Chances at very good northeastern schools?

<p>I'm a 17 year old senior from a wealthy suburb of Washington, D.C. My school is ranked around 50th in Newsweek's public high school rankings. I am also in a selective and rigorous specialty program within my school in which the students take various exclusive classes.
SAT (old): 1490 (790M, 700V)
I'm taking the new SAT in October and anticipate an improvement, hopefully to the low-mid 1500s (not including the writing section).
SAT II: US History: 760
PSAT: 206, national merit commended scholar
Class Rank: N/A my school does not rank.
WGPA: 4.05 I have 5 Cs throughout high school, almost all in english or spanish. I have an upward trend (I believe my Junior year WGPA was a 4.3). I have taken an extremely difficult courseload which I hope will help explain my poor WGPA. Nonetheless, this is definately the low point of my application.
I will graduate with 9 AP classes including:
AP Government 3 (freshmen year)
AP US History 4 (sophmore year)
AP Psychology 4 (junior year)
AP Calculus AB 4 (junior year)
AP World History 4 (junior year)
AP Biology (taking currently)
AP Statistics (taking currently)
AP Art History (taking currently)
AP European History (taking currently)</p>

<p>I wont go into my list of extracurriculars/awards/community service but I will say they are quite strong and definately indicate a passion and thirst for knowledge outside of the classroom. </p>

<p>So, what are my chances at the following schools:
Cornell (possibly ED)
Tufts (possibly ED)
Brandeis
Vassar
UVA
UMD-College Park (I'm in state)
Colgate
Carnegie Mellon
U of Rochester
Georgetown
NYU
Emory
U of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Northwestern</p>

<p>So what are my chances at these schools? What other schools should I be considering? Will my GPA hurt me too much to get in?</p>

<p>Cornell - Waitlisted
Tufts - Waitlisted
Brandeis - Accepted
UVA - Rejected
UMD College Park - Accepted
Colgate - Accepted
Carnegie Mellon - Accepted
U of Rochester - Accepted
Georgetown - Waitlisted
NYU - Accepted
Emory - Accepted
Michigan - Accepted
Northwestern - Accepted</p>

<p>Pugachev, as far as your stats are concerned, you are in the running at all of the schools that you've mentioned. Make sure to work on your essay because the essay is an important factor, and it can be used to distinguished highly qualified candidates from one another.</p>

<p>what school do you go to, pugachev?</p>

<p>Like you, I live in Bethesda, Maryland. I go to Walter Johnson High School. I'm thinking you go to Whitman or B-CC?</p>

<p>haha yeah, BCC. cool.</p>

<p>I know some schools care more about SATs, GPAs and ECs etc. What are the priorities of the schools on my list? Any further opinions on my chances?</p>

<p>Might look at Bucknell and Holy Cross.</p>

<p>I've visited Bucknell, I didn't like it.
I think my list looks pretty weird because all the schools on the list are very different.
Would anyone like to affirm or contradict the opinions expressed in this thread?</p>

<p>I'm thinking he has a very good chance at UVA. If his EC's are like he says they are and his essays are very good and he shows interest in the school..................I think he has a solid shot.</p>

<p>lax gives pretty shoddy advice in my opinion as his opinion is seemingly random without any rationale. I can tell you that you have a decent chance should you apply ED to Tufts, though your chances would hinge heavily on your extra-curriculars as your SATs and GPA/courseload are excellent. I would say the same for Cornell. Visit and see which one you like. If you have any questions about Tufts, don't hesitate to send me an email.</p>

<p>wooa DC'ers are in state at UMD...grr ahaha thats not cool</p>

<p>I'm not sure what you mean when you say my GPA is excellent. As far as I'm concerned, thats the only thing keeping me from these schools. A 4.05 weighted GPA is pretty bad.</p>

<p>are you serious</p>

<p>I applied last year and had slightly higher SAT's and higher GPA and was accepted at CMU, Tufts, Emory. I'm deliriously happy at Brandeis--with substantial merit $$. Come visit--</p>

<p>5 C's are a lot, even if the course load is rigourous so I would not apply to cornell ED. Maybe NYU? I'm not sure</p>

<p>How much will a WGPA this semester/quarter of 4.7-4.85 in 5 periods of AP classes and 2 periods of honors classes help me?</p>

<p>Sorry, those are a lot of C's
Cornell (possibly ED)- rejected
Tufts (possibly ED)- rejected
Brandeis- accepted
Vassar- rejected
UVA-rejected
UMD-College Park (I'm in state)-accepted
Colgate-accepted
Carnegie Mellon- rejected
U of Rochester-accepted
Georgetown- rejected
NYU-accepted
Emory- possibly accepted
U of Michigan-Ann Arbor-accepted
Northwestern- possibly accepted</p>

<p>I don't understand how I am "possibly accepted" at Northwestern and rejected at Vassar. I thought Northwestern was a more difficult school to get into.
I'm also wondering how much of an impact visiting all these schools will have....I know colleges love to be loved.</p>

<p>Pugachev, though your school does not rank (like say 1/200, 10/200, etc.), what percentage of the class do you fall in? Top 10%? Top 20%?</p>