<p>2140 SAT superscore
1st sitting (650 CR 710 M 750 W)
2nd sitting (680 CR 710 M 660 W)
NOTE: i am not retaking my SAT
GPA: 98.56/100 weighted
Rank: N/A
AP: World History (5), Biology (expected 4 or 5) US history (expected 5) Language and Compostion (expected 3 or 4)
Senior Schedule: APs (Spanish, Chem, Gov't, Lit), Calculus Honors, Science Research, Health</p>
<p>Major Awards: Will enter Intel and Siemens</p>
<p>Awards: National Spanish Exam Gold Medals (3x), Rensselaer Medal in math & science</p>
<p>ECs: Varsity Swimming, track and field, XC, Jazz band (possible section leader next year)
Volunteer: VA (play trumpet for patients, serve meals each Christmas)
Accepted to Garcia MRSEC, expecting to do materials science research. Will enter project into competitions.
Essays: Already written. VERY strong
Recs: VERY VERY strong</p>
<p>White Male, Long Island, Average public school. Upper middle class (mid 150s range)</p>
<p>WILL NEED FINANCIAL AID!!! That is one of the most important factors.</p>
<p>To compare financial aid offers, you need to cast a wide net. Although a college may agree to meet 100% of demonstrated need, each calculates need based upon their own institutional formula. So, if you apply to 10 colleges, and are accepted to 10 schools, you will most likely get 10 different financial aid offers – some of them varying by tens of thousands of dollars a year.</p>
<p>Given that your GPA is out of sync with your test scores (colleges expect a student with a 98.56 GPA to have almost perfect test scores, so that may raise a red flag in the admissions process), my suggestion is to apply early to a large group of non-binding target and reach schools – schools such as UChicago, MIT, UMich, Georgetown (although they don’t give much $$$), Case Western Reserve, Northeastern, Ohio Wesleyan, your State Schools (SUNY Binghamton, Stony Brook) etc. Look through the members on this list for other EA non-binding schools: <a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/MemberRequirements.aspx[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/MemberRequirements.aspx</a>. Then, apply to HYPS and others in the RD round. In that way you will hopefully have at least one acceptance in your back-pocket come mid-December and still have a shot at all the rest come April.</p>
<p>If your parents are making 150k a year, you’re not going to receive much financial aid, if any at all. You need to look for schools that offer merit aid, or focus on cheaper in-state publics if money is an issue.</p>
<p>“If your parents are making 150k a year, you’re not going to receive much financial aid, if any at all.”</p>
<p>“With a family income of $150,000, do not expect a lot of financial aid.”</p>
<p>That’s not really true – it depends on the school. Some colleges give significant financial aid to middle class families. Our family, for example, makes about $150k per year and my kids are attending Harvard and Yale for less than the cost of SUNY Binghamton or Stony Brook – but they were extremely lucky. Other colleges my kids were accepted to, such as Vanderbilt, Williams, Middlebury etc offered them room, board and tuition for about $23k to $28k. But Brown, Dartmouth, Boston College and Georgetown offered them absolutely nothing. Which is why the OP needs to cast a wide net.</p>
<p>Thank you for your opinions… @gibby: What red flag? 2140 is a very respectable score! I worked very, very hard to get that and my GPA. Maybe not by CC standards, but around here my friends’ jaws drop when they hear anyone with over 2000. In the past years, 3 people were admitted to Yale from my school. All were intel semifinalists, with scores of 2350, 2230, and 1950. Yeah, 1950, admitted to Yale. That shows it’s the passion that matters. My YouTube channel and extracurriculars I think demonstrate my passion well. My essays also highlight my perspective on research. It seems that on this website, many posters automatically disregard an applicant by seeing his standardized test scores. At every college fair I have been to, adcoms from Dartmouth, Princeton, and Duke have all advised to ignore CC. Yet, I find it to be helpful in some aspects. @ucbalumnus: According to my parents, they would like to stay under $20k, but would stretch and take out some loans if Harvard or Yale offered a little higher.</p>
<p>Right now, I am looking at Vanderbilt, WashU, UVa, Rice, Tufts, Northeastern, Pitt, Stony Brook, and then HYS</p>
<p>Also, my problem with EA/ED/RD is this: if I enter and become a semifinalist in Intel STS, my application will be stronger in the RD round. If I have that on my application, I will probably be more likely to get scholarships as well.
