.72
11th- I'm thinking it will probably be around a 3.75 or 3.8
My school doesn't do grade inflation. Only about ten people per class of 60 per year get gpa's above a 3.5 and no one has ever gotten a 4.0
Class Rank: My school doesn't rank but I'm pretty sure I'd be at least in the top tenth percentile.
First in State in the National Spanish Exam the one year I've taken it. (I have taken Spanish for 4 years and will continue taking it next year.)
Japanese Honor Society (I've taken Japanese for eleven years and am semi-fluent)
Taking Calculus 1 this year (junior year) one of only maybe five students to be doing so
Most challenging courses offered

ECs (or what they should look like next year):
Mock Trial for four years-- team ranked in state at least two out of four of the years--BIG time commitment
Co-started and co-editor of a successful underground newspaper (11 and plan to continue in 12)
Varsity Cross Country for four years-- went to state with team (9,10,11) in addition to qualifying individually (10)
Various school plays and musicals-- some large roles
Short film in city's student film festival (hopefully)
Piano Lessons for 11 years
Member of school's BBQ society (haha)
Member of County's Youth Advisory Board (9th)
Volunteered with youth group for Habitat for Humanity and Heifer International along with various other volunteer work
Internship at city office
Studied Spanish in Spain
Homestay in Japan

This summer I hope to bolster my chances a little more by:
hopefully being selected for a very selective research grant for the humanities for which I will research a certain aspect of teen culture and document my findings in the form of a video documentary
and hopefully being selected for a very selective two week long intensive theater camp with the Oregon Shakespeare Company
And possibly to study Italian

Thanks for any input!

By Gnatcire (Gnatcire) on Sunday, March 07, 2004 - 08:24 pm: Edit

I think you have a pretty good chance. Raising your SAT score and GPA would probably help even more, but it's not like you are in a bad position at all. Make sure that you also take your SAT II tests since Pomona requires them. Are you going to be applying early?

By Jane1018 (Jane1018) on Sunday, March 07, 2004 - 11:34 pm: Edit

I dunno I really like Pomona so I'm considering it and for a while I was REALLY considering it until I found out that this kid in my class who could possibly be the valedictorian wants to apply early there and I doubt they would wanna take two people from my school since its pretty small. Of course I could always try anyways but I don't wanna waste my early decision if I don't have much of a chance. As bad as that sounds. And there are a couple of other schools I really like too that I could always end up deciding to apply early to instead. But of course everything's definitely subject to change so we'll see. Thanks for the comments.

By Wisc_Away (Wisc_Away) on Monday, March 08, 2004 - 10:39 am: Edit

Plenty of Valedictorians are rejected every year from top colleges. Is he/she as multi dimensional as you are?

They look at far more than numbers or the only people they would accept are Vals and Sals with 1600 SATs etc.

Don't sell yourself short.

Your essays and interview will be important to humanize you and to differentiate you from him/her.

Remember they also want to see a sense of humor and someone who has a life outside of building a resume for college.

Why not get a job this summer? (don't see that on your stats page) and have some fun as well. They will appreciate that too. It would round you out and you could find a possible college essay there as well.

Look at the pages of kids in other threads who were deferred/rejected from Harvard, Yale, Princeton and others who had stellar academics,strong ECs, and spent every summer doing research, community service etc. They all look the same on paper, and can appear as grade grubbers with no life outside of prepping themselves for college.

There is a growing movement to promote Gap Years because so many people are burned out BEFORE they get to college. Do something different this summer, I assure you it will benefit you in the long run.

By Gnatcire (Gnatcire) on Monday, March 08, 2004 - 07:23 pm: Edit

If they know you're from a very competitive private school, they won't have a quota for only one person from your school. There are plenty of people here who have classmates from their high school who applied the same year, and I'm sure there are more who got accepted but didn't decide to come to the college. I know for my case, two people applied to Pomona from my class and both of us got in; I don't even think anyone else had applied to the school. I think applying early shows your strong commitment to the school and will tell them that it truly is your first choice. I don't think you should give up that chance because someone else from your school is applying. As alternatives, you could apply EDI to Pomona and EDII to another school if you get deferred (if the other school offer EDII), or your could apply EA to the other school and EDII for Pomona (if the other school offers EA).

By Largegreenturt (Largegreenturt) on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 11:25 pm: Edit

Unless you have a half Icelandic half tahitian parent you stand no chance. They like their diversity...I hear they are searching for that specific mix this year (ya know, URM)

By Argilospsychi (Argilospsychi) on Thursday, April 01, 2004 - 11:52 pm: Edit

Hey Jane, what school do you go to?
I'm also from Oregon, and I went to Corvallis