<p>SCHOOLS: University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins University, New York University, University of Southern California, UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, and Tulane University</p>
<p>STATS
GPA: 3.67 uw, 4.33 w for 9-12, 4.44 w for 10-12</p>
<p>SAT: Took October test and expecting at least 2100 (I took an intense SAT class where my friends took it, and they all scored 100-200 points higher on the real SAT than the test given at the prep facility. I score a consistent 2100-2200 there, so yeah). From what I've garnered from the SAT discussion boards, a lot of my answers were right so I'm keeping fingers crossed for 2300+.</p>
<p>SAT IIs: Chemistry - 650 (took as a sophomore without studying, but I guess if I brush up I can pull off 700+ by December test date) Math 2 - 770 (again without studying. I know it's not a terrible score, but I know I can pull off 800 if take a few practice tests so the question is should I?)</p>
<p>ECs: Model United Nations (4 years), Key Club (4 years), Peer Assistance Leadership (3 years + president this year), Thieu Nhi (religious group/club; in it since I was 8 so 9 years; cantor and altar-server)</p>
<p>Awards: National Merit Commended Scholar, AP Scholar, Tower Award (Most prestigious award given at my school. One winner per subject area like math and not branches of math like algebra, stats, etc), and tons of awards from MUN</p>
<p>I have about 90 hours of community service for Key Club, and 120 by the end of the year. Will have 80-100 for NHS by end of senior year (I just joined end of last year), and currently have 200+ hours of community service for my church group for the past four years of high school. Would be well over 500 hours from just the church activities alone if I started from when I was in 3rd grade, though.</p>
<p>Basically, I'm a great tester and I'm bright (not to ruffle my feathers and not saying I'm God because I know there's tons of students better than me), but I don't point pimp. My school has a VERYYY weak science program, so my low GPA is pretty much because of the sciences. It's not because I'm bad at the sciences (I got 4s on all AP tests I've ever taken), but my teachers pretty much suck at teaching and give tons of busywork that doesn't really help us with learning the material. Of all the students that are enrolled in the AP sciences, about 30% of us pass the AP test while probably 50% of the students enrolled get As in the class. I wonder if colleges will see this and will take it into consideration that I'm in it for the learning more than just to get the perfect numbers? I mean, most of the students at my school will probably apply to the UC and CalState system, so I doubt we have any statistics for private out of state colleges, so will this discrepancy not matter?</p>
<p>Anyways, UChicago is (possibly may become was) my first choice, but also seems like I'm shooting in the dark at a bullseye mark that's an inch wide. I kinda feel that even if I were accepted to Chicago, I may not go due to 1) financial constraints and 2) Chicago is known for deflating grades, and I don't want the experience the same stress four years from now if I couldn't get the perfect 4.0 GPA I can probably get if I went to an "easier" school. Thoughts? I fear that my list may have too many reaches, even far reaches, so if you could help me by giving me an indicator as to how well each school matches, and if it's even worth being a reach, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks so much!</p>