Chances(obviously) for a few exclusive schools

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm a junior at a private all-boys college prep school outside of Philadelphia, PA.
Although my school does not do rankings, I'd guess I'm easily top 10 out of about 260.
Thus far, I'm looking at:
CalTech
MIT
UChicago(maybe)
Stanford
Carnegie Mellon
Princeton
Harvard
Yale</p>

<p>I think I want to study Physics.
My GPA is a 4.20 (W) cumulative, 4.44(W) current, and probably a 3.9 UW cumulative and 4.0 UW current.
SAT I=2270, writing 770, CR 780, math 720
SAT II= just took US History and Math Level II, projected 700+ on both
Taking the Physics test in June</p>

<p>My course load has been as follows:
9th:
Algebra II Honors
Biology Honors
English
Band (a class in-school)
World History
French I
Catholic Identity(a BS religion course no school will care about)</p>

<p>10th:
Geometry/Precalculus Honors
Chemistry Honors
English
Honors Advanced Music (another in-school band class)
European History
French II
Sacred Scripture(another BS religion class)</p>

<p>11th:
AP Calculus AB
AP English Language and Composition
AP U.S. History
Physics (scheduling conflict prevented this from being honors)
JAVA Programming
Honors Advanced Music (not a retaken class, but just the highest level band class we have)
French III
Morality(ANOTHER BS religion class)</p>

<p>Last Summer: Statistics at a local college</p>

<p>This Summer: Intermediate French at another local college</p>

<p>Next Year:
AP Physics C (Mech + E/M)
AP Calculus BC
AP English Literature
AP Computer Science
Honors Advanced Music
Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2003 Security (My school is a certified Microsoft IT academy)
Prayer/Spirituality(two MORE BS required half-credit religion classes)</p>

<p>My extracurriculars are:</p>

<p>Flute for 7 years, saxophone for 3, guitar/bass for 1</p>

<p>9th: Bowling(this pretty much failed), Mathletes, Art Club(this, too, failed), Pep Band(marching band without the marching--we are an all-boys school!), Concert Band</p>

<p>10th: Mathletes, Pep Band, Concert Band, something else or two that i can't think of</p>

<p>11th: Mathletes, was a band officer, Pep Band, Concert Band, Competition Jazz Band(We won the equivalent of the State Championship!), Lab Manager(a group of computer geeks who run[usually smoothly] the school's 1200-user network), National Honors Society Member, about 1 hour of math or French tutoring a week, and a good deal of volunteer computer work</p>

<p>this summer: full-time job as a Domain Admin for my school</p>

<p>Next Year: Hopefully Band President/VP, Domain Admin(completely in-charge), and, by this time at the latest next year, a Microsoft Certified Professional in probably Server 2003, in addition to Mathletes, the various Bands, tutoring, etc</p>

<p>I'm really not all that stressed out about my chances; I figure I stand about as good a chance as most of the applicants, but your responses are much appreciated!</p>

2

<p>You have the scores, the classes, and the grades i assume. so does almost everyone who applies to these schools. It's all up to your ECs. You are cofused on band and music stuff clearly, and math i guess. If your band stuff actually takes up lots of time, it will matter a lot. It's not about lists because random clubs that take no time at all dont count. its about the few thigns you take a lot of time to do and are commited to. Also, if you could find some way to win some fancy band or music award, it always helps. Unless you have some hook, For HYPS, MIT, and CalTech, your chances are probably just a toss up. Basically, if you have something they need for the incoming class like if they need a flute player.UCHicago you probably have a really good chance and id say you're in to Carnegie Mellon if you keep up grades and scores.</p>

3

<p>To tell you the truth you are just like every other applicant with a high SAT score and a good gpa. The only thing that can make you different are your EC's which are clearly lacking. You are still a strong applicant good luck.</p>

4

<p>"You are confused on band and music stuff clearly"</p>

<p>Could you elaborate? Maybe i wasn't clear that band really does take up a very sizable chunk of time, which will only increase next year.</p>

<p>And: "The only thing that can make you different are your EC's which are clearly lacking."</p>

<p>Could you or someone elaborate on this one, too? I'm at school till 430(2 hours after classes end), almost every day, always doing something. I don't see what else I could really do. I'm more involved than most every other one of my classmates.</p>

5

<p>oops sorry, typo, i meant u are commited or something. i think i meant u are commited to band and music stuff. I assume it takes up a lot of time. you just dont understand, when it comes to these schools u have to cheat the system or just be amazing. if you're not a legacy, minority, nationally ranked athlete, music player, or something else, it's pretty damn hard to get in. that basically leaves it all up to chance. u still coudl get in, its just unlikely. i would know, i am at school till 5 or 6 doing track and then i had sunday morning and tuesday night hebrew school and weekly track meets where i ddint get home till 8 or 9. then i had my piano lessons and whatnot, pluys a few other things. u clearly are comitted to things, but the extremely great colleges will still be like, "oh only 2 hours of time per day spent on extra curriculars, not nearly enough" because everyone tries to do everythign. I didnt care, i didnt try to beat the system staying up till 2am everynight doing stuff. i got to sleep generally by 10 or 11. and i got rejected from HYP, and waitlisted at brown but i still got into a really good small liberal arts school, so. if you really really want to get in, u need to probably add more band stuff or get really really great all of a sudden by practicing day and night. I kno a friend who got into prinecton because all she did sinec she wa slike 6 probably was practice violin all the time. of course, i think that's stupid unless u really wanna waste ure time practicing an instrument day and night as opposed to just some time per week to enjoy it. its all luck for those schools. But any slightly lesser school such as UChicago or carniggie mellon u have great chances of getting into and farnkly they are relaly good too. I think also that harvard for undergrad is a bad idea. they focus more on their grad students.</p>

6

<p>thanks for the replies!</p>

<p>also, a small update- I took the AP English Language, AP Calculus AB, and AP US History exams and am expecting at least a 4 on all of them.</p>

<p>Also, any suggestions on lesser known schools with great physics departments that I should be looking at would be much appreciated, since I'm currently starting to plan my college visits for later this summer.</p>

7

<p>WOW, your GPA SUX. Are you sure you want to get into a selective college- and not a COMMUNITY college. Don't beleive all the hype- Community Colleges have a lot of great programs for people in your "situation"</p>

<p>Good Luck!!! : )</p>

8

<p>You have no safeties. You could very well get into all these places. BUT you need backups. You can't have 8 reaches (for everyone, let's be honest) because if one rejects you, odds are at least half will. God forbid, you find yourself without the great choices you hope for.</p>

9

<p>thanks, ses, i'm actually beginning to look into some safety schools and plan my summer visits around some smaller colleges.</p>

<p>Steven, i'm not sure if youre being sarcastic, but i'm simply not interested in a community college. since i want to study physics, i want to be at a more selective school with a good amount of funding for their science department.</p>

<p>Also, what "situation" do i happen to be in with a 4.2 cumulative?</p>

10

<p>yeah seriously, your situation is terrible. A 3.9??? :/ why not 3.98? at least? Clearly, you're over your head...</p>

<p>..and so am I...he was just being sarcastic :D LOL</p>