You are in top 10% of your class, and edging towards top 5%. That’s more important than the GPA per se. You sound like an amazing person. I encourage you to aim high! But keep a balanced list with matches and safeties. If you are considering LACs, I hope you will look at all the most selective schools that meet full-need. You are going to be a very attractive candidate.
I also don’t know if i am influenced by your screen name, but you just sound like a really great kid. Something is shining through to me through the ethernet about you, and i have to believe that will come through in your applications as well.
I am curious: what does being the “youth commissioner for your city” entail? Is that a big honor? It sounds pretty cool!
You might also want to look at the athletic recruitment forum, too, to see what you might do about that. I would imagine that it would be easy to see if your times qualify you for that consideration, especially at the DIII schools (which most – maybe all? – of the top LACs will be).
In looking more at your post, I see that you may not know what the “top LACs” are. I would encourage you, for example, to apply for Window on Williams, which is an all-expenses paid trip to visit the school. http://admission.williams.edu/affordability/
Williams is a reach for anyone, but you are definitely a candidate for them, IMO. I think WOW is for rising seniors; it’s not clear to me from your post what year you will be in the fall.
I am pretty sure that other schools have similar programs. Perhaps others might chime in with suggestions in this regard.
