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I posted this to the Stanford board, but I also want advice on my odds at
other (less presteigious) colleges. I've all but eliminated HYP from the
list, but MIT is still a possiblity...

Anyway, here I am - condensed into computer screen format:

Race: White/Caucasion (can't even spell that :P)
School: Thomas Jefferson HSST
GPA: Unweighted: 3.94 (4.04 weighted - only .5 weight for AP. All courses at
TJ are considered honors courses)
UW GPA 10th -11th grade: (The application says they prefer this stat to be
10th grade on) 3.973
Rank: Unranked. I know I'm top 10%, and likely top 5% - but as I said, we're
unranked.
Courses: 5 APs so far (Bio, Calc, Chem, US History, Psychology) - 2 or 3
expected senior year. Very nearly hardest possible (maybe 5 others in a
class of 420 had course loads sim. to mine?)
SAT: Math 690(!*) Verbal: 780 (1470)
IIC: 800
Chem: 800
Bio: 750
Writing: 660(!*)

*! - I forgot my calculator for the math. NO idea what happened with writing
- I got an 80 on the PSAT writing? Maybe an online score mistake, even...
But which should I re-take before EA, the writing or the SATI? (I can also
try to rush November scores, of course)

Awards/Achievements:
-Honorable mention in Dupont challenge scientific essay contest (9)
-Semi finalist in USABO (11)
-3rd place Odyssey of the Mind regionals (9 + 11) 1st place regionals, 2nd
place states and 17th place world finals Odyssey of the mind (10)

ECs:
-Elementary school tutor(9)
-Elementary school HTML tutor (10-12)
-High School Biology tutoring (10-12)
-Odyssey of the Mind team (5-11)
-Odyssey of the Mind club officer (10)
-Odyssey of the Mind club webmaster (10-11)
-Odyssey of the Mind club VP (10)
-Odyssey of the mind club President (12)
-Helped organize Odyssey of the Mind event for grade school children at our
school for 1,000+ people
-Co-founder and coordinator of online community service database project
(Community Service Center) for the school (10-12)
-Shakespeare troupe actor/tech (11-12)
-Elected (co)director of the senior spring show for Shakespeare Troupe (12)
-NHS

Summer:
Summer school - World History (10)
Intern at U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (gov agency,
full time) (11)

School trend in terms of ECs, grades and course work is a huge upward trend.
One B freshman year, a B+ Sophomore year, and As in every class and every
quarter Junior year. 1 AP Sophomore year, 4 Junior year.

One of the essays will likely be about OotM - it's been really important in
my life.

Recs will be "good" - for what it's worth, I work with my guidance councilor
on the CSC thing so she knows me really well.

FWIW, Stanford seems like a nearly perfect match for me. The people seem so
creative and insane (heh)... really reminds me of OotM.

Also - what other schools are worth looking into? Right now I'm thinking
Duke and Northwestern... what kinds of chances do I have at other schools?

I'm not sure what my focus would be. I love humanities as well as biology
and chemistry, as is probably evident from above :P

Thank you all very much in advance for any advice!

By Angeldesignpro (Angeldesignpro) on Monday, June 28, 2004 - 10:15 pm: Edit

Anybody?

By Kingkonglives (Kingkonglives) on Tuesday, June 29, 2004 - 12:15 am: Edit

you've got decent chances... you could try HYP if you want.

By Angeldesignpro (Angeldesignpro) on Wednesday, June 30, 2004 - 09:45 am: Edit

I hate to do it, but bump (last time, I swear)

By Smartgirl (Smartgirl) on Wednesday, June 30, 2004 - 09:59 am: Edit

I am sorry but I think Stanford and HYP may be reaches for you because of your low SAT math score and writing SAT score. I think you should retake them, and if you get the higher scores, then you may have the shot.

By Alexandre (Alexandre) on Wednesday, June 30, 2004 - 10:16 am: Edit

I disagree Smartgirl. Obviously, nobody is guaranteed HYPS, but he has a shot. The mean SAT score at Harvard is 1490, at Princeton 1470, at Yale 1470 and at Stanford 1450. I should say his chances, with his 1470, are as good as anybody's.

Northwestern and Duke are matches. I would also apply to UC Berkeley and MIT.

Reaches:
Harvard
Stanford
Princeton
Yale (not a great place to live and study)
MIT

Matches:
Cal-Berkeley
Duke
Northwestern
Columbia (bad area)
Cornell
U Penn (not the best area)
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Brown
Chicago (not the best undergraduate atmosphere)
Johns Hopkins (average student life)

Safeties:
University of Wisconsin-Madison

I guess you have quite a bit of research to do. Good luck.

By Angeldesignpro (Angeldesignpro) on Wednesday, June 30, 2004 - 03:02 pm: Edit

I'm sure my math score will go up. In fact, I can just about gaurantee I'll get a 750 or better in math when I attack it later, and possibly an 800. math is a subjet I'm very good at, but I've only taken it once and no calculator made me panic.

Writing I can also bring up... will have to study. I'm not very worrited about my SAT scores.

Thanks for the advice and opinions so far, everybody! I'll take a look at those schools, Alexandre