<p>Hi, I hope to get into one (or more) of these top schools: Notre Dame, Princeton, Stanford, University of Chicago, MIT, Northwestern. I realize many of these are reaches, but I really just want a general idea of where I stand. Thanks,</p>
<p>I go to a public high school in IN (urban, very diverse, very interesting) and have about 500 kids in my class. I am an IB diploma candidate currently. I am an Asian male with no hooks whatsoever although legacy at ND.</p>
<p>SAT: 2300 (800 M, 760 CR, 740 W)
GPA: 3.97 (8 of 460) lots of valedictorians...</p>
<p>Courseload: Consists of generic IB courseload but took AP World History freshman year and scored a 4. My IB scores aren't back yet but am fairly confident I did okay. </p>
<p>Extracurriculars: Quiz Bowl (9,10)
Mock Trial (9,10)
Tennis (9,10,11,12) Varsity (10-12)
School's Volunteer Assoc. (11,12) 100 hours or so of assorted activities
NHS (11,12)
Science Olympiad (founder, captain) (10,11,12)
Science Research at Notre Dame (11,12)</p>
<p>Awards:
Indiana Academy of Science Talent Search 1st place winner
ISEF (Science) 3rd place in category
AJAS (science conference) Indiana delegate
Siemens Science Competition Semifinalist
other smaller things...</p>
<p>Academically, your stats fit these schools (assuming you get nice SAT IIs and IBs). Your ECs aren’t that great for MIT and similar, though. There isn’t enough depth, nor any major awards (although those awards will help you). I’d say that you have good changes at ND, Chicago and NW. Stanford and MIT are reaches, but not impossible! Focus on your essays.</p>
<p>^ with all due respect, the OP has several MAJOR awards. </p>
<p>Isef is an international competition. Over 7 million start (internationally) and 1500 make it the the finals and, obviously, far fewer receive grand awards. Siemens is a national competition with only 400 recognized as either regional finalists or semifinalists.</p>
<p>I think that winning awards in both competitions is very, very rare (less then 300 per year).</p>
<p>So, with that in mind, what you have is demonstrated intense focus on science, backed by awards at the international and national level, varsity athletics (which can take a lot of time), and a few lesser less focused ECs.</p>
<p>While I profess no specialized knowledge on admissions, the OP stands head and shoulders above virtually all chance thread posters (and, I believe that CC posters are pretty far to the right on the standard bell curve).</p>
<p>I agree that the essays may be important; but the awards (as a result of a passion towards science), really stand out.</p>