<p>So I'll try to make this as brief as possible.
I moved from a really easy public school to a TOUGH prep school ranked really high in the nation. I was not prepared so my grades went from all A's freshman year to B, B+, B, A-, A in my academic classes in sophomore year, when I moved.</p>
<p>SAT I: 2380
SAT IIs: 800 Math2, 800 BioE, (I still need to take a third, I'll probably add another 800 onto these two though)</p>
<p>GPA: 4.54/4.64 (My school will ONLY list junior year on the transcript... according to the graphs my school's college counseling department has this is above the average acceptance GPA at Yale/Princeton. However please note that if my school were to do 4.0, 3.0 B my GPA would be about 3.8 unweighted)
My Junior year GPA which is the ONLY ONE LISTED puts me in the top 10%. My cumulative puts me in the top 20%... that's pretty bad. We DON'T RANK though)</p>
<p>Recommendations: I definitely won't be all in the top 5% and "one of the best in my career" simply because I go to a really competitive school. However, I do expect to have a few in those boxes but most in the the top 10%. Counselor rec will def. be top 5% to 1% though.</p>
<p>Ecs in order of importance and Predicted positions:
Art (9-12) A few national awards. Sending in a strong portfolio and a supplemental rec from my art teacher.
Varsity Swimming (9-12) Senior Captain
Yearbook (10-12) E-in-Chief
A world-wide Charity Club (11-12) Pres
Another charity club (11-12) Founder, Pres
Global Culture Club Club (10-12) Pres
Another varsity sport, a few other random clubs, etc.</p>
<p>Ethnicity: Asian.
Location: Midwest.
School Type: very competitive, small, secular private.</p>
<p>Do your schools scattergrams tell you who were athletes, minorities and legacies? In my experience, at top prep schools, the most difficult competition is the connections of your own classmates.</p>
<p>I'm also wondering how it's possible that colleges will accept only one year's grades.</p>
<p>Yes, a lot of kids have legacy/connections at my school.</p>
<p>What I mean by them only sending Junior year GPA is that they only calculate GPA for Junior year, thus, the only GPA listed on my transcript will be that 4.54. They send out all the grades, though.</p>
<p>Princeton and Yale reject the vast majority of qualified applicants. You will need to give them some reason to want you to be one of the 6% or so they accept. And keep in mind that 40% of those 6% have hooks. So you, like everyone, have a major uphill battle.</p>
<p>When you apply from an elite private school there are issues that don't impact others. Much is expected of grads of elite schools. They often have more than their share of recruit-able athletes. They typically have loads of legacies and they also have development candidates--kids of the rich and famous capable of giving large gifts. They usually have some of the top minority candidates in the Country as well.</p>
<p>Yale and Princeton seem to take many kids from these feeder schools, but the numbers mostly speak to the large presence of the above groups. For unhooked candidates among them, that hill gets really steep. Throw in any issue with stats and you can see where I'm going.</p>
<p>So who knows, maybe you have that something special that will make you stand out. But love your match and safety schools.</p>