How am I looking for these schools? (Currently a junior)

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>I am a junior worried about if my academics are good enough for Stanford, Columbia, UCLA, UC Berkeley, and other top tier schools. Okay so here goes.</p>

<p>Korean male from low middle class
Attending a very competitive high school in CA that sends many students to top universities</p>

<p>UC gpa: 4.2
UW gpa (10th - 11th): 3.8
W gpa (10th - 11th): 4.6 (All of my academic classes were APs or honors except for Spanish 1 and 2)
Will definitely qualify for ELC
School rank: Will be within top 10%
Grades show upward trend: Relatively bad freshman year, a bit better sophomore year, and straight A's in junior year (5.0 weighted gpa in junior year)</p>

<p>Senior course load (tentative):</p>

<p>AP Art History
AP European History
AP English lit
AP Physics C
AP Statistics
H US Gov</p>

<p>I haven't taken SAT reasoning yet. But I am scoring around 2200 on practice tests. Hopefully I will get 2300+ when I take it on June.</p>

<p>SAT Subject test scores:</p>

<p>Korean: 780
World History: 760
Math II: 760 (should I retake? I took the test 6 months after I took math analysis)
US History and Biology: Will take in May. Predicting 750-800</p>

<p>I took AP World last year and got a 5. This year I am planning on taking the following exams.</p>

<p>AP English lang
AP US history
AP Biology
AP Calc AB
AP Environmental Science
AP Comparative Government (self study)
AP Human Geography (self study)</p>

<p>Hopefully I will get 4s or 5s on these and get national ap scholar award before my senior year. I will take 5 or 6 more tests in my senior year.</p>

<p>I do have ECs, but just based on my academics, how are my chances at Stanford, Columbia, Cornell, Brown, UCLA, UC Berkeley, and NYU?</p>

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<p>Oh and although junior year is not over yet, I am 100% sure I will have those GPAs.</p>

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<p>37 views and no replies?</p>

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<p>68 views now. :(</p>

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<p>I think your academics are in great shape for all of those schools. :) Very high standardized test scores; I don't think you need to retake the Math level 2 test. At a certain point (750+ or maybe even lower), it doesn't seem that a higher score takes precedence over good extracurricular activities.</p>

<p>Also, some colleges don't look at freshman year grades, though I'm not sure which. Hopefully another poster can clear that up.</p>

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<p>Pretty sure Stanford disregards freshman grades. Don't quote me though.</p>

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<p>Thanks Lu Jinny and asinine, but isn't 760 for Math II around 80 percentile?</p>

<p>I took an intense h math analysis course in 10th grade. Everyone who took the exam on June right after the class got a 800. I only took world on June and took Math II on Jan. I didn't prep at all because I thought I remembered all my math analysis stuff. Apparently I forgot some materials. I am sure I can get a 800 if I review for a week or so. Does it look bad retaking a 760?</p>

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<p>Are you from CA? Stanford is a long shot for pretty much everyone in CA (including me), but assuming your stats and SAT scores come out the way you predict, you should be fine for Berkeley, UCLA, NYU and Cornell, at least</p>

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<p>If you are a a resident of CA, i would say UCLA and Berk are matches.</p>

<p>If not, you still have an alright chance.</p>

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<p>Our school sends 6-8 students to Stanford every year. So its not impossible lol.</p>

<p>Yeah I am in CA (I stated this on my first post). </p>

<p>Biology and US History (and Calc) are my favorite subjects so I have a feeling I will do better in those SAT exams than my previous ones.</p>

<p>As for SAT reasoning, I do hope I raise my current score by another 100 points.</p>

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<p>more opinions?</p>

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<p>
[quote]
Pretty sure Stanford disregards freshman grades. Don't quote me though.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>haha i quoted you. </p>

<p>but no they dont disregard them. But on the upside they do not recalculate gpa at all, which is even better i guess. They look far more at class rank and course selection.</p>

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<p>I have no idea what my rank will be, but I am sure I will be within top 10 percent. My course load is considered rigorous enough right?</p>

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<p>how do u compare to the 6-8 ppl who go to stanford each year? any asians w/ similar stats?</p>

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<p>i dunno math 2 might have to retaken cos almost everyone gets an 800 on it. With other subeject tests anything above 750 is very good, but for math 2 its a tad bit low for stanford, but who knows maybe they won't care that much since 750 is still high.</p>

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<p>I know three (1 asian, 2 white) from my school who got in EA this year. They all had SATs over 2300 and higher gpa than me, although one white girl had the same weighted gpa as me. I don't know much about their extracurriculars though.</p>

<p>A-Card, I think I am going to retake Math II.</p>

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<p>oh and if I choose to take H physics C instead of AP physics C in my senior year, how much will that affect me in terms of admissions, if at all? It doesn't matter much since they are both weighted classes right?</p>

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<p>This is really minor, but if you're not sure of you're class rank, how do you know that you will be selected for ELC? On the same topic, were the kids that got accepted to Stanford in the Top 10 students, because that might not bode well for you if you're not like at the very top.</p>

<p>Other than that, I think your stats look fine, though at some point everyone's stats start to look about the same, at which time they will bring your ECs into consideration. I would say you have a good shot, though you never know with those top-tier schools.</p>

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<p>For ELC, don't they use the weighted UC gpa (10th-11th with no cap) from UC-approved courses? If so, my UC weighted gpa will be 4.6, seeing how 4.4 qualified for ELC in my school this year, I just figured I will also be qualified.</p>

<p>Of the three seniors I know that got into Stanford this year, two of them were in top 10, the other was in top 4%. So Stanford looks at class rank a lot? My class rank will be low compared to my other stats because I got C's in 4 semesters of PE and couple B's in my soph/frosh year. I am predicting somewhere around 7%-10%. (However, my junior year class rank is top 3 students out of ~700 students)</p>

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<p>If I'm not mistaken, they look at you class rank (top 5%) to qualify you for ELC, though I'm not sure which grades they look at exactly.</p>

<p>What I mean when I asked who got in to Stanford was not that they use class rank necessarily, but if you're not in the like same position rank-wise, then it might be a bit harder for you to gain admission than it was for them. This is unless you're graduating class is like amazing compared to the ones before, though I doubt it could get much better than what you have said.</p>

<p>Good Luck!</p>