<p>I just finished my junior year, and I feel like I've worked my a** off during high school and that I stand a chance at these schools, but after reading some of these threads, I feel like a slacker. I'm wanting to get a degree in some form of engineering, and these are obviously among the most prestigious programs. I want you guys to be honest. So here goes:</p>
<p>Ethnicity: white
Gender: male
GPA (unweighted): 4.0
GPA (weighted): 4.76
Rank: Top 1% - #4 out of 536
School: Public magnet ranked on Newsweek's list every year
PSAT: 218 - National Merit in Texas
SAT: Took it two weeks ago, forecasting a 2200+
ACT: Took it last week, forecasting 32-34
AP scores: Human Geography- 5; World History-5; feeling I got a 4 or 5 on both US History and English Language; planning on taking 4 or 5 more senior year</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
-Tennis 5 years
-Football one year
-Academic Octathlon Sophomore year; Academic Decathlon Junior and Senior years (Our teams usually place top 10 in Texas)
-National Junior Honor Society
-National Honor Society (I will be treasurer next year)
-Student council senator 3 years
-United Way Youth Division
-Helps at Salvation Army kitchen once a week
-Summer job as intern at research lab in mechanical engineering department at Texas Tech (competitive application process)</p>
<p>So what do you think? Is there anything I might need to work on?</p>
<p>You say you’re looking at engineering and go to a very good public school, but I don’t see any math/science APs after junior year. can you explain this?</p>
<p>that aside, you certainly seem competitive for these types of schools. do not despair, for there will always be someone (or a multitude of someones) with higher scores, grades, “better” ECs, or a more interesting applicant profile. Despite this fact, us “inferior” folk still usually end up doing pretty well :-)</p>
<p>Jersey13, I was thinking the same thing, but my anxious curiosity got the best of me.
Redroses, what do you mean by national level ECs and, now that I think about it, a hook? :o
IBfootballer, at our school, you have to have what I guess you would call prerequisites to take AP level math and science level courses that are hard to get out of way before your senior year. Next year, I’m taking AP Calculus and AP Physics, and possibly AP Biology.</p>
<p>Hey guys, here’s a thought. I don’t know if this will be an advantage or affect anything at all, but I’m from West Texas, a geographically underrepresented area, where virtually all the students from this half of the state who get into top schools are from my high school. Do you think this will help?</p>
<p>Those schools aren’t “realistic” for anyone. It’s a convoluted process. You can be an excellent, near perfect student and not get in. </p>
<p>That being said, you do have a chance, based off of stats and ECs, and an okay shot at that. I’m not sure about the geographic distribution; some schools may be more aware of that than others. I have a feeling the Ivies aren’t too concerned with it though, so don’t count on it being a hook. Sorry to shoot that one down. Going to a magnet school, however, will be in your advantage; the classes you took were presumably more difficult than at another public school. </p>
<p>Boy oh boy do I know what you mean about feeling like a slacker after looking through some of these threads. Don’t let it get you down. With your stats you can get in somewhere wonderful. I would recommend looking at (gasp) other schools, too. Because there are a lot of top 20s that are not Ivy League but are still excellent, excellent schools that I think you would have no trouble getting into. That’s not to say that you should give up on the Ivies, but keep your options open. </p>
<p>Best of luck on your SATs and applications!</p>
<p>if 218 –> 2180 on SAT, Stanford would be a no. You’ll have a chance at Cornell. </p>
<p>I think you should also take a serious look in your back yard at University of Texas at Austin. For the money, public ivies is comparable to low-tier ivies. If you plan on going to grad school, UT-Austin is highly regarded.</p>
<p>UT and A&M are my “backup” schools, but I put backup in quotations because I would actually be quite happy to go to them, especially considering I’m guaranteed to get into them, they are affordable, and they are consistently ranked top 10 and top 15 in the nation for engineering respectively. It’s not like I will be crushed if I don’t get into Stanford or Cornell. I get my SAT scores in on Thursday, so I’ll post those. Thanks for the replies so far and keep them coming!</p>
<p>Imo, apply REA to Stanford because your chances are doubled.
And then apply RD to Cornell in the spring.
I think you have a chance for both schools if you do that (:
Good job on the SAT, btw.</p>
<p>I’m not an expert at this, but you have pretty good SAT scores and I definitely think you have a chance, although you’re definitely not a shoo-in. You should probably work on your EC’s and try to take/self study some more APs?</p>
