<p>Hey guys, I was wondering if you could chance me for Cornell, Columbia, Upenn, Duke, Carnegie Mellon and UMich, i'm probably seeking a degree in engineering</p>
<p>I'm a junior, Asian Male at a good Magnet public school in PA</p>
<p>GPA Unweighted: 3.70 (i screwed up in middle school had like a 3.25 for high school courses, 3.67 or so in freshmen year, 4.0 sophomore year, 3.71 junior year)
GPA Weighted: 4.45</p>
<p>Rigor of Courses: all classes are Honors/AP</p>
<p>AP courses taken/will take:
NSL
Calc BC
Human Geo
Psychology
Art History
World History
Language and Comp
Literature
Chinese
Macro Econ
Micro Econ
Physics C</p>
<p>SAT:
Math:800
reading:640
Writing:770
Total: 2210 ( will probably retake later for higher verbal)</p>
<p>SAT II:
Chinese: 800
Math II: 800
Physics: taking later
Chemistry taking later</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
JV basketball (9,10)
Varsity basketball (11)
JV lacrosse (10)
Varsity lacrosse (11)
Asian American Club
Math Team (some local awards)
Science and engineering apprentice internship (SEAP)
counselor at day camps
assistant basketball coach
robotics club
national merit commended
NHS
etc.</p>
<p>Hook:
dad passed away when i was 8 years old..mom had to raise me and my siblings by herself while having only a part time job? idk if this is a hook or not</p>
<p>Thanks for all your input, ill chance back if you guys want =)</p>
<p>-I'm not sure how middle school affects your high school GPA.
-Remember that some schools don't consider freshman GPA. You could exploit this.
-Rank at school?
-Retaking the SAT for a higher CR score would be wise.<br>
-EC's are solid, but not great.
-That's not a hook at all (sorry if that's harsh...I'm sure it was rough, but colleges don't want you to play the pity card). </p>
<p>Bring up the CR score, keep getting solid grades and scores on AP and SATII tests, and distinguish yourself in your essays. I also agree that Michigan shouldn't be too hard. The rest might be a bit.</p>
<p>my school doesnt rank
what criteria do schools normally use to rank? gpa + sat?
if so id probably be top 5% definitely top 10%
do you know where i can find information about how specific schools calculate their gpas</p>
<p>Most high-schools rank using Weighted GPA only.</p>
<p>If your school doesn't rank, though, you aren't supposed to guesstimate it.</p>
<p>Great Highschool rigor
Great schedule difficulty (lots of aps!)
solid SAT
great SAT2s
good ecs
decent gpa (better if frosh and earlier isn't counted)</p>
<p>some schools don't take frosh gpa, so they wouldn't take anything earlier than that either. </p>
<p>I think you have a shot at most of them. None of these can ever be guaranteed, though. I would probably try to improve the CR score a little bit.</p>
<p>I agree with ^^^ "kevmus" ^^^ I think you have a really good shot at most of the schools you are shooting for. I would probably retake the SAT I again and give yourself an even stronger shot at those schools and maybe some merit $$$. As for the situation with your father, first off-- I am sorry that happened to your family and secondly props to your mom for her hard work at raising you kids alone, not an easy task.
I do think however you could write a really amazing and moving essay as to how your fathers death impacted your family and what you learned about yourself through that process.
Good Luck!</p>