<p>Asian/Caucasian from a noncompetitive pub school in the midwest
GPA-3.8W 3.7UW 9-12, huge upward trend (3.2->3.8->4.1(/4.333)->4.25 (projecting probably) GPA:4.0W 3.9UW 10-12
Class Rank: 14%</p>
<p>ACT:35
SAT:2340
SAT II: 800Math 800US taking Literature</p>
<p>ECs:
JSA (founded at end of 11th, so I guess 12th only) President
Speech & Debate 10-12
Medical Academy 10-12
Key Club 11-12
NHS 10-12
Possibly Mu Alpha Theta Founder 12th (still deciding on that)</p>
<p>AIME
Nationals Qualifier
Stanford Debate Camp
JSA Georgetown Advanced Session AP Government
Volunteer Campaigning for Democratic party in my city 200 Hours (11th Summer and through 12th year)
Internship at attorney general's office (12th year)
Independent Scientific Research 12th year oversight by school teacher</p>
<p>my tentative list:
Georgetown College - Government
Northwestern University - Political Science
University of Chicago - Political Science
Stanford University - Political Science
Columbia University - Political Science</p>
<p>I'm really looking into schools that have:
*Snow/Rain is almost necessity (I know Stanford is on my list, but it's been my top choice for many years)
*Students who aren't competitive
*Students who are academically inspired
*Great Political Science department
*Medium size school (3k-8k UGs)
*Urban or Suburban but suburban must be close to a large city
*A coast/lake near
*Should be about the same competitiveness as the other schools that I listed</p>
<p>I think that's about it. I have five schools that I know for sure I'd matriculate if accepted to any of them. I suppose you can tell me if I should even look into these five schools, but they are definitely my top choices. Are there any other schools that I'm forgetting about?</p>
<p>your academics are excellent, but the only prob for those big schools are your EC's, which arent good compared to other advanced applicants - I'd say you have a gd chance at all of em, just remember to add some Safety schools to your list incase the EC's brings you down for those schools</p>
<p>Chicago isn't as picky about ECs as the others, so I'd be surprised if, with good essays, you didn't get in there. Other than not showing leadership, your ECs are good anyway.</p>
<p>You're a pretty good applicant, but you're applying to schools that are top schools for those majors, beyond just even being top schools in general.</p>
<p>You could conceivably get one. But I don't see you getting more than one and the odds for just one aren't that good.</p>
<p>You have five good reaches, but where are your matches and safeties? I think your school's "non-competitive" status coupled with your 14% class rank is going to be a problem for some admissions. I would expect someone with your test scores to be at the top of his/her class.</p>
<p>Please look into schools where your scores will make the difference, and where you could be happy even though the school may not have as big a name. If you are seeking merit aid, you need to look even harder.</p>
<p>If freshmen year were taken out of the equation, my GPA would rise substantially.
From top 14% to like... 2 or 3%...
The reason was drug related, but I won't say that to colleges.</p>
<p>I don't understand how Stanford is harder than any of the schools if my GPA and class rank more than substantially increase when Freshmen year is taken out of the equation. Stanford does that...</p>
<p>I'm applying to other places, but for the sake of time, I wasn't listing my safeties.</p>
<p>I would really like input on this whole Stanford thing; I put my GPA 10-12 and my approx. class rank without 9th grade in there purposefully. I would assume that other colleges (notably the other four that I mentioned would also look at the huge upward trend favorably as well. Although I do agree there are more applicants with a steady trend, but Stanford would see this "steady trend" would they not?)</p>
<p>well stanford becomes less selective when you live outside of california, from outside of california i'd put it more on a level with duke, but that's still slightly (depends on how you look at it - objectively not much more selective, relatively though it's very noticeable) more selective than any of the other schools.</p>
<p>I don't live in California (no where near), and I'd honestly LOVE anyone to retort or support my former argument about my GPA & Class Rankings shift...</p>
<p>I don't think Stanford (or any other school that recalculates GPA for that matter) is able to re-rank you according to your recalculated GPA unfortunately for you and me...I also would benefit in rank GREATLY from removing 9th grade...but yeah.</p>
<p>PS. Forget what strangers on some online board say to you. Don't let it discourage you, schools like Stanford <em>will</em> look at your application holistically. I find it ludicrous that someone on here could say that you probably shouldn't even bother applying to Stanford with a 35 ACT and a 2300+ SAT. Those scores will make up for your class rank and your upward trend will undoubtedly help you. God, the way some people talk on here, you should only be applying to Third Tier schools if your rank is >top 10%. Your stats are great, apply and see what happens. K?</p>
<p>I didn't mean to sound harsh, i think you do have a very reasonable chance at admission at any of the schools listed, i just meant to communicate the idea that it's very easy for a school with an 11% acceptance rate (Stanford) to completely disregard any candidate simply because of one fault in their application.</p>