<p>I'm not sure if this is the best forum for this, since I'm not specifically asking what my chances are of getting into a particular school, but I'd like to outline my situation for potential advice from those more knowledgeable about college admissions and other issues than myself.</p>
<p>I was homeschooled up until last year, when we moved to Minnesota and I began attending public school. My school uses a weighted GPA system, and my weighted GPA is 4.07; unweighted it's 3.835 (that's sophomore year only, since the credits I transferred went as pass in a p/f).</p>
<p>I haven't taken the SAT yet, but I'm taking the PSAT next week. I got a selection index score of 216 (72 critical reading, 68 math, and 76 writing skills) on a practice test I took over the last couple of days. It was untimed, but I went pretty quickly and didn't recheck any answers. I live in Minnesota and am wondering whether I might have a chance at a National Merit Scholarship (I hope so!) Also, at the age of 13, when applying for an early entrance program, I took the ACT and got a 29. I'm hoping that taken three or four years later, my score would significantly approve.</p>
<p>I am second in a family of 7 children. My dad currently makes $68,000 a year as a music pastor, but he's had this job for only one and a half years; previously he made $48,000 and less when we lived in Seattle. We were financially strapped, and not only have my parents been unable to save money for college, we were living in debt for years. My sister is now attending St. Olaf as a transfer student from the U of Washington. My parents have been able to contribute a few thousand to her education, but are unlikely to be able to pay for much/any of mine. So I'm counting on financial aid.</p>
<p>I am interested in architecture, writing, theater, art, music, and French. My basic college plan is a four-year bachelor's degree probably majoring in English or Creative Writing, with elective classes in all of my other interests, plus math and some science, particularly physics. Then I want to attend grad school for a master's in architecture, which will probably be a 3 1/2 year degree. My main problem is that financial aid is quite limited for grad school so unless I work part-time and attend school part-time for my master's, I'm not sure how it'll work.</p>
<p>Anyways, I am looking particularly at Yale and Cornell, although I'm also considering MIT and recently I've gotten interested in the Sarah Lawrence writing program. If I opt to stay close to home I'll likely attend the U of Minnesota (maybe just for grad school, so it's less expensive). I haven't looked too much at Harvard and Princeton, but I'm willing to investigate them as well as private liberal arts colleges (Bennington looks neat...).</p>
<p>Since I'm just now entering my junior year, I know I've got lots of time to explore my options. But since the age of 10 I've known that I want to be an architect and a writer, which puts me in an interesting position as far as college goes. I know I started this out by saying I don't need to know "What are my chances for this or that college?", but if you have a definite opinion on how I'd do at Yale or Cornell, please let me know. Also, if anyone knows anything about Cornell's summer program, I would LOVE to be in the architecture intensive but it's so expensive and I don't know how their financial aid works out.</p>
<p>Oh, yeah, I can add my extracurriculars if it will help with anything: Theater, speech, private cello lessons (and Tacoma Youth Symphony for five years up until we moved), and various church and youth group activities. I also used to teach piano lessons and worked at Burger King for a few months (although it REALLY doesn't help out my case to mention that I was fired. Don't ask. It was stupid...)</p>