<p>URM is a big advantage, your grades are great, and your EC’s seem very focused. You might want to work on raising the SAT writing, start thinking about SAT II’s, and dig even deeper into the realm of math/sci EC’s. CMU could be a high-ish match, and a good safety could be any of the less prestigious UC’s.</p>
<p>Well what do you want to become, because you have Caltech and them…I would say that you want to go into engineering?
Cal Poly I hear is good with Engineering but I think it only goes to masters, UM Ann Arbor, UT Austin, Georgia Institution of Technology, Cornell, Univ Illinois, Univ Minnesota, Duke, UCLA(I think), and John Hopkins all have some nice Engineering Programs…
yes your on the right track, being number one helps…but don’t take a class cause it’s easy…Colleges Hate Valedictorians that get a 4.0 by taking blow off classes, they will reject you like a kid rejects broccoli…or so I hear…</p>
<p>ECs are pretty weak. Grades are ok but when are you taking those 5 APs? How many in your junior year or before it? If they’re all being taken senior year, then you better acquire some more realistic dream schools. On the bright side, if you have taken some APs up to now, you may have a shot at some schools lower on the USNWR list. Your URM status, while helpful, will not account for a lack of EC involvement, so get started doing something signficant quickly!</p>
<p>I don’t think your ECs are weak: You clearly spend a lot of time on these activities. So long as you have something to show for it, you look good. URM and smallish town in Nebraska both help. As above, work on your writing. And remember that a good essay can make you memorable.</p>
<p>Would suggest some of these colleges & universities:</p>
<p>Carnagie Mellon
Grinnell
URochester
Carleton
UWisconsin-Madison
Trinity (CT)
Vanderbilt
Bucknell U
UIllinois-Urbana Champaign
Wesleyan U
UWashington-Seattle
Emory
UMichigan-Ann Arbor
Macalester
Case Western
Purdue U
Union (NY)
UTexas-Austin
Boston C
Michigan State
Lehigh U
Penn State
Lafayette
Virginia Tech</p>
<p>I’m interested in majoring in Computer Science.</p>
<p>The planned AP classes are:
Junior:
AP Physics
AP Calculus AB</p>
<p>Senior
AP Calculus BC
AP Biology
AP Literature & Composition</p>
<p>The school offers a total of 6 ap classes (the above plus AP chem), and most students take them as a senior.</p>
<p>My courseload will probably end up being one of the most challenging ones in the school. </p>
<p>(Honestly, only the top 10 or so students in my class are any ‘competition’ at all, and most of those are planning on going to our local state university, University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Everyone seems to view big-name schools as being completely impossible to get into.)</p>