<p>First of all, let me clarify that I am home-schooled, so I am probably part of less school clubs and teams than other students.</p>
<p>Here are the stats:
Current GPA: 4.0 UW, 4.25 W</p>
<p>9th grade: GPA 4.14
Honors Algebra I - 95% A
English I - 93% A
Honors Biology - 97% A
Honors World History - 96% A
Computing for College and Careers - 96% A
Art History - 98% A+</p>
<p>10th grade: GPA 4.33
Honors Geometry - 96% A
Honors English II - 98% A+
Honors Chemistry - 91% A
Honors U.S. History - 99% A
Psychology - 97% A
Fitness Lifestyle Design - 95% A</p>
<p>(Skipped 11th grade)</p>
<p>12th grade: GPA 4.5 (So far) Current grades:
Honors PreCalculus - 93% A
Honors English IV - 99% A+
Honors Physics - 95% A
Honors U.S. Government - 96% A
French I - 99% A+
Driver's Education - 100% A+</p>
<p>SAT (Oct. 6, 2012):
690W, 630M, 510CR</p>
<p>SAT II (Nov. 3, 2012):
Physics 520, Math II 560
(I took the Physics test while I was in my first semester of the high school course.)
(I took the Math II test while I was in my first semester of PreCalculus.)</p>
<p>I am considering a major in Aerospace and Astronautical Engineering.</p>
<p>Please chance me for MIT, CalTech, Stanford U, and Boston U.</p>
<p>I really dont know why you took the SAT Math II when you were only in the first semester of your Precalc class. Your low SAT scores will be a major setback to your admissions chances. I would re-take them if I were you.</p>
<p>Unless if you have extraordinary ECs,</p>
<p>MIT - high Reach
CalTech - high Reach
Stanford U - high Reach
Boston U - high match</p>
<p>Apply for more schools. You need a few safties.</p>
<p>I had an interview, and it went really well. My counselor encouraged me that I might be a good match because of my personality, and he said my grades were really good too, and that SAT’s don’t account for four years of straight A’s.</p>
<p>What do you guys suggest I do to make myself look better statistically (if straight A’s aren’t enough)? May I remind you that I am home-schooled, so some things might be limited.</p>
<p>Which one should I retake: the SAT or the SAT subject tests? Which one would be better with a higher score, and would give me a better chance of being admitted?</p>
<p>My suggestion would be to reverse the grade skip, and complete a full 4 years of high school. You’re homeschooled - “my school was so lacking that I completed all the academic coursework available to me in three years” is not an excuse available to you.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>You haven’t had Calc yet. MIT’s lowest level math class is what most schools would call Calc I. While not every freshman will enter having had Calc before, the vast, vast majority will have. You’ll be learning from scratch what many of your classmates will be taking as review. </p></li>
<li><p>You’ll only have had 3 units of science, not the recommended 4. Likewise for English, but I see that as less of an issue if your essays demonstrate strong writing skills.</p></li>
<li><p>You’ll only have had one unit of foreign language, not the recommended 2.</p></li>
<li><p>You’d gain an extra year to bring your test scores up. Your CR score is in the bottom 7-8% of entering freshmen, as is your Math score. Your SAT IIs are way, way below the 25th percentile. You need to retake all of them.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>While I agree with your counselor that test scores are not everything, neither your test scores nor the courses that you’ve taken indicate that you would be well-prepared to succeed at MIT. It may be that there’s some other personal factor you possess that would indicate you were well-prepared to succeed, but none of us here know what that might be.</p>
<p>Ignoring the middle of your list and moving straight to BU, they require 2 units of foreign language, which you don’t have. (They also recommend a lot more academic units than you have, but you don’t meet the basic requirements yet.)</p>
<p>I am on an accelerated course of PreCalc, so I will finish it during the entire first semester, and then I will start Calc in the second semester and finish it before I graduate. I am already planning on retaking the SAT on the January test date. Also, I forgot to mention that I am going to take an AP Microeconomics course during the second semester. Also, I looked into what each university requires: CalTech needs SAT Math II and Calculus, and MIT, Boston U, and Stanford U don’t have requirements.</p>
<p>By the way, I started going to an American school only in 9th grade, so before that, I had no idea about any of these tests, and I only started to pay attention when my sister took her ACT, when I was already about to start my senior year. You could call my scores a result of rushing.</p>
<p>Very iffy. My boyfriend was 5th in his class, 4.14 w 4.00 uw GPA, 34 ACT, (his sat score escapes me but I know it was near perfect) AP Physics B and AP Calc BC junior year, AP Physics C and two math classes at a local college (I believe Calc 3 and linear algebra) senior, and was declined admission.
In short, I agree with allyphoe. Take another year of high school, to take another language and take at the very least Calculus 1, and retake your SAT. You’ll have to wait longer to go to college, but it will pay off by making you a more likely candidate.
Same goes for CalTech - you need calc.</p>
<p>Not a native English speaker? Given your low CR score, have you thought about taking the TOEFL, and using the January test date to retake the Math II subject test? Taking the Chem subject test (since you finished a year of Chem) rather than Physics (not finished yet)?</p>
<p>I can tell that there’s more to the story than we know, and it’s hard to give useful advice based on less of the story. If you must go to college next year, better be applying to colleges likely to take you as you are, not as you might have been if things had been different.</p>
<p>Yes, allyphoe has another good point. If you are set upon going to college next year, do some research and apply at some universities you are confident you will get accepted into. You need a safety school or two.</p>
<p>If possible, I would also recommend that you complete another year of high school. As a homeschooler, the admissions folks will place more weight on your standardized test scores than your course letter grades. Good luck.</p>
<p>“I had an interview, and it went really well. My counselor encouraged me that I might be a good match because of my personality, and he said my grades were really good too, and that SAT’s don’t account for four years of straight A’s.”</p>
<p>You need a new counselor.
Interview does not matter very much at all.</p>