So I am currently a junior in high school and am looking preliminarily at these schools:
Duke
GT
Clemson
UVA
Vandy
UPenn
Rice
NW
Here are the obligatory stats:
Academic
GPA: 5.3 W, 4.0 UW
New SAT: 1440 (780 M, 660 R&W), planning on taking it again in June (and next October if necessary) and Math II and Bio STs in May
ACT: 32
Major: BME, Applied Maths, other similar majors
Extracurriculars
Varsity Tennis: 7-present (only member of my class on team, so captain next year), fairly decent but probably won’t play in college
Maths Club Officer (difficult to describe the responsibilities) (probably VP because sponsor’s son is same age as me)
NHS Member (going to run for an officer position, hopefully Pres or Treasury)
Beta Club
Ultimate Frisbee Club (going to run for Pres)
Community Service
Tennis Instruction over last 2 summers (and planning next 2 summers)
NHS Service Projects
Demographics
State: SC
Race: W/C
Sex: M
Income: Smack dab in the middle
So I guess my main questions are: (NOTE: don’t feel obligated to answer them all! I wouldn’t! (; )
- What are my admissions chances at these fairly prestigious schools?
- Any other schools you could suggest?
- Do I have any chance at the various merit scholarships at these schools (like the AB Duke Scholarship at Duke or the Jefferson Scholarship at UVA)?
- Any suggestions for community service ops? I feel like they are a little lacking.
Thank you guys!
- What are my admissions chances at these fairly prestigious schools?
First of all, to be fair, you have a list of very competitive admissions. Your SAT is solid, but you’re below average in all your listed universities except for GT, Clemson, and UVA. All other universities have averages above 1500, so to be on the safe side, you probably have to take it again as you mentioned.
Other than that, what classes have you taken? An UW GPA of 4.0 gets you on the ranks with the best schools. (I would comment on your weighted GPA as well, but I personally didn’t get how yours is a 5.3).
Your ECs might need a little bit of work, and if you can find something additional to do, that would be awesome. You’ll be on track for very competitive universities.
- Any other schools you could suggest?
I’d love to help with that, however, you need to factor in your preferences other than your specified major. This includes weather, location, funds, certain clubs, and so forth.
- Do I have any chance at the various merit scholarships at these schools (like the AB Duke Scholarship at Duke or the Jefferson Scholarship at UVA)?
With your grades and an improved SAT Score, definitely.
- Any suggestions for community service ops? I feel like they are a little lacking.
Sorry, don’t know much about that.
Hope that was helpful. Good luck!
Awesome @jinxorchestra!
I personally think that my course load is fairly strong
Currently taken 4 APs (US Gov, APUSH, Calc AB, Lang),
Currently taking 3 more (Bio, Calc BC, Lit)
Senior year planning on 2 more (Physics C, Stats). So that’s a grand total of 9 by graduation.
I have also taken a good amount of dual enrollment and plan to senior year (Psych, 3 French classes, etc)
As for my preferred environment, I can be flexible, but I don’t want to be too far from home (SC), so west coast is basically out of the question. I also don’t want to live in the frozen tundra (North Midwest, Maine, etc) because I’m a weak-skinned southern boy ( 
), but I can do Pennsylvania, NY, etc.
As long as the school has a club or intramural tennis team, I’m good with it. I’ll probably be able to find clubs about math and/or bio wherever I go
Again, middling income, probably around $80-85K but I believe my parents have a good amount saved up (not sure of exactly how much).
I hope that has cleared things up a bit
@jinxorchestra His WGPA is based on the SC grading scale which weighs AP and Honors classes more heavily.
Is that disadvantageous in some way, @carolinamom2boys?
No @Nojotennis . Just explaining to @jinxorchestra how you came up with your WGPA. Just a word of advice . If you are interested in your true chances of admission at your listed schools , you would get more accurate info by looking at the Common Data Set for each school which would give you accurate info regarding statistics from most recent accepted class including GPAs, test scores, diversity, instate vs OOS admissions , ECs, importance of demonstrated interest etc. you may also want to go to the Universities and Colleges tab on CC for each college to look at stats from former applicants and compare your stats to accepted , waitlisted and rejected students. The info from these 2 examples is usually more reliable than info from other students who are navigating the admissions process just like you.
Oh OK. Thanks for the advice!
“2) Any other schools you could suggest?”
My preferred conditions (I’m pretty flexible) are in Post #2. I’m in no huge rush for an answer, but just so I could research them a little before apps next summer/fall
(PS, If there is a rule against DP, I’m sorry. I just joined the other day…)