<ol>
<li><p>I'm filling out the common app and I got to the point where it talks about GPA and class rank. Now my question is this: I've got a 3.98/4 GPA unweighted, and a 4.7/5 weighted GPA (will be basically a 5.0 by end of senior year. AP's and honors and whatnot). I'm also ranked 5th in my class. However, I don't know which to report and furthermore, how do I know if my rank itself is weighted or unweighted?</p></li>
<li><p>I've got a list of schools, please look at them quickly. Yale, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Dartmouth. I'm contemplating applying to Stanford, WashU in St. Louis, Northwestern, and Brown as well. First of all, are there any schools of similar caliber that I may have missed or should cut off my list?(especially those with very strong biology/premed programs) And two, can anyone point me in the direction of a few slightly less competitive, but still great schools? I need backups/matches severely and can think of nothing.</p></li>
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<p>Here, again, are other mid-sized private universities that you should consider: George Washington U, American U, Brandeis, Emory, Boston U, Vanderbilt, Rice, U of Pittsburgh, Tulane, Carnegie Mellon, Syracuse. Depending on your stats, a few may still be reaches, but several should be matches and safeties.</p>
<p>You should really ask (1) on the Common App forum and (2) in the College Serach forum. However:</p>
<p>(1) Almost certainly your rank is based on your weighted GPA (otherwise why weight?), but check with your high school (you can probably find the policy in your student manual) and simply indicate your findings on the Common App. Then report the GPA upon which your rank is based, too.</p>
<p>(2) Rice is Yale-like (residential colleges) with more of a tech/science bent and a little less selective. You might even get a geographic boost because they don’t get many upper-Midwesterners applying.</p>
<p>Some other quality private U’s that are easier “gets”: USC, U of Miami, U of Rochester.</p>
<p>Otherwise it is difficult to advise you without knowing your preferences and test scores. Are LAC’s acceptable (you can get an excellent pre-med education at many)? Why not Chicago? Are public U’s not what you’re looking for? Are the Catholic privates (ND, BC, Georgetown) feasible?</p>
<p>to wjb, I totally forgot about those schools. Thanks again for posting them. Also, to address Descartesz, I would prefer a private U, but I’m open to publics (simply based on size and atmosphere, they’re not a first choice). Don’t know what an LAC is, and the Catholic privates would be fine, but I’m not Catholic and would rather find something secular. Overall, I’d prefer a mid to small research school. I’d also like it to be a residential college, and preferably not in a large city (I’d like to keep it mid-small size city, but depending on the school, I might chance it). And if you know about the bio program at any of the schools, I’d love to study immunobiology/immunology/infectious disease. </p>