<p>I'd really appreciate any feedback - also, any strengths/weak points on my application, obvious or not.</p>
<p>This is a little bit rushed but hopefully informative enough.</p>
<p>Intended major: Engineering
Male, Asian, middle class
GPA: 3.58
GPA (10, 11): 3.86
SAT: 2340
Math: 760
Writing: 780
Reading: 800
Math II: 800
Physics: 800
Literature: 740
AP Physics C Mechanics - 5
AP BC Calculus - 5
AP English Lit - 5
AP English Lang - 5
AP European History - 5
AP US History - 5
AP Government - 5
AP Spanish - 4
IB Spanish SL - 6
National AP Scholar
National Merit Semifinalist
IB Diploma</p>
<p>Science Montgomery Fair Winner (11th)
1st place physics
CIA Award for Technologies of National Interest
MIT DC chapter Certificate of Excellence
AIAA Award in Aerospace Excellence
Debate Team (9th, 10th, 11th, 12th)
Starting member 11th and 12th
Partner and I only rookie team in school to make octofinals (top 16 teams in county)
Forensics (12th)
3rd in county extemp -> quarter-finalist for Feb 2014
Assistant Chess Teacher (9th, 10th)
Theater Camp CIT (11th, 12th summers) - four week, three week sessions
Science Honors Society (12th)
Math Honors Society (11-12)
School NYA chapter media director (12th)
Summer internship with consulting firm (summer 12th)
Martial arts (9-12)
SGA delegate (11th)</p>
<p>Most applications can your listed activities...which ones stand out?</p>
<p>Again, thank you so much for any feedback.</p>
<p>You are a very strong candidate. However, MIT and Stanford are reaches for everyone.</p>
<p>MIT, Stanford - reach
JHU - high match(low reach if bio majors)
CMU - high match (low reach if comp sci)</p>
<p>Good luck with your applications! Make yourself shine with essays and other intangibles.</p>
<p>Predictions?<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1587931-can-anyone-play-game-predictions-my-list-test-your-prediction-skills.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1587931-can-anyone-play-game-predictions-my-list-test-your-prediction-skills.html</a></p>
<p>High match for Johns Hopkins? That sounds a little generous, but I hope you’re right.</p>
<p>BTW, did you miss my pathetic GPA? lol</p>
<p>I’ll chance you back. :)</p>
<p>What happened to your GPA, man? 
If your school has strong grade deflation, it might help put your GPA into context. What’s your class rank?</p>
<p>Unfortunately, most schools take the GPA as their first consideration into preparedness for college, otherwise, your scores and ECs make you competitive at all the top schools.</p>
<p>Chancing you back. XD</p>
<p>I was under the impression Johns Hopkins would be a reach.
Oh, and if anyone wouldn’t mind, chance me also for Berkeley, Duke and McGill?</p>
<p>AmaranthineD: I slacked in 8th and 9th grade. My school doesn’t rank. I’m hoping the upward trend will help and they may just see freshman year as a fluke. But, eh. I honestly don’t think my EC’s are very good in context of some of the other chances threads I’ve seen.</p>
<p>If you can explain your not-so-great grades early on, you should be set. MIT and Stanford are reaches, Duke is a low reach, Berkeley, JHU, and CMU are high matches, and McGill is a match. Best of luck!</p>
<p>Chance me back? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1586584-chance-me-some-schools.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1586584-chance-me-some-schools.html</a></p>
<p>You are in luck with McGill, since they do not count grade 9 grades, they only look at grade 10, 11 and 12 grades as well as test scores. Admissions are purely numeric, ECs don’t count.</p>
<p>So with a 3.86cGPA and a 2340 you will get in. Simply put you have the grades and the scores, which is what they care about. As long as you do well this year you are a lock for McGill</p>
<p>McGill: Safety</p>
<p>(and there aren’t many schools out there that can be a more impressive safety than that)</p>
<p>Chanced you guys back!</p>
<p>Um, say yes to world peace ok.</p>
<p>Crammed AP exams junior year, and I just took 3 SATII’s…that’s one session. But I don’t know what advice in particular you would like.</p>
<p>I think for all of these colleges, it will be very important to see how other applicants from your school have historically fared. You can check on naviance, if your school uses that. While your test scores are good, your GPA is simply lacking, and substantially below average for many colleges that you have listed. Your chances will be relatively better for Stanford (which is also the most selective of all of those schools, so…) due to how they evaluate GPA. </p>
<p>If you went to my school, your chances would be practically nil for all of those schools. I imagine that you would still have great chances if you went to Exeter, however.</p>
<p>I suppose universities might not be entirely truthful when they claim they don’t have school/geographic quotas?</p>
<p>They are not entirely truthful about many things (holistic admissions provides a convenient excuse for all sorts of institutional preferences). Ever notice how universities like to brag that they have students from X number of states? Ever notice how many students from the top prep schools are in Harvard et. al’s entering class? You can hardly call that accidental.</p>
<p>But my comment was more centered on the notion that a GPA at one school is not regarded the same as the same GPA at a different school. At some schools, it is unheard of for any student to get above a 3.9 GPA, while other schools may have up to 10% of the graduating class getting 4.0s. Even if your school does not submit rank, admissions people can still compare you to your classmates that have applied to the same school. At my school, since only the very top students apply to selective schools to begin with and it is not particularly hard to get a 4.0, everybody accepted to Duke, Harvard, etc. has a 4.0. It may be different at your school or it may not, but you should definitely check your school’s Naviance scattergrams. I also come from a state where geographic diversity initiatives probably help the most, so don’t think that things will be different for you just because you are from a certain state.</p>
<p>Good points hue. But just how much time do officers spend on each student? If they have enough of a look into my application they’ll hopefully notice that my GPA outside of:
a) freshman year/8th grade
b) Spanish lol
is good if not stellar. Problem is, with so many applicants they may not really care.</p>
<p>Chancing you back AKIndian.</p>
<p>Um, I certainly hope I do well on these.</p>