<p>PianoMan: If you are at a magnet school that has competitive admissions, or if you had to take the SSAT/ISEE to get in there, then it's understandable to have a lower GPA. </p>
<p>To guess on your chances to Hopkins, you have a decent shot, since they love getting guys with high SAT scores. In fact they have a special program for middle and high school students who score real high on the SAT's or something like that.</p>
<p>When I was applying to schools, I also had the exact same problems you had (high SAT, lower than desired GPA and took the most challenging schedule possible), and I am also an Asian guy. I'm from Virginia. Here were my stats:</p>
<p>GPA: 3.35 (when I applied to college, I had a 3.5 after getting out)
Extracurriculars: just band pretty much, but I was the band geek, so that got me some points.
high school type: A regular public high school about 35 miles west of DC. East of me are the hurly burly suburbs, and west of me are the farms. Literally.</p>
<p>Tests:
SAT I: 2160 if I took it in 2005 (680 Verbal; 780 Math; 700 Writing on the SAT II)
SAT II's besides writing:
Math IC: 720
US History: 650
Writing would have been my third, but now it's on the SAT I.</p>
<p>My college list (check yourself on their rankings):</p>
<p>REACH SCHOOLS:
Duke University: Waitlisted (my dad and my cousin graduated from Duke, so I prob got waited as a "courtesy".)
Johns Hopkins University: Waitlisted
Davidson College: Accepted</p>
<p>MY TARGET SCHOOLS:
University of Virginia (Arts and Sciences): Rejected
College of William and Mary: Accepted
Washington and Lee University: Rejected
University of Richmond: Accepted
Wake Forest University: Accepted
Vanderbilt University: Accepted</p>
<p>MY "RANGE" SCHOOLS, OR WHAT MY COUNSELOR TOLD ME:
Virginia Tech (I applied to the Arts and Sciences): Waitlisted
James Madison University: Accepted</p>
<p>SAFETY SCHOOLS
George Mason University: Accepted
Radford University: Accepted</p>
<hr>
<p>In the end, it's going to be a crapshoot for you in your college admissions. I wanted to stay South and I got lucky. But you have to do really well in your senior year. My GPA that year was 4.2 (weighted) after busting my ass off. But many admissions officers, including those at the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech still saw me as a smart guy who is an underachiever. They prob will see you as a guy who's smart, can do everything well in anything except academic work. But hopefully your EC's and recommendation letters can fill those voids.</p>
<p>NOT IN YOUR BALLPARK IN MY OPINION:
University of Virginia (you are out of state and your GPA is low)
College of William and Mary (same as UVA)
University of North Carolina
University of Michigan
Carnegie Mellon University
Georgetown University
Emory University</p>
<p>MATCH SCHOOLS ON THE UPPER END:
Vanderbilt University
University of Notre Dame</p>
<p>MORE OF YOUR RANGE (it's pretty wide):
Davidson College
Wake Forest University
Washington and Lee University
University of Richmond
Case Western Reserve University
Stevens Institute of Technology</p>
<p>Though I don't like talking about race, if you like Southern schools, with the exception of Duke and UVA, most are much more open to accepting Asians than schools in the west or in New England. </p>
<p>If money isn't a factor, try applying to Vandy, Notre Dame, or Wake Forest. I don't know if they have engineering programs, but as with bio and chem, they all will have strong programs there. Don't apply to UVA, not because I went to W&M and got rejected by them, but rather because it's a state school and you are out of state. You have to be at least quasi-Ivy material to get in UVA (or W&M too) if you don't live in Virginia. Good luck with your search.</p>