<p>I've shown a significant improvement throughout high school (terrible freshman year). I've been worried about how much of an effect this will have on my chances.</p>
<p>Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White
State: Delaware
HS: Large, public. Very competitive. Sends 5-10 kids a year to Ivies and top universities</p>
<p>9th
Honors English 9: B+
Area studies: A
Honors World History II: C+
Honors Geometry: A
Honors Chemistry: B
Honors Spanish 5: B
Economics: B-
Marketing: B</p>
<p>10th
AP Biology: A-
Honors Algebra II: A-
AP Spanish: A-
Honors English 10: B+
Honors Accounting: B+
Computer Programming 1: A-
Honors Computer Programming 2: A</p>
<p>11th
AP US History: A-
AP Physics: A
AP French: A
AP English Lit: A
Honors PreCalc: B+
Honors Mechanical Engineering: A-</p>
<p>12th projected schedule:
AP Chemistry
AP English Composition
AP Environmental Science
AP Calculus AB
Civics
<some random="" elective=""></some></p>
<p>SAT Subject tests:
French with Listening: 800, US History: 800, Math II: 800</p>
<p>SAT Reasoning: 2370
790 Math
780 Critical Reading
800 Writing</p>
<p>ECs:
-Chairman/Vice President of DECA
-President of Robotics
-President of Key Club
-Chemistry research with flagship university professor: co-author of two published papers
-Volunteering at a local hospital: 200 hours
-Math and Physics Tutoring: 75 hours</p>
<p>Awards:
-National Merit Semi-finalist (projected)
-Mu Alpha Theta
-National Honors Society
-National Science Honors Society
-National Foreign Language Honors Society
-Winner of random town-wide events (Essay writing, poetry, etc.)</p>
<p>Please chance me for:
-NYU Stern
-Michigan Ross (Preferred admit)
-Vanderbilt
-Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)
-Yale
-UC Berkeley
-Cornell CAS (Early Decision)
-Georgetown</p>
<p>You credentials look great. Your upward grade trend shows colleges how driven and competitive you are. Such drive is lacked by so many people. You test scores look fantastic, way too go. I believe that Ivies are always a mixed bag and you can never put all of you eggs in one Ivy basket. I do like your odds at all of these schools especially CM, UCB, UMich, Vandy, Georgetown, NYU, and cornell. I wish you the best of luck! </p>
<p>Is there a reason for this upward trend? Even if it is not a clear reason, you should probably consider making your common app essay about it. Explain why it happened (whether it was a problem you were facing in life, or maybe even just your growing awareness that you needed to get serious and focused), because it will DEFINITELY be one of the most obvious things about your application. If so, then I’d say probably:</p>
<p>-NYU Stern - reach
-Michigan Ross (Preferred admit) - match/high match
-Vanderbilt - high match
-Carnegie Mellon (Tepper) - high match/low reach
-Yale -high reach
-UC Berkeley -high match
-Cornell CAS (Early Decision) -reach
-Georgetown -low reach</p>
<p>@bobtheboy I don’t mean write about the grades persay, but more his changing work ethic/if there was a problem that caused the trend in grades. As I said, it’s a glaringly obvious part of his application, and they’ll be left wondering why it is the way it is unless he addresses it somewhere. It doesn’t even have to be his main essay, maybe just part of the section to write about what more the colleges should be aware of.</p>
<p>Hmmm. I did have some family issues freshman year although I thought it would be lame to write the typical sob story. Maybe my counselor can mention it in his recommendation. Interesting though, I thought NYU Stern would be easier to get into than most (I heard they only care about SAT and SAT Math II scores )</p>
)</p>