<p>Those are my top three choices right now.</p>
<p>High school![ul]
[<em>]Public, very good
[</em>]Sends 10-15 to Ivies every year - this year several to Cornell, 2 to Brown, 2 to Princeton, 1 to Harvard, 1 to Columbia[/ul]</p>
<p>Numbers![ul]
[<em>]GPA: 3.98 unweighted (school does not weight or rank, but I'm most likely in top 10%)
[</em>]PSAT 222, so hoping for National Merit something
[li]SAT: [/li]Verbal 780
Writing 730
Math 630 (egad! may retake for obvious reasons)
[li]SAT II:[/li]World History 760
Literature 760
US History 740
[li]AP:[/li]World History 5
English Lang & Comp 5
US History 4
Physics B 4[/ul]</p>
<p>Extracurricular activities![ul]
[<em>]School literary magazine: will serve as editor-in-chief. Mag wins honors at state and national levels
[</em>]"Teen Council" for city newspaper: 15 students from area who advise editorial board and write columns
[<em>]School newspaper
[</em>]Interact Club (community service, will serve as District Rep)
[<em>]Varsity Bowling (member 5 years, captain 3 years). Coaches' Award, Scholar Athlete, Varsity Letter earned in eighth grade
[</em>]Involved "behind-the-scenes" in performing arts, as cast photographer, publicity, usher
[<em>]Photography
[</em>]Piano, 5 years[/ul]</p>
<p>Awards and honors![ul]
[<em>]Many writing awards in poetry, at local and national levels. Will be published in the Claremont Review this fall.
[</em>]Williams College Book Award (given by local alumni association to student in top 5% of class)[/ul]</p>
<p>Good things![ul]
[<em>]Accomplished writer--hopefully good essays
[</em>]Plan to include photography and design portfolio, including the poster I designed for this year's Homecoming; it will be printed by the town and displayed at local businesses (note: I don't plan to go into art, but I do love it, and I hope a portfolio can set me apart from the proverbial crowd)[/ul]</p>
<p>Not-so-good things![ul]
[<em>]White female living in the suburbs: demographically booo-ring
[</em>]That SAT math score
[<em>]Dropped foreign language after sophomore year (do, however, have three credits for it, because I completed Spanish I in middle school)
[</em>]Dropped orchestra after sophomore year, too--but did continue with Jazz Ensemble[/ul]</p>
<p>Can anyone suggest other schools I might be interested in? I know when one mentions any of the three in the subject line, a whole bucketful comes up: Amherst, Williams, Wesleyan, Bryn Mawr, Carleton, Haverford, Barnard, Oberlin, Pomona, Vassar, Smith, blah blah, etc. But can anyone give me a solid & unique reason I'd really be interested in other schools, not just because they're academically similar to the ones I listed?</p>