<p>Background: I'm a junior at a top Illinois public school. I skipped the second and third grades but went back a grade for athletics when I transferred to a public middle school. My ADHD really affected my freshman and sophomore years as it went untreated, but with medication I've really been able to buckle down and get some really good work done.</p>
<p>Ethnicity: My mother's a second-generation Puerto Rican/Spaniard and my father's a complete mutt--Eastern European/Russian/Ashkenazi Jew, etc.</p>
<p>GPA: (W, since classes were all honors/AP)
Freshman--3.80/5.00 (My freshman year was completely mediocre--see above--with a 3.80/5.00 while in all honors classes. I think that was mostly due to the ADHD, an elongated acclimation period and my immaturity compared to my peers.)
Sophomore--4.05/5.00
Junior--4.90/5.00</p>
<p>AP's: Junior--AP English Lang/Comp (5 on test), APUSH (5 on test)
Senior--AP English Lit, AP US Gov't, AP Comp Gov't, AP Psych, AP Physics C, AP Stats</p>
<p>EC's:
-three year class council member
-baseball soph/jun (being recruited to play D1)
-club baseball every summer
-swimming frosh
-1st chair alto sax in wind symphony frosh/soph
-1st chair alto sax in jazz band frosh/soph/jun
-writer on school newspaper frosh/soph, production editor jun, will be co-ed-in-chief this year
-writer for the teen newspaper of the Chicago Tribune (very, very selective)
-member of Tri-M music honors society
-Project Lead the Way pre-engineering courses frosh/soph/jun
-captain of/leading scorer for scholastic bowl frosh/soph/jun
-volunteered for Habitat for last two summers
-internship at major engineering firm next summer
-eucharistic minister and minister of care for Archdiocese of Chicago
-summer courses at Northwestern University</p>
<p>Standardized Tests:
AP Comp--36
SAT--2380 (800 CR, 800 W, 780 M)
PSAT--236 (National Merit Semi-Finalist)
Will take US History, Math II, and Physics SAT II's</p>
<p>You are definitely qualified; you might even be overqualified, in which case they might not accept you (since you will probably get into other schools such as the Ivies, and would matriculate to one of those).</p>
<p>yes, my GPA was not ideal. but i’m still ranked 32/650 at a pretty damn good high school, and i know for a fact that only one other student in my grade had the same grades in the same classes i did during junior year. i have enough recommendations to get me almost anywhere, and both the school psychologist and my counselor–who i have very good relationships with–can attest to the troubles i had freshman and sophomore years. i expect to keep up the high level of performance that i displayed last year, and my class rank would move up further.</p>
<p>Your GPA’s fine. It won’t hurt you.But National Merit and 2380 SAT is pretty much screaming “overqualified.” At best your GPA can lower that enough to allow WashU to accept you.</p>
<p>I think that class rank trumps GPA. Being in the Top 5% of your class and with such high SAT/ACT scores should make you well qualified for many top schools, including WashU. </p>
<p>Still, admissions is unpredictable, so make sure that you apply to a range of schools with differing levels of selectivity. Also apply to EA and rolling admissions schools to get a safety out of the way early. And consider applying ED if you find a favorite school.</p>
<p>Your test scores are nuts, you should have absolutely no trouble with academics. And ECs look good too. </p>
<p>Like others said, you are probably overqualified. Maybe go for discovery weekend or show interest in the school multiple other ways. In any case, if you fail to show interest you will very likely get waitlisted.</p>
<p>thanks a lot, guys. but i’m confused as to what exactly “overqualified” means… washu’s a great school, and i didn’t know one could be overqualified for a great school.</p>
<p>It’s just a stupid rumor that floats around cc by people who have amazing stats yet get waitlisted at WashU.</p>
<p>You do, however, have to show interest. WashU doesn’t want people who don’t want them (and are using washu as a “safety” school… although washu isn’t a safety school for anyone since they’ve got a roughly 20% admit rate).</p>
<p>As someone who has worked with admissions at other schools, I believe Johnson181 has it exactly right. No school uses stats alone to choose its class. They have to build a class. But thats really hard for high school students to understand, and students look to simple explanations for why something happened to them or a friend.</p>
<p>When you look at a students stats, youre ignoring the area they want to study, the diversity they bring to the school (geographic, religious, etc.), the talents they may have, and whether or not they have a relation to the school. Only the admissions office knows how many applicants have the same hook as you. If your hook is that you are from Seychelles, you may get in. If 1000 other people from Seychelles apply, youve lost your hook. Its also important to remember that a hook at one school is not necessarily a hook at another school. </p>
<p>Looking at what you have posted, it looks like you are a competitive candidate who has something to offer beyond statistics. Thats why I suggested that you apply for scholarships.</p>
<p>hahaha well…apparently i’m pretty good-looking, since i’ve done well with tha ladiez even with those damned thick eyebrows. if only i wasn’t completely uncomfortable with sharing my 1600-friend-so-obviously-not-very-private facebook account</p>
<p>@silverturtle - Yes I did see his GPA. Is it great? No. Does it show improvement? Very much so. That in combination with his test scores and ECs tells me that I’m not too far off.</p>