<p>I don’t know Josh.
I know you are looking for me to say ,"yeah you could get in easily- "or give you some stray strands of hope But I have to try to be more realistic. Here’s my take.
Truthfully, anything could happen. College admissions is like a russian roulette with “the future for one child” instead of a bullet. You must remember that you are competing against straight A students with a panoply of actvities. One of my friends for example- a junior with a likely letter from Columbia has straight A’s a 101/ 4.0 G.P.A ; she is valedictorian of her class and runs competitively- making it to states one year. In addiition she is in Junior Academy of science and has wonderful essay writing skills. she is probably likely to recieve a NMS finalist award in the PSAT’s. I’m not saying this to make you miserable ( I too am nowhere near her). But, I want to give you a look of what is out there.
Now knowing this, you can make a decsion for yourself. I am not saying don’t apply. I just say pick safties you like.</p>
<p>Ya I know college admissions are a crapshoot and there are amazing candidates out there but I am wondering how signifigant the difference is between someone with a high freshman GPA and a lower one. However, I did get a 229 on the PSAT and I have dedicated ec’s Co captain of First aid squad, certified EMT (that will be what my essays are about) 100 hours volunteered at hospital and a member of the medical careers club. Eh,didn’t meen to sound so defensive but I really am worried about my GPA</p>
<p>I don’t think they destroy your chances
but every single one of those schools is a crap shoot for anyone
for you, i’d be a bit more of a stretch</p>
<p>JHU is not a crap shoot. ED and your chances at auto like 60% if you are average. Graduating from JHU is crapshoot. Visit it and you will see what i mean. The students are dead scared yet at the same time all premeds. expect FIERCE competition if you are admitted. The Baltimore area is… well Baltimore. As my chemistry teacher said when he worked with HCN (HydroCyanic acid…lol) under the fume hood, “We suffer a high risk of Dying.”</p>
<p>Does your school offer many APs? If yes, they will expect to see more junipr year. Your counselor will have to check a box ranking the rigor of your classes in terms of what was available to you. You want him to check ‘most rigorous’ for a real shot at those schools.</p>
<p>Well you can’t take AP Calculus untill senior year, There has never been ANYONE who took AP physics before Honors and for English I can either take English III Honors now and take AP literature senior year or take AP Lit now and take Honors english IV senior year. I would say that’s the most rigorous schedule I could possibly have.</p>
<p>If your school doesn’t offer several AP’s in the first place, your counselor should make a note of that in his/her rec. As long as your taking the most rigorous courseload at your school specifically, it doesn’t really matter if you take 4 AP’s at a school with only 5 compared to 6 AP’s at a school that offers 24…</p>
<p>Also, you aren’t screwed Josh… with the trend in your GPA from freshman year, it seems that with all A’s junior year, it’ll skyrocket, so have hope in that… </p>
<p>Lastly, remember that colleges don’t just look at grades… Have you taken the SAT/ACT yet? If you can post that, that’ll justify a more accurate prediction… Plus extracurriculars are crucial… especially for top schools… like nil desperandum stated, there are going to be a lot of qualified students competing with you for the spots, so you need to show how you stand out…</p>
<p>Cornell looks for an upward trend, and course rigor. I think you can have a decent chance if you do well in your AP classes junior and senior year. Definitely apply regular decision so they can see the senior year mid year report to further show how well you can do.</p>
<p>All of the schools you’ve mentioned are competitive, but you won’t know how it’ll turn out unless you apply. Just take as many AP classes as you can, and do well your junior and senior year. Keep in mind that the people on these forums are just “guessing”. Don’t let anything they say discourage you from replying, many of them just want to “knock out their competition” by telling people “You can’t get in don’t apply”.:P</p>
<p>I wouldn’t get overly focused on which school you are going to attend for college at this point. You still have all the standardized testing and that can change the game, as well. What you can count on is that if you do well for the next couple of years, you will surely get into a fine school where you will find all sorts of fantastic professors and kids. Once you know your test scores and your Junior grades, you’ll know more. Junior year is the hardest year in high school, and so, then you will see. But don’t worry. You may get into some of these or some others you find as you really begin to look into it more deeply. My D didn’t even like the school she thought was her dream school, where she got in. From the second she stepped on campus, she hated it. You just never know who you will be in a year or two.</p>