<p>First post. Glad to be here. I'm going to be a Senior. I'm a year younger than I should be for my grade, i'll be going to college at 17.</p>
<p>Race: White</p>
<p>Sex: Male</p>
<p>Location: Rural Hawaii (North Shore of Oahu)</p>
<p>School: Homeschooled since 6th grade through Calvert school and Keystone National High School (neither are religious schooling programs). However, I will be taking some classes (Pre-Calc and possibly physics) at Mid-Pac, one of the best private schools in Hawaii, in my Senior year.</p>
<p>GPA: Pretty sure it is 4.0. I won't know until I do the final round-up for my application, because Keystone uses a percentage-based system. However, I have always had a 90%+ average and I think I will still have one at application. I have heard you can have a 5.0 with AP classes, but that sounds like grade inflation nonsense to me. =P</p>
<p>AP courses in Junior/Senior (and other mentionables):</p>
<p>-Sophomore-
Honors Chem
Honors US Govt.
-Junior-
AP Bio
AP English Lit
AP US History
-Senior-
AP English Lang
Others i'm not sure about. I'm pretty sure there is one more AP but it is eluding me right now.</p>
<p>As for the scores, i'm expecting 4s or 5s in all my Junior year classes (I get the results in a few days). I'd be surprised to see a 3 in there.</p>
<p>SAT Scores:</p>
<p>Combined: 2110
M: 660
CR: 730
W: 720</p>
<p>I'm highly confident I can break 2200 come October. My writing was low for this time (got 740 in most practice tests, and always 10-12 on my essays... Only got an 8 on the real one :). Also, I have a math tutor now and i'm sure I can get that well over 700. This was also an unfavorable test, I was freezing my ass off the whole time under the air conditioner (next time i'm bringing a jacket, I don't care if this is Hawaii!).</p>
<p>SAT2:</p>
<p>US History: 770
English Lit: 770</p>
<p>Major: I will probably major in whatever boosts my chances to get into Business School and minor in Biology. I am looking to do entrepreneurial work in the Biotech field. I am also considering a double major, or majoring in biology. The two are interchangeable.</p>
<p>Extras/Community service:</p>
<p>-Top 50k scorers letter of recommendation from the NMSQT for my PSAT scores.
-Family USC Alumni (detailed below).
-Fostering and rescuing kittens and feral cats for the Hawaiian Humane Society. I plan to start a web site to help the Humane Society (and similar societies nationwide) to get kittens/cats adopted and encourage others to help (big feral cat problem in Hawaii).
-It is possible I will have published a political article in Hawaii's biggest newspaper (the Honolulu Advertiser), but don't count on it. I'm writing it now as a rebuttal to one published by another student. Please consider this a "maybe" and let me know how I'd do with or without it.
-No high rankings in sports, though I surf and snowboard very well and play tennis.
-I've seen a lot of posts saying they look for leadership in ECs. I can't say I have any school related examples, but hopefully organizing the community service kitten/feral cat program will serve as that. Though I have co-ordinated 20+ people in 8 different time zones for raids in EVE Online... better leave that out of the app. :P</p>
<p>Worth noting: USC is my school of choice (if I can get some financial aid), and I have two grandparents (Dad's side) who went there and a great-grandmother who gave her body to science at the USC med school (THAT is going in the essay! :D). They are fairly active alumni afaik. I'm also interested in doing columns/editorial cartoons for the Daily Trojan or any other school paper. You know damn well i'm wearing my USC leather jacket to the interview! Also, I plan to visit the school and spend the night in a dorm room (they have a program like that), and start my application process early (details on their side, IT IS NOT EARLY DECISION though). I went on a tour there last year.</p>
<p>I wanted to know what my chances are for USC, Stanford, Yale (got a letter from them), or any Ivy League schools (emphasis on Cornell). Also, what are my chances of financial aid at USC?</p>
<p>As far as I have heard, i'm a shoe-in for USC and have a good chance of financial aid. I'd really like to get into an Ivy League so I can use that as leverage for a scholarship at USC (Ivy League tuitions are super cheap now...).</p>
<p>Also, any rumors that USC will be lowering tuitions due to the congressional pressure that lead the Ivy Leagues to do so?</p>
<p>Thanks guys! I'm excited about going to college and hope the next year will pass faster than that blasted Junior year madness.</p>