Wow, well let me see. The first thing I have to say is that it seems like you have a very good resume (although going from a 3.95 unweighted to a 4.0 unweighted is impossible, since 3.95 implies you already had a B somewhere and that B won’t disappear…..and if AP grades make up for it, that counts as “weighted”). Now having said that, you have to realize that with the Ivies, you can really only hope to be competitive in the process. Realize that these schools really only accept somewhere from 7%-9% of those that apply, and virtually all of these applicants are VERY talented. So at this point, you’ve shown me that you’re just like everyone else who is applying to Yale (or any of the other Ivies). Therefore, your chances from what I’ve seen aren’t any different from anyone else.

So now is the point where you see if you can make yourself stand out. What the Ivies absolutely love is a genuine interest in learning, and a genuine interest in contributing to the community. A lot of students I meet seem to think this is accomplished by taking the hardest classes and doing all the possible extracurriculars, and maybe at one time this was sufficient, but in today’s age anybody wanting to go to college overload themselves in this way with the expectation that they will be rewarded for it with the college of their dreams, and so every applicant looks the same and doesn’t really demonstrate this.

So here’s where your recommendation letters and your essays become important. They want to know something about you as a person, and not as a student. All the Ivies have their own identity and their own philosophies, and so it helps a lot of you match the kind of student they HOPE to see. For instance, I went to Brown for my undergrad, and Brown’s entire philosophy is academic freedom and the ability for students to challenge themselves. It was the perfect fit for me, and both my recs and my essays discussed my love of challenging myself and becoming stronger, and how I felt that I would only be able to fully pursue this in a school that prides itself on providing just this kind of opportunity. Now all of a sudden I’m not only a good student, but I’m a good student with the desire to fully use and explore the kind of opportunities Brown has to offer. That changes the story dramatically, and if you want to significantly improve your chances of getting into Yale, or any other specific Ivy, you need to find what qualities you have that match what they pride themselves on, and show them that you are the kind of person that will take advantage of these qualities. If you aren’t able to do this, or you aren’t able to find such qualities, then they probably aren’t schools you would enjoy (it’s hard to hear now, but I’ve seen what happens to students who get in over their heads at the Ivies….it isn’t pretty).

Good luck on the admissions process. I would definitely raise the ACT score (or take the SAT if you want another such option) as that could be a tiebreaker if you are matched against another student with similar qualities for one of the final spots. But I hope you understand the difference between what you’ve written and what I’ve told you about.

T he top schools will want an SAT score rather than an SAT. A 29 on the ACT is roughly equivalent to a 1900.

With your grades an a 1900 SAT score — you will get into lots of excellent universities. But that SAT score puts you on the low side for Ivy League schools — so it may be a bit of a stretch for you to get into one.

You mention that you are at an Arts school — but not whether you want to go on in the arts. If you want to be a theater major at Yale — then the admissions process is very different than the process for getting into the academic colleges — and nothing I say here applies to that situation. You probably need to audition.

Taking lots of AP and honors classes will help. Your weighted GPA will be high enough.

If you can get a higher SAT score, you will be qualified to get into an Ivy League school. Being qualified isn’t enough. You need to stand out & you can do that with your admissions essay. It will be critical for you to write a good one.

There is one other thing that concerns me slightly. Your claim that you will bring your unweighted GPA up from a 3.95 to a 4.0 by the end of this term indicates that you might not understand how statistics work. It will be impossible for you to improve beyond a 3.96. The good news is that 3.96 unweighted will be good enough.

pretty good, u should have more extra curriculars though