Chance a Junior?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Duke University
1

<p>I know I'm only a junior now and I've got a lot of time to go, but can you tell me if I'm on the right track for Stanford? I know that no one can give accurate chances for Stanford or any top school, but I'm just curious as to what you think</p>

<p>Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White
School: Private Catholic School in California</p>

<p>SAT 1: 2280 (800 Math, 800 Writing, 680 Critical Reading) - That was my first test. I'm going to retake it to improve my CR and hopefully get a good superscore
SAT 2: US History (760) Math 2 (800) - I also plan to take Physics next year
Ap's: I will take English and Calc BC this year, then English, Stats, Spanish, and Physics next year</p>

<p>GPA:
Unweighted: 3.97
Weighted: 4.74
Rank: My school doesn't rank, but I'm top 5% </p>

<p>Honors/awards:</p>

<p>Eagle Scout
Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do
Hopefully National Merit (I scored 223 on the PSAT, which is above last year's 219 cut-off for CA)</p>

<p>EC's:
Boy Scouts - I am an Eagle Scout and I served as Senior Patrol Leader for my troop for 6 months. My project was repairing and refurbishing furniture for the Ronald McDonald House
Founder and President of the Ronald McDonald House Club at my school - I started a club to keep helping the RMH. We make and deliver a meal to the RMH every month and we raise money for them
National Honors Society (11, and likely 12)
Spanish National Honors Society (11 and likely 12)
Co-Founder and vice-president of my school's Young Republicans club
Model United Nations (9, 10, 11, likely 12, and I have 9 Best Delegate/Gavel Awards)
Seceratary-General of MUN
Track and Field (9, 10, 11, likely 12, Varsity for 11 and 12))
Football (9, I'm not sure if I should even mention this)
Wrestling (10, I'm not sure if I should mention this either)
Orchestra (Violin, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, likely 12)
Link Crew (11, likely 12)</p>

<p>Community service:</p>

<p>Over 400 Hours with Boy Scouts (200 alone on my Eagle Scout Project)
Ronald McDonald House (over 100 hours)
NHS and SNHS Tutoring (more than 50)</p>

<p>Work Experience:
I served as a clerk at a law firm for the past 3 summers, and I will continue to do so next summer</p>

<p>Hooks: Nothing good :/</p>

<p>Other Notes: My school offers the IB program in addition to AP. I chose not to take IB, but I am taking the most rigorous classes offered with the exception of Philosophy, which is offered only to IB students. I don't know if this puts me at disadvantage. </p>

<p>I would appreciate any help or tips I could get. Thank you very much!</p>

2

<p>stanford? aren’t you on the wrong school thread? lol but i really don’t know with top colleges. theres no set formula according to my harvard interviewer. you may fit the class theyre trying to form one year but not the next so she was saying that its kind of a crap shoot. it depends on what year you apply and what theyre looking for out of that specific class that year. well i know stanford rejected me but my credentials werent as good as yours - GPA and test scorewise.</p>

3

<p>Your resume is impressive but tragically vanilla. You have a good foundation, but you lack anything to set you apart dramatically from the rest of the pool.</p>

4

<p>Haha, sorry, I don’t know how I missed that. Thanks for the critique, wabamaccepted. I know all of these top schools (Duke and Stanford included) are pretty much a crap shoot, but I’m interested to see what some opinions on my credentials are.</p>

<p>metaphy6, what kind of thing are you thinking of that dramatically sets one apart?</p>

5

<p>Like, being in the top 5 in the nation at something, having a [multiple] patent[s], being on an Olympic team (including things like USAMO, NACLO), founding a UN-recognized charity organization, winning SIEMENS or ISEF, winning Scripps, publishing in literary journals, maintaining a prominent blog or website, being president of a state JCL, being a lodge chief, etc.</p>