<p>[Just realized here would probably be a better fit for this]</p>
<p>Hey guys, I know this is a very general request, but if you feel like helping thank you!</p>
<p>I am currently a senior in high school, and a bit behind on where i should be in terms of colleges, especially considering what i see on cc. I have been kicking it into overdrive however, and am learning about it quickly. The thing is, I don't really know what kind of schools i can get into or should be thinking i can get into. Or what are reaches, what are matches to me, especially considering in-state/out-of-state stuff. Here are my stats:</p>
<p>Small Public High School in New York, class of 125ish. The school sends many students to top universities, particularly from what I see to Cornell, especially considering our size. We had 6 students accepted to said university last year according to naviance, and similar in earlier years.</p>
<p>GPA: ~92.2 unweighted, my school does not weight grades</p>
<p>3rd decile rank (missed 2nd by .4 gpa points.. also kids that only take music theory ush junior year being above me ranking wise... hopefully colleges will catch on this doesn't matter much here)</p>
<p>SAT: 780 Math, 790 CR, 700 writing, my best scores, all from one test (2nd and last try)</p>
<p>SATII: 800 Physics, 800 Chem (one try each). I will be taking the math II in October, i will be surprised if I get less than a 750 based on a 650 initial barrons practice + my current reviewing. I'll also take the Math I in case, because why not</p>
<p>AP Courses: Junior year Chemistry (5) and Lang+Comp (4), Senior year I am currently taking AP Physics and AP Calculus</p>
<p>Regular Courses: More or less normal, environment+biology+chemistry+physics, Spanish 1-4 (dropped this year), Mandarin I (replaced spanish), normal history classes, normal english aside from last year's honors-turned-AP. Aside from APs, these are the hardest classes in said subjects offered that I could take. As well, I am taking/have taken electives intro to psychology and protests+revolutions</p>
<p>Teacher Recs: got two teacher recommendations, one from my chem/APchem teacher whom was enthusiastic, another from my 9th and 11th grade history teacher who was less enthusiastic (but no less than anyone else whom is getting a recommendation from him), but i know that i was one of the only kids whom he liked in my class. He also thinks i'm a genius as i performed VERY well in his class both in scores and discussion, so i'm hoping it will be good.</p>
<p>Counselor Rec: hopefully very good, we filled out an autobiography thing and it should be moto bene.</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
9th cross country
9th-10th wrestling (stopped due to a combination of very negative coaching + a mystery illness i will elaborate on further down)
10th FBLA (aka selling discount cards and cookies all the time, so did not continue)
11th-12th snowboarding club
pre9th-12th guitar, though nothing significant (like an award or something) has come of it)
11th-12th NHS (as much as is offered at my school), running for president and will find out if successful soon
National Merit Semifinalist (and probably finalist)</p>
<p>Work/Service:
I have life guarded the past two summers, at a different place each summer
Kids Wrestling (instructing+supervising)
Midnight Run (bringing food to the city to feed homeless)
Tutoring
Helping special needs children in the classroom (teacher's assistant of sorts), have done since 10th grade 5-10 times with the same children</p>
<p>Aside from the last, hours add up to ~25 (our minimum). I have to submit the forms for the helping-teaching service hours and hours will also be added due to NHS tutoring+activities occurring this year</p>
<p>Essay: I think i have a good topic, and am working on how to utilize it the most. This topic is, I have a recurring mystery illness. It would recur rarely since i was 13 or so. When it hits me, after an attack of pink eye which persists I get mouth and throat ulcers, making it hard to eat, drink or speak. In winter of 10th grade I had an extremely bad recurrence. At first I could only eat during the peak of the percocets prescribed to me, and it only got worst. When I was admitted to the hospital, I was very dehydrated and they had to stick the IV into my upper arm, and had a hard time there. For a little over a week I could not eat, drink, or speak from the pain, even with the IV morphine given to me. I saw just about every specialist in the hospital, whom in bafflement suggested things from liver failure to leukemia. When it finally went away, I was understandably very weak. I had 9% body fat going into wrestling season, which only went down, and my lowest wrestling weight, the weight i was when lowest in fat and had just lost a pound or two via sweat, was 119. At my next checkup after the hospital, after eating and drinking a full meal I weighed in at 113. Despite this and my weakness, I built myself back up and became a lifeguard, caught up with and did very well in my classes, passing struggles yada you get it. Not gonna make this a sob story, but more to demonstrate my personality and such. Oh, and if ya care, we think this mystery illness turns out to be an allergy to sodium lauryl sulfate, found in many toothpastes and such... contributing to my fascination about brains+substances+thebody. If you guys know anyone with similar, tell them to try switching to remembrandt toothpaste, which has none of the chemical.</p>
<p>My prospective schools right now are varying a lot as i look into them more, some which I will be shooting for as match-reaches are UVA and UNC. I consider UF to be a safety-ish school that sounds great. SUNY Binghamton would be a good safety-ish as well, but i'm hoping for somewhere hotter and nicer. In terms of reaches, I plan on applying for cornell, and would be amazingly happy about Duke, UPenn or Brown, but I don't really think I can get in there unless my essay turns out phenomenal. Sound about right?</p>
<p>Hoping I'm not forgetting anything... thanks in advance!</p>
<p>PS:
In terms of college, i am really looking for somewhere with warm+nice weather, and a good college experience. I like to party. I also, however, need somewhere with good academics, preferably somewhere whose sciences are on the cutting edge, and it would be great to be somewhere that encourages undergraduate research. I plan to major in chemistry or engineering or something in between/around, or if offered neuroscience is fascinating to me. I plan to go to school beyond my BA/BS, maybe even med school. If you have any suggestions PLEASE send them at me!</p>