Schooling and senior yr actvities

Have you worked over these summers? Do you have family responsibilities? I think those count as extracurriculars. If so, make sure to go in detail about them and maybe write an essay about the family responsibilities. I know colleges, like seeing introspection, character, and growth, so helping with family can show all of that. Try to join things related to engineering (maybe a STEM Club) or other groups even if it's just for your application. You don't need a bunch of ECs I think. I think deep involvement (a semester is better than nothing) and how the ECs relate to you are more important.

For the SAT (I'm a junior and I did SAT only), I recommend Khan Academy and maybe a College Board textbook. What I did (1280 first time and 1450 2nd time, but I'm sure there are people on here with 1500s who could advise you better) is take a full length practice test, and thoroughly analyze my mistakes. Like with a notebook and a lot of detail. Some girl on YT I watched did Excel and even more detail, but I was lazyish. Anyways, I'd drill the areas I had trouble in until I seemingly couldn't get the questions wrong anymore. I read many guides, watched some videos, and prayed. I think Practice tests, analyzing mistakes, fixing mistakes, and repeating should work. If you can afford a tutor, maybe do that. If you can't, maybe there's a teacher who can help or students who can assist as well. Some schools, even some good ones, are test optional. I'd still recommend taking the test (you can get a waiver depending on finances) and seeing if you can get a good score. It can only help if you are above the average I think. Hopefully this helps!

I recommend inputting your admissions stats into CollegeVine's chancing engine to estimate your odds of admission to any college you are considering applying to. Then, focus on applying to the colleges that you have a 75% or higher chance of getting into - these colleges are the most likely ones to give you merit aid.

As for standardized tests, you can read [these guides]](https://blog.collegevine.com/category/standardized-tests/sat-guides/) for tips on boosting your score. Additionally, this page has a list of schools that have great architecture programs without Ivy League selectivity. Hope this helps!