I screwed up. My Freshmen year was B average, and the first half of Sophomore was C’s. (There were some personal circumstances that I’ve since dealt with there.) I shaped up (sort of) in the second semester – just a few (high) B’s, still A average – but my GPA has undoubtedly taken a hit. I’m doing alright now, and am in 5 APs (they were just allowed this year): AP Calc AB/BC (double credit), AP Lang, AP Gov and AP Physics. (I’m taking one separate college course, too – a medical one – as well as two programming classes. And I received top credit for the non-AP college course I took last year, despite my scores in the class itself.) My PSATs suggest near-perfect SATs, so I think I’m decent there. I’ve participated in tennis (Varsity), the musical (significant roles) and the Math Team (this is your Captain speaking) as far as extracurriculars go, and I should be interning at the NSA this summer as well. (And I might join Chess this year, and maybe Game Club, too, if not too overwhelmed with AP work.) I’m sure I can get good recommendations, especially from my computer science and math teachers. Also, if it’s relevant for a STEM application, I’m a woman. Now that you know all that, what chance would you give me of getting into Carnegie Mellon (for computer science)? (I am, of course, going to have some fallback schools, too.) Thank you!
Edit: I won an award for website creation and for spelling – way back in eighth grade for the latter – too. And I write reviews for theater productions. That’s it, I think, for the highlights. (I can’t think of anything else worth listing.)