<p>I want to apply to some of the top ten schools in the nation, primarily UPENN, Duke, and Columbia. As of now, my GPA is 3.976. Although I have yet to take the SAT, I am consistently scoring at around 1900 to 2000 with every practice, but I plan on focusing more on the ACT. I am a junior and am taking very rigorous courses. I have taken 7 AP classes previously and am currently taking 5 in addition to Calculus 2 and 3 with Florida Atlantic University. Also, my AP exam scores are only 4s or 5s.My extracurriculars consist of having a part time job reffing soccer, playing soccer, being president of a soccer club in school, cofounder of two clubs at school, and a member of the Science Honor Society and National Honor Society. In addition, I have an internship/volunteering opportunity at a hospital. What is a typical reach school for me?</p>
<p>Wait, you’ve taken 7 previous AP courses? But have a 3.976 GPA? That means that you like to take challenging courses, but you don’t do particularly well in them. And, 1900-2000 means nothing to those schools.</p>
<p>Aim for at least a 33 on the ACT - 34 would be ideal . Is 3.976 weighted or unweighted?</p>
<p>@STheart - LOL What? Since when is a 3.976 GPA low? </p>
<p>Your courses are impressive and so is your GPA (so long as it’s unweighted). Get your SATs in a higher range though!</p>
<p>You should be fine for U Penn. Columbia… you’re going to have to score higher on the SATs. Remember that these schools judge holistically so they look at all areas and not just GPA and SAT scores.</p>
<p>Uh, mountlover, UPenn and Columbia are in the same tier… Borhomm needs higher SAT scores for both schools… at least a 200 point increase.</p>
<p>@jibler I’m not saying that she or he shouldn’t increase her scores for U penn. Definitely, if possible, as it is an Ivy League. But her credentials as a whole are pretty good, and her/his chances aren’t doomed because her/his SAT scores aren’t entirely up to par. Columbia, though, is clearly a harder school to get into that is why I say DEFINITELY get your SAT scores up for Columbia. If you do your research, you will learn all of this (not to be rude at all).</p>
<p>I misunderstood that then. I did do my research so</p>
<p>That is my unweigted GPA.</p>
<p>As I said before, I am probably going to go for the ACT since it is more content based and I am strong and taking a lot of classes involving Math, Science, and Physics. Will the National Merit Scholarship (if I were to get it) improve my chances a whole lot in getting accepted? During my brother’s year, many of the students that got this recognition were able to get into a top ten school, including a student who had straight C’s in mathematics and physics courses but participated in 3 varsities sports and got a 2350 on the SAT. The classes this student did poorly in were basically core classes specific to the program that he was in at my high school (these classes included Calculus 2 and 3, AP Physics C (both of which I am taking now), and Differential Equations (which I will take next year)). Do you think that the reason why he got accepted to such a great school (UChicago) was because of the National Merit Scholarship recognition? People say that affirmative action also helped greatly for him, but I don’t think that would have truly played a large role considering that he did not do so well in key classes.</p>
<p>I am also a guy, js…</p>