<p>Schools:
HYP
Brown
Stanford SCEA
Caltech
Virginia honors
Duke
UNC honors
Texas honors</p>
<p>White Male
Private School Not very Competitive
Location: AL
Middle Class - no hooks
Took all APs offered, 6 total.
Honors program
All A's 10th grade on</p>
<p>ACT 35
SAT 2240 V 800, M 690, W750
SAT II USH 800, Math II 790, Physics 740 (will not send unless 3 required)
GPA UW 4.2 W 4.4
Class Rank top 3% class size <175</p>
<p>Eagle Scout
Editor School Newspaper 12
Managing Editor 11
Model Security Council
Debate
NHS
Cum Laude Society
Mu Alpha Theta
First Place State Trig.
Junior Classical League
JETS - officer
Gold Medals National Latin Exam
Academic Team - Captain
placed 4th natl tourn
School Leadership Task force
Subject Awards: AP US history, World History</p>
<p>Volunteer work
Inner City tutoring
Habitat for Humanity
Katrina Relief</p>
<p>Part Time work 9th & 10th</p>
<p>Will probably study Physics, Astrophysics or an Engineering field.
Will have good recs and should have good essays - won writing award for newspaper.</p>
<p>I am sure I have left something out, but that is the bulk. Any questions or advice?</p>
<p>His math score is a little low for a physics major. If he's applying to math/science specific programs, it's going to hold him back.</p>
<p>I don't know if I see Stanford or Caltech happening, just because his ECs are pretty run of the mill.</p>
<p>He has great scores. They will probably get him into Duke, UVA (although I don't know about honors), Texas, and UNC.</p>
<p>HYP are still a huge reach. He should probably just apply to one or two. Unless Stanford throws him a curveball and accepts him early. Toss some more middleground schools into his apps. There's lots of stuff between UNC-CH and Harvard.</p>
<p>Academics look good. Does your son love to learn? Does he have a spark that would capture adcoms' attention? Has he done something remarkable in his school? All those--if they come across (in recs, essays)--will help tremendously.</p>
<p>As for the ECs... How many of those ECs has your son been doing for 3+ years? It's good to have long-term commitments.</p>
<p>I don't think you can send SAT II scores without sending SAT I scores. But there's nothing wrong with his SAT I scores. Are you worried about the 690 math score? Well... I would think the 790 SAT II math 2 score would make up for that. Does he have to tell colleges that he's interested going into physics, astrophysics or engineering? Even if he does, the 740 physics score is nothing to try to hide from colleges, and I don't think you could even hide it from them. When you send scores, you send all the scores. I'm not sure if there's a way around it.</p>
<p>Being from a state that isn't famous for its education system might be good, because it's clear that your son has performed highly according to a national standard--despite perhaps below-average access to educational resources like museums, libraries, competitive schools, etc. (Being from a rural area is the exact same: if you perform well on standardized tests, colleges will tend to think of it more as your accomplishment and less of a result of circumstances--since in a rural area, you're not going to have access to the same resources as a kid in New York City would have.) Of course, that's just based on things I've heard about Alabama. I might be mistaken about your situation.</p>
<p>Thanks Anni, I think you are right about the major. It focuses on his weakest test score. Yes, you are very right about our area. Only about 1 student a year goes to an Ivy. This year they had 3 and wrote an article in the local paper about it. One was admitted to play football. The expectations around here are very low.</p>
<p>Thanks Anni, great advice on not putting physics major on his application. Your right it focuses your attention on his math scores. Great suggestion! </p>
<p>Anybody else have any advice? What are his chances at UVA, Duke, Penn, Texas plan II? Really want your advice..</p>