<p>Because their ECs and test scores aren’t similar. Obviously. The OP’s extracurricular achievements truly are exceptional.</p>
<p>lol…OP has one of the most rigorous course schedules ive ever seen; an extremely impressive set of extracurriculars that i think most people just dont comprehend; perfect test scores; national merit finalist; national ap scholar; and his weighted gpa is at least a 4.4 and half of you guys think he doesnt have a chance at all? You dont need to worry lol you’ll definitely be fine</p>
<p>That unweighted GPA will kill you. You have some impressive stats, but at a school like Harvard, those aren’t that uncommon. But for an engineering major, those math classes will really help. You should apply to Caltech or MIT. They make overlook some of your lower grades because those seem to be in History or language.</p>
<p>I don’t think any college would reject OP just by looking at grades, because I know that recruited football players, etc have gotten into those schools with GPAs under 3.</p>
<p>The coach is pulling for the player at the admissions office and he/she is sitting there with a list and academic index. Unless the head of the math or science department is telling the admissions office he is a genius and needs to be admitted, the comparison of low GPAs does nt always work.</p>
<p>In most top schools, the departments dont seem to be involved in the admission process.</p>
<p>^^Football recruits aren’t held to nearly the same standard. I’ve seen a Harvard recruitment letter that asked for a 25 ACT. other applicants can’t expect the same treatment as football players.
That is a question, though, are you being recruited for anything? I assume you aren’t because I didn’t see it in your stats, but that would help
And I would say, with your courseload, incredible EC’S, and completely perfect test scores… you definitely have more of a chance than anyone else in the country with that GPA. and it should be enough to balance it out if you can reverse that downward trend senior year. But you would certainly have to explain. And don’t count on it if your GPA doesn’t improve senior year.</p>
<p>lol Football players be can’t considered at all in this context.</p>
<p>HAHA omg this has to be a joke… you took ap calc in 8th grade!!! go away… self esteem - shot down… your so in its not funny… this is just depresing</p>
<p>are you going to major in math? that seems liek a good idea… emphasize your strong points</p>
<p>wow ok i just read this again. i can’t get over this. are you superhuman? like do you sleep? where do you get the time to do all these things!!! im honestly wondering… i go to a very hard school and my time is 100% consumed by an internship and schoolwork… i do community service in the summers because other than that i have no time… HOW DO YOU DO IT!!</p>
<p>I would be surprised if you did not get into every school you applied to.</p>
<p>“wow ok i just read this again. i can’t get over this. are you superhuman? like do you sleep? where do you get the time to do all these things!!! im honestly wondering… i go to a very hard school and my time is 100% consumed by an internship and schoolwork… i do community service in the summers because other than that i have no time… HOW DO YOU DO IT!!”</p>
<p>This is totally possible. I know quite a few people with this kind of resumes. The valedectorian at my school has a similar if not more impressive resume at my school. </p>
<p>Btw, OP, What school do you go to?</p>
<p>but, shaggy007, do they get sleep / have lives? all i can handle is what i do now – that is , studying for SAT 2’s, Ap’s, doing homework, internship, and trying to sleep… and i barely get to have a social life anymore! im not dumb at ALL either but i don’t know how people can do that much!</p>
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<p>My time for all those activities is mostly taken out of time I would spend doing schoolwork, which is why my grades are bad.</p>
<p>Couple more things I forgot:
Summer activities: COSMOS after frosh year, Summer@Brown after sophomore year, summer classes as i mentioned and also hopefully MOP this year, otherwise work/internship
CSF member since freshman year, except for this semester (the D+ disqualified me; i will hopefully rejoin next semester though)
National Honor Society member since freshman year (yes, even with my terrible grades, you only need a 3.0 weighted to enter… lol. however, I doubt I will be VP/President next year because the teacher in charge of this club doesn’t like me much and it is an unofficial rule that all officers have 4.75 or more)
Young Democrats member since freshman year, probably VP next year (not sure if I should include this on my app in case the reader happens to be republican)?</p>
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<p>I doubt it. Colleges only recruit for sports (right?) and while I know I am good enough to play tennis at the D3 level and maybe D2, I’m not that high ranked that I would be recruited for D1 (that is probably reserved for the top 20-50 tennis players in the nation)…</p>
<p>Well, I have gotten 2 letters from random tiny colleges that are apparently D3 to play tennis there, but I don’t think that’s what you meant</p>
<p>You will be accepted to great schools, but with your g.p.a - imho - it is unlikely you will end up at an ivy.</p>
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<p>I think MOP twice in a row is more impressive than OP’s Olympiad achievements so far. Besides USA(J)MO, the other olympiads are not that hard to semifinal in if you have an AP-level knowledge of the subject.</p>
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<p>I don’t think it’s the GPA, but the fact that there are several C’s and a D present. A 4.5 is a pretty darn good GPA.</p>
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<p>Can you post said valedictorian’s resume? Except for grades, OP has the best resume I’ve ever seen. The only way it could be better is if he were also a recruited athlete/URM/did even better in olympiads, or obviously had better grades</p>
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<p>I know D+ and C- are very bad for top colleges, and yet I still chose to take the classes because college is not my primary focus, learning is. I do know someone with good EC’s, but who was Asian and got a D in some AP class (I forgot which) and got into Dartmouth. Is this true about Stanford? I heard the opposite. What’s shop?</p>
<p>Question: So will the “legacies” help or not? And, if I do manage to get all A’s but a B in Spanish this semester, how much will that ameliorate my bad first semester grades?</p>
<p>I posted his resume on the Harvard acceptance page.
And OP, how did you get accepted into NHS since Freshman year? Don’t you have to be sophomore at minimum?</p>
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<p>My bad, yes it’s sophomore year on</p>