<p>I'm trying to apply to a wide range of schools, some fallbacks and (very) reachy reaches. They're Ole Miss, Mississippi State University, Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Caltech. </p>
<p>I'm just curious to see what other people think about my chances. Will definitely come back with a results discussion later once my rejections come in haha. </p>
<p>Some Numbers </p>
<p>wGPA: 5.0
uwGPA: 4.0</p>
<p>Rank: 3/176
It's a very rural public high school. Most graduates go to a state college, if any. Nothing special.</p>
<p>ACT Scores
Composite: 34
English: 34
Math: 35
Reading: 34
Science: 34</p>
<p>SAT Subject Scores
Physics: 740
Math II: 790</p>
<p>AP Exams
AP Lang/Comp: 4
AP Physics AB: 3 (took this after taking a non-AP physics course)
AP Biology: 4
AP Chemistry: 4
AP Statistics: 3
AP 2-D Studio Art: 3
AP US History: 4
AP World History: 3</p>
<p>I'm a little worried about these. I didn't take the stats, art, or world history tests seriously my sophomore year. I'm going to really kick into gear for the next tests I'm taking.
I'm enrolled in AP Physics I, AP Cal AB, AP Lit/Comp, and regular government and economics this year. I'm studying for the Physics II and Cal BC exams independently. </p>
<p>My scores are competitive for most schools - it's my crap ECs that I'm worried about. I'm mostly concerned about how important they are if I really shine on my essays.
Pretty sure my essays are alright. I got pretty introspective which I think is what the goal of the common application essay is. I'm meticulous with my writing.</p>
<p>ECs</p>
<p>Summer engineering camp at state university for 3 or 4 years</p>
<p>Summer leadership camp before sophomore year</p>
<p>Work: Tutor for the ACT and AP courses, sometimes paid</p>
<p>AP Scholar with Distinction
- 3s on five or more exams with an average of at least 3.5</p>
<p>AP Ambassador
- we try to encourage underclassmen that can handle the load to try AP courses to prepare for college. we hold seminars for parents and talk about academic stuff.</p>
<p>Student Advisory Committee
- we advise the principal on certain decisions. I'm kind of playing up how important it is, because so far it hasn't seemed like we have a huge say on really important things. </p>
<p>Star Student
- I have the highest ACT score by a considerable margin, so I heard I'll get this thing. I don't really know what it is. I choose a star teacher to go with it. </p>
<p>Scholar's Olympiad
- Local college hosted a regional tournament in different subjects. I placed first in the Physical Science category. </p>
<p>This isn't academic, but I've been friends with a group of 6-7 people since middle school over the Internet. We work on programming and game design projects together. I've mentioned this to show colleges I've already had experience working in teams on considerably interesting projects. </p>
<p>I like to study math in my spare time. I started shamelessly so I'd have something to brag about on college applications but it actually got pretty cool once I got past introductory calculus. I went through MIT's OCW multivariable calculus and I'm on linear algebra now. </p>
<p>I play with Arduinos. They're little programmable microcontrollers. Really cool to mess with. My physics teacher was nice enough to let me play with them in class while we went over DC circuits. </p>
<p>Same with language. I'm friends with some Dutch people over the Internet that I speak to on a daily basis. Dutch has kind of diffused into me a little bit. I've learned some basic Chinese with exchange students at my school as well.
This is another thing I'm afraid will kill me. I haven't taken any foreign language courses. I still have time to self-study for an AP test in a language I think, but I don't know if that counts. My school offers Spanish courses, but they don't really teach the language. Nothing about grammar or anything, just phrases and individual words. One of the teachers actually was suspended and was replaced by a coach. </p>
<p>Prospective Majors: I've been kind of finicky with this. It's different for each school.
With Ole Miss, I'd do early track pre-pharm into pharmacy school. The undergraduate curriculum gets squashed into 3 years at most and with my AP scores it might be even shorter. Would do honor's college here.
At MSU, I'd do honor's college and Computer Science or Computer Engineering.
Computer or Biomed Engineering at Georgia Tech.
Would do some kind of pre-med or pre-pharmacy program at Vanderbilt, maybe a biology or biomed engineering major.
Same with Duke and Johns Hopkins.
At HYP I'd do pre-pharm but with a big focus on math or physics to see what they're like. I wanted to do nothing but physics for years, and it's still there. It's just not as strong as it was.
Caltech definitely would be some kind of biology to prep for pharmacology.</p>
<p>Am I boned? Be as honest as possible. I'm still going to apply to all of these schools either way, but I'd like to get some opinions first. </p>