As of now, I am planning Yale SCEA and RD the rest</p>
<p>Hmmm, at $20,000 limit, it looks like you are looking at:</p>
<ul>
<li>full tuition or higher merit scholarships</li>
<li>low list price schools like in-state SUNYs or cheap places like SD Mines</li>
<li>hope to get lucky at a very generous need-based aid place like HYS</li>
</ul>
<p>If $20,000 is your parents’ maximum contribution, what are you willing to add from student loans (note: Stafford maximum is $5,500 first year, $31,000 total all four years) and work earnings? Many schools expect a student contribution of $4,000 to $9,000 per year, though some students prefer a more conservative lower number.</p>
<p>I am planning to attend medical school. That is why my parents and I (mostly them) would like to save as much as possible for the inevitable debt that will accumulate from medical school. I know “undergrad doesn’t matter if you’re going to med school,” but I don’t want to have to compete for a research position, and want to be surrounded by the smartest students in the country. If I have to go to a lower tier school, I will be ok too, but being at one of my first choices will always make things easier :)</p>
<p>Your GPA is out of sync with your test scores. With an almost perfect GPA, colleges expect a student to have an almost perfect test scores. The average student with a rigorous course load who has a 98.5 GPA should have a 2300-2400 SAT score and all 5’s on their AP’s. Because you don’t – and the AP’s are much more worrisome than the SAT scores – that begs several questions: (1) Do you have test anxiety? If so, how will get through mid-terms and finals at college? (2) Did you take all easy courses to get the 98.5? Is that why you have such a high GPA with 4’s on your AP’s and possibly a 3 on one of them. (3) Or, is the rigor of your high school curriculum too easy? After all, students from across the country with your GPA are scoring 5’s on all their AP’s. (4) Is your high school not doing as good a job at preparing their students for college, as other schools in California, or Florida? An Admissions Officer WILL notice that your scores are out of sync and wonder why. They will be looking to your guidance counselor’s SSR or teacher recommendations for a possible explanation.</p>
<p>“Right now, I am looking at Vanderbilt, WashU, UVa, Rice, Tufts, Northeastern, Pitt, Stony Brook, and then HYS.”</p>
<p>Those are good choices, but realize that Tufts is not a school know for it’s generous financial aid.</p>
<p>In the OP’s defense, that GPA is weighted. And I don’t understand where your concern for his AP scores comes from, he only has one test score so far and it’s a 5. You can’t really panic with “possible” scores.</p>
<p>“. . . .our studies consistently demonstrate that standardized tests are helpful in predicting Harvard grades . . .We have found that the best predictors at Harvard are Advanced Placement tests and International Baccalaureate Exams, closely followed by the College Board subject tests. High school grades are next in predictive power, followed by the SAT and ACT. The writing tests of the SAT and ACT have predictive power similar to the subject tests.”</p>
<p>@gibby, You make a good point. However, I plan on majoring in molecular biology. I had a 98 unweighted in AP Bio, with a rec from my teacher. Hypothetically, if I were recognized in Intel, Siemens, or both, will Harvard really question my science acumen? They are looking for people, I believe, not statistics. My score qualifies me as competent and will not impact Harvard’s USNWR ranking. If they doubt my English skills, I have my essays to back me up, which tell my story very articulately. Again, thank you for your opinion, but I think you are failing to look at the big picture.</p>
<p>“I think you are failing to look at the big picture.”</p>
<p>Admissions Directors probably spend less than five seconds looking at your test scores. They might spend about a minute looking over the courses you took and the grades you received. The big picture is that once your test scores are within a college’s range – and yours are – it all comes down to how an Admissions Director “feels” after reading your essays and teacher recommendations and compares them to all other applicants. That’s true for Harvard and all selective colleges. It’s the reason students with perfect test scores (and Intel winners) sometimes are rejected, while other less-than-perfect students are accepted. It’s also the reason why college admissions is unpredictable. You just have to send your applications out into the universe and hope for the best.</p>