So far so good. You have a good solid year before you start your college applications. That’s an eternity for a teenager 
There’s going to be worlds of change between now and then. Have fun. Live free. Go to prom, and enjoy being a teenager. Just don’t blow anything up.
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This may be the greatest piece of advice ever on CC!
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“Your stats look to be not all that far off from a typical applicant to Princeton, or Stanford, or Columbia. You know as well as I do what the acceptance rates are for these three schools. UVA and U.Penn out of state are definitely not safeties, and I do not understand why either of these would prepare you any better for medical school compared to one of the SUNY’s.”
@DadTwoGirls , Can you explain why you stated it like this? UPenn is a private school in the Ivy League, not a state school?
To the OP, Princeton and the other top-10 schools on your list are very very large reaches with your current resume, due to your unweighted gpa and your coursework seems to indicate you have not taken the highest level offered in some of the core areas. You can increase your chances by challenging yourself in all core areas for the semesters you have left, getting all As this year and next fall. You may gain perspective from talking to your counselor to see what type of gpa/rigor has led to successful applicants from your school. Apply, for sure, but add matches and safeties.
I just goofed. I should have listed U.Penn along with Princeton, Stanford, and Columbia. Oops.
And yes, U.Penn is a high reach along with Princeton, Stanford, and Columbia.
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Ok, thank you for being honest. As many have suggested, I’m going to add more safeties, but I do think it is important to consider the context of my school.
No APs are offered for freshman or sophomores. As a junior, this year, I am taking as many as I could with approval. Will colleges consider this? I think from my research that they look at your rigor in context to what is offered. Also, the GPA was after sophomore year so it does not include the weight of any AP courses, so hoping I can do well in them this year, and I expect my weighted GPA to increase a bit.
Also, I plan to take 5 AP/advanced classes next year.
Side note: does anyone have thoughts on self studying for AP exams? Is this manageable/ worth it for anyone who has done it or knows someone who has done this?
Again, thank you to everyone who replies and I appreciate honest perspectives.
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Are you hoping self study and taking the tests will increase your chances at your reach schools? If so…I will opine that colleges want to see how well you do in courses you take…not just on self study and tests.
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In my opinion, this is a reach heavy list.
But you attend a private school. In the vast majority of cases, the college counselors at these schools can give you a good assessment of your chances at many colleges…and especially the ones on your list. So…ask them!
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It is so difficult for us to understand the context of your HS, but yes most definitely the colleges will, and so will your counselor, as far as what gpa and rigor are needed for those schools. For all we know, you could be in line for them! If you took the most difficult courseload available to anyone at your school, and there are kids who get in to the top10s every year, then you are in good shape to have a shot. Many private schools “tier” the students somewhat as they go through: one group is allowed and encouraged to take every honors class and the rigorous APs; the next group is only allowed to take 3 APs as a junior and doesnt get in to all the honors/advanced in 9-10th, and never is on track to take the hardest APs. The next group may not take more than a couple honors/APs total. Thus each kid is taking the max rigor open to them, but unfortunately not the max rigor allowed at the school—that is reserved for the top group. I have seen this cause frustration and confusion among juniors and parents when they realize despite having a record of almost all As, they never really had a path to the maximum rigor, in some cases were completely unaware until senior year.
Bottom line: your counselor will know all of this and can put your resume in context for how competitive it is for your list.
Only the colleges themselves can evaluate you.
Wake may be possible (sibling legacy) but even there will be tough. A school like Miami, given the stats, may be more in range.
But as I noted early. You go to a private HS and they should be guiding you. They know where kids with your stats end up.
When you ask for a chance me, you’ll get what people think. If you don’t like the answers, then you shouldn’t ask the questions up front.
I hope you get into all of the schools you mentioned but the reality says otherwise.
But again, we are all speaking outside of your actual circumstance - and in the end, it’s like I tell my boss with my monthly forecast - at midnight on October 31st I’ll tell you exactly where I’ll be. Anything before is just a best guess - and that’s true until you hear from the colleges themselves.
PS - do not self study APs. Take the class. Many top schools won’t take your APs anyway.
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One daughter attended a high school that did not offer any AP classes. She self studied for one AP exam, specifically AP Spanish. Her Spanish is very good (she had already studied for three months in South America at a school where all of her classes were in Spanish – we had also already hosted an exchange student from South America). It was very difficult to find anywhere that would let her take the AP Spanish exam, but we were able to eventually find somewhere.
I do not think that this had any impact at all on her university admissions. Her university gave her credit for first year Spanish (with a 5 on the exam). This shows up on her university transcript with a grade of P (pass).
I would not do this for the purpose of helping your university applications. Also I would be very cautious about doing this for any math class since math is a subject where everything that you learn is so highly dependent upon what you were supposed to be learning last year and the year before. In math it is important to learn each step very well.
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To add to Dad’s fine post- the gap between an OK math teacher (or self-study) and a great math teacher is HUGE. Not just learning how to plug the right number into a formula. But to really understand the concept, become confident and facile in setting up a problem correctly, really mastering the material.
Self-study a lab science? No.
Self-study literature? Sure. But it won’t move the needle on admissions.
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I know Princeton pretty well. If my children wanted to do pre-med I would strongly discourage them from going there. The grade deflation is waning but you still will be competing for grades against future top-30 professors and the like. It’s very tough.
At almost all schools including competitive privates need to be at the very top of your graduating class (top 1-3%) to have a chance. Private school scattergrams tend to be skewed by prior applicants with hooks, and counselors aren’t always willing to be straight about that.
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