<p>I need to come up with colleges that are a reach, match, and a few safety ones. </p>
<p>GPA: (not known yet, but this is an estimate) 97/98
Ranking: (same as above) Top 15%
Classes:One class from 8th grade counts because it was honors: Pre-Algebra: B
9th grade-
Honors:
English-A
Geometry-A
Bio-A
Italian-A
World History-A
Regular:
Business-B
Art-A
10th grade-
AP World-A (4 on the test)
AP Euro-A (4 on the test)
Honors Chem:A
Honors Italian-A
Honors Algebra II/Trig:B
Honors English-A
Public Speaking-A
11th Grade-
AP Statistics- A (3 on test)
Health-A
AP U.S.-A (4 on test)
AP Lang.-B (3 on test)
AP Chem- A (4 on test)
Honors Pre-Calc-B
Honors Physics- A
Honors Italian- A</p>
<p>Sat I- 1940 (but I'll take it one more time)--> CR:610, M:680, W:650
ACT- 29 (this was my 1st try, w/o any preparation at all. I didn't even know the format of the test, so I'll take it one more time)
I want to major in Chemistry, and my dream schools include: JHU and University of Chicago.</p>
<p>Extra Curricular:
-9th through 12th grade: foreign language club. Treasurer in 9th grade and secretary in 10th.
-Science club: 10th through 12th.
-Mock trial: 11th and 12th
-National junior honor society: 9th-11th
-National honor society- 12th (secretary)
-started a club that raises money to build schools in developing countries- member and president 12th grade</p>
<p>Volunteering:
-summer of 10th grade: Blind Association in India for 3 weeks
-my local hospital for 15 hours
-hope to gain more hours this summer and throughout the year through my club.</p>
<p>Do you guys think I'll be able to get into JHU or U of Chicago??</p>
<p>sorry, I forgot to list the classes I’ll be taking senior year. AP Bio, AP Italian, AP Literature, AP Calc BC, AP Government.</p>
<p>bump…I’m really anxious!</p>
<p>Chicago and JHU are huge reaches. Even if you improve your scores significantly, JHU will still be a reach, and Chicago is virtually impossible - look at how tough Chicago is at the 25th percentile.</p>
<p>Honestly, with your current scores, you’re not likely to get into either Chicago or JHU. You really should have both M/CR scores above 700 to be competitive for either school, so try to boost those scores.</p>
<p>sorry, I forgot to mention I’ll apply to JHU through ED and U of Chicago through EA. Does that help at all?</p>
<p>No, you need huge improvements in your scores to be competitive. EA only helps a little bit; the gap is too large. Unless you have some kind of very special hook, these aren’t realistic targets.</p>
<p>I realize that you’re at the top of your HS program, but check it out - if 97/98 puts you only at the top 15%, that’s not a super-rigorous program. So the scores need to be exceptional.</p>
<p>ok, thanks for being honest, I really appreciate it. I really want to end up with a 2100 and I think that’s possible if I study a lot.</p>
<p>FYI, ED at Hopkins (>30% acceptance rate) with a 2100 is a whole lot more feasible than EA at Chicago (~20% acceptance rate) with the same score. Try both and write great essays, but come in with low expectations.</p>
<p>Right. If you can improve to 2100 with great essays, JHU ED becomes a reach, but not an impossibility.</p>
<p>yea, I know but I had my heart set on JHU for a while…=( I’ll try to get at least a 2100, if not, I’ll try to get a 32 on ACT and submit that.</p>
<p>How is 97/98 only in the top 15% (what is the max gpa?0, and how come you got A’s in classes but 3s and 4s on tests? This tells me that your school is easy, or at least that there is grade inflation.</p>
<p>@Axel3419: There is no max gpa, people can get extremely high grades. I got A’s because I worked extremely hard in these classes, and I thought I would get a 5 on the one’s I got a 4 on and for the one’s I got a 3 on, I didn’t put that much effort into studying for the tests. But these classes were not inflated, and were challenging.</p>
<p>bump…any more thoughts?</p>
<p>Rather than getting hung up on specific schools, why not describe the kind of place you are looking for, what you want to study and what kind of environment brings out the best in you? Are there financial or geographic limits? </p>
<p>When I see Chicago and JHU, I assume you are looking for mid-sized private universities in urban locations with an intellectual vibe. Does the school need to have a campus? I there anything else about these schools that is attracting you besides the prestige? And have you visited any LACs? Swarthmore, near Philadelphia, is a school that many who apply to Chicago also apply to because the vibe is similar. It too is highly selective, but there are others that are less selective that share the intellectual orientation like Macelster in Minneapolis.</p>
<p>Both your grades and test scores look a little bit low. Your class rank is a bit too low too. You definitely need to look into some safety schools.</p>