chances?

<p>-GA resident, male
-Ethnicity:will leave it blank (Asian, but have a Spanish-sounding surname)
-UW GPA: 3.94ish
-Weighted GPA: 4.14
-school doesn't rank, but I got an award for being the junior with the highest weighted GPA, meaning I'm a would-be valedictorian.</p>

<p>SAT I's (I'm retaking this October or November. I will aim for getting as close to perfect as possible.)</p>

<p>Math: 800
CR: 730
Writing:710</p>

<p>SAT II's (should I take some more, I'm also applying to 6/8 of the Ivies, Stanford, and MIT as well)
Math II: 800
Chem: 720
U.S. History: 710</p>

<p>AP scores:
US Gov and Politics: 5
APUSH: 5
AP Chem: 5
AP Eng. Lang: 5</p>

<p>Senior Load
1. AP Calculus BC
2. AP Statistics (is it true stats is not really math, but is more like reading?)
3. AP Biology
4. AP Physics C
5. AP Literature
6. Economics (I wish my school offered AP.)</p>

<p>-school doesn't offer honors classes, but mentions "due to the rigorous curriculum of the school, no classes are designated as honors" in school description.</p>

<p>My only B's have been graphic design freshman year, AP Gov last year(will a 5 on the exam atone for this), and a mandatory composition class at our school this summer? I got straight A's junior year.</p>

<p>-will mention Math, Economics, and Chemistry respectively as my 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choice majors. I want to be an investment banker or hedge fund manager when I grow up.</p>

<p>EC's:</p>

<p>Boy Scouts
-Eagle Scout (just did my board of review). My project was building benches, pressure-washing old ones, and putting sealant.
-Senior Patrol Leader during 10th grade, Patrol Leader during 9th
-broke a national record for hiking. I hiked the Bartram Trail (100 miles/5 days, has a lot of elevation): honored by Governor Sonny Purdue and national head of boy scouts for this feat
-LOTS of community service projects
-raised money for inner-city kids to buy scout uniforms
-Philmont Summer 2010</p>

<p>Tennis (all 4 years)
-private lesons
-varsity tennis</p>

<p>Academic Quiz Bowl team (10-12)</p>

<p>I founded and am president of our school's food critic club. We go to restaurants about once a month and write critiques about them, which are published in the school newspaper. I'm trying to see if we can get published in the Zagat Survey.</p>

<p>Trumpet
-private lessons
-Superior Rating (9,10,11) at Solo Ensemble Festival
-Community Jazz Band (9-12)
-GISA all-select band member (11th grade) (top band members of private schools in GA)
-played for church on Sundays
-invited to play at school's open house 10th grade</p>

<p>Piano for 11 years
-lessons
-invited to play at several concerts</p>

<p>Young Republicans (should i say this? i know prestigious colleges are very liberal?)
-Vice President in club
-Raised money every year for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan (don't know exact amount, club's teacher sponsor can tell us).
-campaigned for McCain for president, and Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson for U.S. Senate</p>

<p>Duke TIP summer program (summers after 9th and 10th grade, I respectively studied macroecon. and robotics)</p>

<p>Academic Awards:
-Georgia Certificate of Merit
-Phi Beta Kappa Award (given to Junior with the highest weighted GPA in class)</p>

<p>Hobbies:
-food-trying at restaurants (and even cooking some by myself)
-camping/backpacking</p>

<p>Miscellaneous:
I also volunteer at the library during the summer.
-I'm almost certain my PSAT score will qualify me for semifinalist standing in the NMS search. I didn't fill out Hispanic in the ethnicity section, so I wont get National Hispanic Recognition Program Honors.</p>

<p>Recommendations: I know several teachers at my school who like me and will probably write well about me.
Essay: 1) talk about perseverance, about how I thought I could accomplish anything after my national record hike (would this sound too trite?)
2) talk about how certain adversity in a trumpet competition didn't kill my trumpet passions.</p>

<p>I think your stats are really good, but I would take a different approach with the essays. Instead of elaborating on your trumpet skills, I think you should write about how your work with the boy scouts has impacted your community. Writing about your hike is a little trite, but I also think it could be very interesting if done correctly.</p>

<p>Could you give me some advice in my post?</p>

<p>I think you are a very competitive applicant.</p>

<p>Your scores and everything are good, but Stanford gets tons of these applicants all the time, especially applying for math/engineering/sciences. From your extracurriculars I can tell that you did a ton of leadership stuff, but that is just something Stanford sees as a plus point.
What you need to convey in your essays is your interest in the things that you want to do in Stanford. Are you truly interested in what you do?</p>