Chances and advice, please. :)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Race: White/Caucasian
Gender: Male
State of residence: Minnesota
School: Public
Class rank: 20/189
GPA: 3.82, unweighted (we don't weigh, much to the chagrin of my class rank)
PSAT: 221, NMSF
ACT: 34 (1st time: 34E, 34R, 33M, 36S, 8W; 2nd time: 33E, 33R, 35M, 36S, 8W)
AP: U.S.H - 3, W.H. - 3, Spanish - 2, Statistics - 5
SAT2: World History - 750, Math2 - 770, Physics - 710</p>

<p>This year my schedule is:
Honors Chemistry
AP Government
AP Calculus AB
AP Literature
CIS Spanish
Stuent Aide
Art I (yeah... it's a graduation requirement. :/)</p>

<p>Second semester is the same but with (Yay!) Advanced Acting instead of Art I and Adv. Game Programming (no CS for me :/) instead of Student Aide.</p>

<p>I have taken every AP class that my school offers and every Honors class (except for English in 9th and 10th grade).</p>

<p>My ECs are pretty mundane but show a lot about what I like.
Science Olympiad - 4 years
Quiz Bowl - 2 years (since it was first offered at my school, maybe captain this year)
Math League - 2 years (since it was first offered at my school)
NHS - 2 years</p>

<p>In Science Olympiad last year I placed 1st in the Region in my event and then 8th and 9th at State in my two events. In Quiz Bowl we qualified for and attended the national competition in Chicago.</p>

<p>Schools I am interested in and where I believe them (please inform me if I'm wrong):</p>

<p>Reach:
Princeton
Northwestern
Cornell
MIT
Johns Hopkins</p>

<p>Match:
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor</p>

<p>Safety (should I only apply to one?):
University of Wisconsin-Madison
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities</p>

<p>I plan on doing some sort of Engineering (probably Electrical, Mechanical, or - if the school offers it - Aerospace) and after Undergrad either going farther into Engineering or trying to get into Law.</p>

<p>The advice that I seek is if I retook the Physics test if it would change matters at all. If I retook it I think I could get AT MOST 770, more likely about 740 (a 30 point increase). When I originally took it I did not know that it was geared towards AP students and, being the my school does not offer AP Physics, I did not know quite a bit of the information on there.</p>

2

<p>well you pretty much chanced yourself correctly. are you planning on including your AP scores?</p>

3

<p>I was planning on it... what, should I not? And do you think my reaches go past reaches into like "never going to happen"?</p>

4

<p>Also, I'm not sure if this matters, but at least one of my recommendations is going to be stellar. My teacher has hinted to me that he's going to mark the "One of the top few encountered in career" option.</p>

5

<p>id say you're in good shape- princeton and mit are high reaches but id say the other three are closer to reach-match</p>

6

<p>i think you should raise your physics SAT II</p>

<p>schools with amazing engineering programs will often look at your MATH IIC and Physics SAT score</p>

<p>i know cooper union school of engineering usually accepts students who scored 750+ on each (and both exams are required)</p>

7

<p>great chances at all. I think you are on the right track in terms of your schools.</p>

8

<p>So do you guys think it would be helpful to retake the Physics? Or is a 30-point difference not going to realistically matter? Also, what if I do worse - will they look down on that?</p>