cHANCE mE fOR sTANFORD mY cAPSLOCK iS bROKEN!!!

<p>Ok so it's not really broken. Anyway:</p>

<p>I am a white, male, Nebraskan senior who goes to a public school. I intend to major in Computer Science.</p>

<p>Stats:
GPA UW: 3.938
GPA W: (AP is worth 2-5 points instead of 1-4 points): 4.021
Rank: 24/505 (it's pretty stupid at my school because honors/AP doesn't matter for rank), but I'm still top 5%.
ACT: 29 w/ writing 11 - first time, 33 w/o writing - second time (someone told me all schools will superscore writing with your composites), took again w/ writing today, expect 32-36.
PSAT: 2230 (80 CR, 63 M, 80 WR)
SAT: 2130 (75 CR, 63 M, 75 WR w/ 11 essay) (taken it only once)
SAT II: Taking Math II and Physics on Nov. 1. Not extremely confident but I am going to spend this next week drilling and ignore my classes. How high is a person expected to score to be competitive?
AP's: AP Lang - 4, AP US History - 5. I am taking AP Lit, AP Calc AB, AP Bio, AP Euro History, AP Comp. Gov and Politics, and AP World Geography this year. Don't know how many tests I will take or if they are important in the college admissions process.
Courseload: Probably in the top ten at the least in terms of most difficult senior year schedules in my class.</p>

<p>EC's:
JV Tennis 10th-11th, Varsity Tennis 12th (tried out and got cut freshman year)
Political Roundtable 11th-12th
Summer job at Subway between 11th and 12th grades
Intramural Basketball 9th-12th
Intramural Badminton 9th-12th, champion in doubles 10th grade.
40 Developmental Assets Team, 10th-11th
Newspaper Staffwriter 11th (couldn't take the class again senior year cause of scheduling conflicts with all the APs and required courses)
DECA 11th (don't think I should put it because I didn't really do anything and it was only a year, do you think I should not list it?)
Semi-EC's (I think my EC's look a little blank, so I might add these even though they aren't school related. Is this a good idea at all?):
Read voraciously (I've never kept track, but on average 3-4 novels outside of school a month)
Play guitar, used to be in a band, but only a garage band never played a real show.</p>

<p>Awards:
National Merit Semi-Finalist (hopefully Finalist since I got a 2130 SAT back last week and that's only 100 points less than my PSAT score of 2230)
Academic Letter for 4.0 GPA 9th, 10th
Academic Letter for 3.5+ GPA (cause I got 3 B's junior year) 11th
Varsity Tennis Letter 12th</p>

<p>Schools I'm Applying To:</p>

<p>Reaches:
Stanford
Cornell
Rice
Grinnell (only a reach because I won't go there unless I get a full ride)
Carnegie Mellon</p>

<p>Safeties:
University of Nebraska at Lincoln (possibly Honors Program), Peter Kiewit Institute</p>

<p>I picked the schools I did because of their CS programs and financial aid (I'm paying for it all myself). My parent's income is less than 60k, so I qualify for need-based scholarships at Stanford, Cornell, and Rice, and Grinnell. I threw in CMU just for the heck of it cause they also are supposed to have a good CS program. If I am a National Merit Finalist UNL will give me a full ride, so that's my safety.</p>

<p>Anyway, what do you think my chances are at those reaches?</p>

<p>Safeties - you're in at all of them...</p>

<p>Stanford - It's a reach for everyone
Cornell - Low Reach/High Match
Rice - Low Reach
Grinnell - In
Carnegie Mellon - High Match</p>

<p>You have a shot at Stanford because you're from Nebraska and they want geographic diversity, but it's still a guessing game.</p>

<p>b b b b b b b b b u m p.</p>

<p>I'd agree with Arachnotron except to say that Cornell is more of a low reach than a high match. Good luck with everything!</p>