Chances at Duke, Johns Hopkins, Wasu St. Louis

<p>Rank:
17/353 (weighted)</p>

<p>GPA:
4.0 (unweighted)</p>

<p>SAT I:
Verbal 800
Math 780</p>

<p>SAT II:
Chemistry 790
Writing 800
Math IIC 800</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Debate - co-captain, a few awards
Science Olympiad - co-captain, minor awards
Volunteering - Beta Club (vice president), SADD (treasurer), Interact (project coordinator), NHS... total 100 or so hours in the past year</p>

<p>Summer Activities: Doctor's Hospital volunteering (75 hours in 1 summer), library volunteering (49.5 hours in 1 summer), YMCA volunteering (24 hours in 1 summer)</p>

<p>AP's: US History 5, Literature 5, Chemistry 5, Calculus AB 5</p>

<p>I'm applying to Duke, Johns Hopkins, and Washington University in St. Louis. Can I get in? Also, do those schools offer any scholarships to students without having to apply for the scholarships, and if they do, what are my chances of getting any scholarships? My test scores may look nice and dandy, but my rank kind of blows and that's got me worried regarding scholarships. I don't qualify for any need-based aid.</p>

<p>Thanks a lot!</p>

<p>I can't say anything except that compared to many applicants, you seem to be lacking in research experience.</p>

<p>other than that, you're chances are just as good as the average applicant's.</p>

<p>I don't know of that many people who've done research at all. Is research experience THAT critical for admission?</p>

<p>Also, awards:
National Merit Semifinalist
AP Scholar w/ Honors
National Honor Roll, School Honor Roll for all A's, handful of crap awards.</p>

<p>you're in all of them (in my opinion)</p>

<p>strong chance in all...im not gonna be as definite as stupidestofthesmart, but ur in at JHU. wash u and duke both offer scholarships without an additional application (i think) but i don't think it'd be easy for you to get one because you don't ahve any national level accomplishments. those schools offer like 15 full rides / year, and considering how many applications they have, they would prolly give em to like 1600 SAT, national champion at somethings.</p>

<p>Any other candid, objective evaluations would be greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>With a 4.0 unweighted GPA, how is your rank so low? What AP classes were you not taking? I don't know very much about your transcript, and a large portion of your decision at these colleges is based on that. You must not be in the most rigorous courses available if you have a 4.0, yet you have a low rank. Can you elaborate more on that?</p>

<p>According to Admissions Confidental, by Rachel Toor, at Duke specifically, most people get the same ratings on their essays (in fact, almost EVERYONE gets this rating on the essays, ) and extracurriculars, and I feel you'd get those same average ratings as well. At Duke, if you're applying to Trinity College, your transcript would be a third of your decision. If you're applying to Pratt, your transcript would be 40% of your decision. We need more information about your curriculum choice.</p>

<p>If you've been taking the most rigorous courses available, your admission at Duke will be contingent on strong recommendations. At that point, if you light up the class discussion and if your teachers admire your written work, then you should be admitted. If you are merely dutiful and diligent but not insightful, that will hurt you greatly.</p>

<p>I need some more information about your transcript to make a more informed opinion.</p>

<p>Joey</p>

<p>Unweighted, my GPA is 4.0 (I got all A's). Weighted on a scale that gives 5.0 to A's in AP classes, my GPA is 4.205. My percent average in school is around 96.1 percent. My rank is 17/353, which makes me the last person in the top 5% of the class. This is based on all my grades up till the end of junior year, which is what went on my transcript.</p>

<p>9th grade:
Gifted Biology
Gifted Geometry
Literature
World History
Latin 1
Debate (1 semester) ; Health (1 semester)</p>

<p>Summer School: Algebra 2 (1 year's worth); Economics (1 semester)</p>

<p>10th grade:
Honors Chemistry
Trigonometry
Gifted Literature
Drama
Civics (1 sem) ; PE (1 sem)
Debate (1 sem) ; Writer's Wkshop (1 sem)</p>

<p>11th grade:
AP Chemistry
AP Calculus AB
AP Literature
AP US History
Latin 2
Debate (both semesters)</p>

<p>Senior year, I'm taking AP Biology, AP Literature, AP European History, AP Physics, Latin 3, and Debate. I'm not taking any more math this year. The only AP classes I haven't taken are Psychology and Art History. Also, I have not done any joint enrollment (classes taken at a local college).</p>

<p>My rank is bad simply because I didn't get as high A's as the people above me. My school doesn't weight rankings. Some of the people above me didn't take honors/gifted classes (which are unweighted) or as many AP classes (which are also unweighted) compared to me. Overall, I tried to take the toughest classes available while also fulfilling the school's credit requirements.</p>

<p>bump.</p>

<p>Again, many people's viewpoints and analysis would be preferred.</p>

<p>On safety, match, reach scale</p>

<p>Duke - reach/match
Johns Hopkins - match
Wasu St. Louis - match</p>

<p>Duke is ivy-league lvl school so you never really know whether you're gonna get in on or not with those. You'll get into Johns Hopkins with no trouble at all.
Wasu St. Louis could be a bit tricky as they've been known to reject or waitlist overqualified candidates (and you're an overqualified candidate for them).</p>

<p>"my rank kind of blows"</p>

<p>17/353 is in top 5% which is more than good enough for any school in the country.</p>

<p>
[quote]
My rank is bad simply because I didn't get as high A's as the people above me. My school doesn't weight rankings. Some of the people above me didn't take honors/gifted classes (which are unweighted) or as many AP classes (which are also unweighted) compared to me.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>This is important. With this information, I rate your chances at Duke as quite strong. Your chances at the other two are also extremely strong, provided they feel you're serious about their schools.</p>

<p>Joey</p>

<p>Thanks a lot for your help everyone, especially jprencipe.</p>

<p>Again, any further comments/etc. would be appreciated.</p>

<p>Khalid889, I REALLY want to go to Washu. It's one of my top choices. I would become suicidal if they rejected me simply because I'm overqualified. But they don't know that. How do I let them know how much I want to go to Washu (as long as it doesn't cost too much, of course)? How do I ensure that I don't get screwed over? Will a letter or phone call about how badly I want to go be good enough, or will they think that's just plain weird?</p>

<p>Duke offers teh Angier B Duke scholarship which u dont have to apply for, but its super competitive, full scholarship tho...</p>

<p>" How do I ensure that I don't get screwed over? Will a letter or phone call about how badly I want to go be good enough, or will they think that's just plain weird?"</p>

<p>A letter or phone call would definetly help. But I guess you should build it into your app , so to speak. You need to mention that Washington U is your top choice somewhere in your app. Also, if possible, your counselor could mention that in the rec. Just make sure that they know that you seriously care about their school and you won't get "screwed over".</p>

<p>A top 25 school won't reject you because you are overqualified, but rather if that school seems like a safety compared to other schools you would be applying to. Rejecting a student because he is statistically overqualified is something that happens in more mediocre schools.</p>

<p>Washington U. in St. Louis is actually well-known for this. Go through this link and it explains the whole thing in more detail...</p>

<p><a href="http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/archives/000053.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/archives/000053.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>your pretty much in, don't listen to nay-sayers. your scores are great, your rank is fine/good, the only thing that could hurt is your EC's, but they'll look past that if you show that you are like your EC's and spend time with them.</p>

<p>The rank is irrelevant in his case, because it's an unweighted rank, and he has taken the most rigorous load available.</p>

<p>Joey</p>