chances for a focused but well-rounded applicant

<p>hi there. i'd like to know my chances at the following schools (as a high school senior):</p>

<p>cornell (CALS, biology and society as my major)
duke (nicholas, environmental science and policy)
penn state (schreyer)
penn (vagelos, then wharton, environmental policy and management)</p>

<p>GPA: 3.9 unweighted, 4.7 weighted
courseload: most rigorous possible; 10 AP's and dual enrollment classes
Rank: none ;-)</p>

<p>SAT: 2260
ACT: 35
SAT II: 800, 800, 770
AP: 5's on 8 exams, 4's on 2 others</p>

<p>recognitions: national ap scholar, national olympiad semifinalist, forensics awards, columbia science honors program, AIME qualifier, merck science day scholar, nominated by my school for both a science-related governor's school and a lesser-known humanities program and got into both, local community service recognition</p>

<p>activities: forensics, JSA, NHS, ACLU, environmental club, model congress, french club, worked as a private tutor</p>

<p>leadership:
senior year - pres of 4 clubs, vp of 1, secretary of 2 (officer in every club)
junior year - pres of 2, vp of 2, publicist of 1, founder of 1
sophomore year - pres of 1, founder of 1 (not the same one)</p>

<p>summers: state governor's school program, college course in environmental management, four acceleration courses over the past three years to skip ahead in math and science</p>

<p>basically i want to combine my backgrounds and experiences in environmental science and public policy to major in something like environmental policy or management. i'll be relying more on my science background for cornell, leadership and interest in social/political issues for wharton, overall academics for penn state, and something in between for duke.</p>

<p>i know getting into these schools isn't an exact science and nobody can predict exactly what my chances are, but i would appreciate maybe a relative comparison between the schools judging based on the programs i'm applying for, as well as any other advice like other schools to apply to and strategy for applying. thanks!</p>

<p>You obviously have a good chances at all of these. Your AI is around 232 out of 240, and you have good ECs--meaning you have about a 55% (Vagelos) to 60% (not requesting Vagelos) chance at the toughest of these (Wharton). In my opinion, the toughest to the easiest of these to get into would be:</p>

<p>1-UPenn (Wharton)--if not applying to Wharton at UPenn, this drops to #2.
2-Duke--about 60 to 65%
3-Cornell (CALS)--about 70%
4-Penn State (honors)--about 80%</p>

<p>Cornell would move up on this list and tie Duke if you were applying for the architecture program--but since you aren't--this is the correct order IMHO.</p>

<p>thanks calcruzer. anyone else?</p>

<p>cmon. bump!</p>

<p>bump .</p>