Do I have a CHANCE at Cornell or Rice????

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Long story short… My parents have been telling my I have no chance at any top schools because of my atrocious GPA; they think I should be focusing solely on lower ranked schools that give me merit aid. They aren’t willing to pay if I get into a mediocore school with no merit aid. But, they said if by some stroke of luck I got into what they consider a top school, they would pay for me. I have legacy from UPenn and Duke. With that in mind, could you guys see if I have any chance at these schools. Thanks!!!

Duke
UPenn
Cornell
Rice (I visited Rice and I love it)

Junior in Albuquerque New Mexico
Attend a top 50 independent school in the nation
Male

Objective:
ACT: 34 (one sitting)
GPA (at my school):3.9 UW and 4.24 W (we calculate it weirdly 4.0 for any A, 3.7 for B+, 3.3 for B, 3.1 for B- etc… then I am given a 0.02 boost for every semester of advanced/AP class) So far (12 semesters of APs and 6 semesters of advanced classes) The problem is I have had 6 semesters of Bs since freshman year (technically I only finished my highschool career with two classes with a B avg, but…)

SAT MAT II: 750
Going to take SAT Bio (have a 98 in AP Bio this year so hopefully I do well on that)
AP Scholar: Chem 3 World 5 Calc AB 5
Going to take Bio, Spanish Language, and Calc BC this year
Senior Year Rigor: AP Econ, AP Physics C, Advanced Logic and Probability, Advanced Chorus (lol), Humanities, Advanced English

Subjective:
Varsity Soccer this year JV Captain past 2 years
Mock trial varsity past 3 years; won state once and got 4th at nationals then got 2nd at state this year
Sung in Santa Fe Opera 2 years in a row
Made highschool allstate singing past two years
Sing in Chorus and extracurricular singing group
Chess team captain: won chess state past three years

Heavily involved in Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (my mom’s brother (my uncle) died when he was 49 from it)
Met with my state senators and represantatives one on one many times to talk about pancreatic cancer
Featured on my local news station on TV talking about pancreatic cancer
Going to DC to lobby for PanCan on capitol hill in front of Congress

Be brutally honest!! If I have no chance say so.

2

I think you have a solid chance at getting into Cornell and Rice and maybe Duke and then a maybe for Penn. What school are you applying to for Penn and Cornell? Are you applying ed to any of them? And also a 3.9 UW is faaaar from atrocious that’s actually a really good GPA.

3

Winning 4th at nationals in mock trial is impressive. It is this sort of achievement that can help you stand out among other applicants. Anything that gets you national recognition. It is especially helpful to your application if you are applying for a related major, and if your high school activities include things you plan to do on campus that the university needs students to do. For example, if there is an opera group on campus, and you plan to get involved, that can help an admissions rep choose you over another applicant, because there just aren’t that many students who can sing opera. So do your homework on ways your strengths relate to your target universities, and be able to express that in your applications.

4

i think you’ll be fine

5

As of right now I am thinking CAS for all schools @collegeready33