Chances into top schools with Low GPA/High Scores and Good ECs

<p>I am a rising Senior at THE most competitive public school (20% admission rate) in my state (KY) that is nationally ranked as a top 100 high school is the United States</p>

<p>Gender- M
Ethnicity- Asian (Indian)
Rank- Top 20%? (Not completely sure)</p>

<p>GPA - 3.70 UW - A somewhat downward trend, Frosh Year was my best :(. However, I have one of the most rigorous courseloads which includes 11 APs with the rest being Honors except for 2 classes. I am also one of 5 other students taking university classes.</p>

<p>ACT- 35
SAT- 2310 (710 CR, 800 M, 800 W)</p>

<p>APs- (* means Senior year ^ means Junior)</p>

<p>AP Human Geo
AP World History
AP Microeconomics
AP Macroeconomics^
AP Biology^
AP US History^
AP Computer Science^
AP Physics*
AP GOPO*
AP Calc BC*
AP Psychology*</p>

<p>Extracurriculars</p>

<p>Science Olympiad Vice P
FBLA Vice P
NHS Treasurer
Science National Honor Society Vice P
French Honor Society- President
Badminton Team - Founder/President(Very successful :D)
History Club
JETS Physics
Math Team
TARC(Rocketry Club)</p>

<p>Awards and Scholarships</p>

<ol>
<li>Achieved FBLA chapter level 1st place in Cyber Security.</li>
<li>Achieved 2rd Place Winner in Microbiology Event in Science Olympiad at the Invitational Competition.</li>
<li>Appointed President of French Honor Society</li>
<li>Achieved FBLA State level 3rd place in Cyber Security</li>
<li>Competed Nationally for FBLA in Cyber Security</li>
<li>Achieved 2nd Place in State for JV JETS Physics</li>
<li>Winner of 2008-2009 National Scholarship Cash Grant from US Achievement Academy. Received $200.00 as Scholarship grant.</li>
<li>Achieved Special Award From US Army for Outstanding Science Fair Project in Regional Science Fair.</li>
<li>Achieved 3rd Place Winner in Dynamic Planet Event in Science Olympiad in the Invitational Competition.</li>
<li>Achieved FBLA chapter level 2nd place in Cyber Security</li>
<li>Achieved 2nd place in Business Financial Plan in FBLA Chapter and regional Competition..</li>
<li>Achieved 3rd Place Winner in Dynamic Planet Event in Science Olympiad in Regional Level</li>
<li>Presented a paper on Nanotubes/Graphene at KJAS (Kentucky Junior Academy of Science) at University of Kentucky</li>
<li>Achieved 2nd Place Winner in Dynamic Planet Event in Science Olympiad in at the State Level Competition.</li>
<li>Achieved 2nd Place Winner in Experimental Design in Science Olympiad in at the State Level Competition</li>
<li>Completed Summer Internship Program to do research on Stem Cells at JP Graham Brown Cancer Center. Received $1200.00 from internship program.</li>
<li>Achieved Certificate of Recognition from County Public Schools.</li>
<li>Attended People to People World Leadership Forum</li>
<li>Attended National Leadership Conference</li>
<li>Achieved 3rd Place in Protein Modeling at Regionals</li>
<li>Delegate for School's Winning State Campaign at SLC</li>
</ol>

<p>Volunteer (55+ hours)</p>

<p>Teaching local elementary students French every month
Library (20+)
YMCA (20+)
Religious Group (15+)</p>

<p>Work Experience</p>

<p>Proposed/Conducting Collaborative Research at University of Louisville's School of Engineering concerning the Electrocatalytic Effect of Graphene in Hydrogen PEM fuel cells. (so far ~ 100+ hours)
Worked at University of Louisville's Developmental Biology Center for 300+ (30 hrs a week for 3 months) hours under a summer internship
Worked on a project concerning the Chemotactic Effect of SDF-1 on Rhabdomyosarcoma Cells with world-renown stem cell researcher.</p>

<p>Penn Wharton
Stanford (1st)
U Chicago
UC Berkeley(2nd)
Carnegie Mellon
Duke
Cornell
Columbia
Brown
Dartmouth
Johns Hopkins
Northwestern
UCLA
Wash U St.Louis</p>

<p>If you’re not top 10%, forget the ivies, Stanford, Duke and other very top schools. Aloof them take fewer than 5% who were not in the top 10% of schools that rank and those they take are impact athletes, URMs and huge donor children. Berkeley and UCLA are your best chance on your list.</p>

<p>You need to work on your list of Awards and Scholarships. I started to nod off while reading it. List FBLA once, then the awards you received, that way three items become one. Attending a conference isn’t an award, that belongs under the category of conferences attended.</p>

<p>“A somewhat downward trend” + “Top 20%” doesn’t look good to the ivies and friends.</p>

<p>Thanks for the input, My school doesn’t rank so I just sorta estimated with that number, and also im sorry about the disorganization. Im still concerned with the issue of my GPA. How big of an issue is a low-ish GPA when surrounded by good test scores and ECs?</p>

<p>It’s huge. Schools do know where you rank from distribution data the high schools give them. Your CR score is also low for these schools and your CR plus M average, so it’s not as though your scores or ECs will impress at these schools. NU and Hopkins seem reasonable.</p>

<p>wow, I have a very similar problem, actually. 3.6-3.7 uw gpa… but top 20% school rank and test scores, as well as involved extracurriculars…
we can hope for the best in putting together the application and writing essays…</p>

<p>do you know what major you want to apply as to these schools?</p>