What colleges can i get into? 2020 SAT?

Question

i go to a catholic high school in upstate ny and have taken all honors courses freshman and sophmore year and taken 2 ap courses junior year with honors latin chem & calc I and 2 ap courses senior year with other honors courses such as calc II

my rank is about 10 / 150ish
i have a 2020 sat (690 math/680 writing/650 reading)
gpa of 3.84 with a curve/ 3.68 without
varsity lacrosse for soph/junior/senior year
dance for 4 years
pro life club junior/senior year
model un senior year
hospital volunteer junior/senior year
senior class vice president
summer camp counselor for 4 straight years
various volunteer work such as parents night, 5k run, teacher's assistant, summer camp cit, made blankets for babies in need, raised money for single mothers, etc.

and i think i plan on writing my essay about working at a soup kitchen and the atmosphere and how their positive attitude affected me

Boston college? Boston U? NYU? Cornell? UVirginia?

Answer 1

Your grades and SAT scores will not exclude you from any college -- even the most selective. You are a little below the average for applicants to schools at the very top -- but within the range of those who are accepted. Your grades and scores are better than about 30% of those accepted at Harvard.

While you are qualified to get into any school -- that doesn't mean that you will. You have to make yourself stand out. Among other things, you need a killer admissions essay. I agree with the other poster about being careful with the soup kitchen essay.

You have a legitimate shot at all the schools you mention -- but none of them are a sure thing. You will get into some good school, though.

Answer 2

The cliched types of essays are the ones where you tell the reader what you think will impress him. The interesting ones are the ones where you tell the reader something about yourself. Is there something that you find much more interesting than anything else? Why? Can you tell a nice story about some incident that made you feel that way? Do not get too stressed about this. Admissions essays are pretty far down the list of factors for admissions at most schools. If you just show that you're a good writer, that's half the battle.

Answer 3

You should have at least a good chance at all those schools. Cornell will probably be the toughest one to get into, but it's worth an application if you'd like to go there.

Be careful with the soup kitchen essay. To be honest, the admissions officers have seen that one hundreds of times, and probably roll their eyes every time they see another one. Make sure that yours isn't trite.