Incredibly stressed Junior seeking chances at selective schools

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey, I'm currently a junior at a public highschool in the midwest seeking some elite colleges. Please, don't skim this app. I'd greatly appreciate anyone reading this in its entirety.</p>

<p>I have a story that I am reluctant to tell, but I will give you the abriged version.
I did many bad things in the freshmen and summer of freshmen year of high school (including the prolonged use of controlled substances). I have changed, however, and have decided that in my junior year I would work to end up in a great school. If the full story is requested, why not? Do I bother writing about this in an essay, or will they assume I'm a druggie?</p>

<p>My GPA:
3.2 Freshman Year(3 C's some b's and a's)
3.8 Sophomore Year (1 b more A-'s than A's, no AP or Honors classes)
4.125 Junior Year (All A's except a B and a B+ in AP US History, finishing with a (current) A in the class. If that was unclear, it went like this: B(T2), B+(T3), A(T4), and the majority of my classes were AP's)
Reason for the B's? Laziness, obviously..
5 AP Classes(Calc AB, Statistics, Biology, US History, and Physics)
Cumulative by the end of this year: 3.8 Weighted(Our school weighs awfully, at a measly 4.333 for an A in an AP Class- my GPA would have been much higher)</p>

<p>I am taking the hardest possible senior-year classes.</p>

<p>Class rank: Probably by the end of my junior year: 13-17%(Unclear at the moment, definitely a good +2 or 3 percent from the top 10% minimum)</p>

<p>ACT: 34(retaking until I get above 34) 36S 36M
SAT: 2300(Along with a PSAT of 230) 800M
Math IIC: 800
US History:?
Biology:?</p>

<p>AP Tests: Taking Stat, Bio, and AP US(Studying immensely, I'd expect ** at least ** a four).</p>

<p>EC's:
Medical Club - 10,11,12
Speech and Debate - 10,11,12
JSA(Founded) - 11,12 - President
Key Club - 11,12
National Honors Society - 10,11,12 - Running for Sec. next year
Internship at a Law Firm
JSA @ Stanford
Stanford National Forensics Institute - Advanced Seminar
NFL Nationals qualifier
Qualified to AIME</p>

<p>Before I list my colleges:
I highly regret my laziness this year in AP US History, and I obviously have only myself to blame. Moreover, I realize that my stats are far from superb. My only hope is that I am not aiming far too high... I assume I will be either borederline under the 10% mark or just above the 10% mark in class ranks, and I should end with approximately a 3.82 GPA. I believe my recommendations will be very good, and I hope my essays will be as well.</p>

<p>Schools...:
Stanford University - Top Choice (Sophomore-Senior year GPA:above a 4, I dunno about the class rank if they would re-calculate it to better reflect a sophomore-senior GPA)
Northwestern University - Top Choice
University of Chicago
Notre Dame
Princeton University - Top Choice (Same as Stanford)
UMichigan Ann Arbor (Same as Stanford)
UCB
Columbia University
JHU - Top Choice
(Not listing safeties, waste of time)</p>

<p>gulp... :( Any schools recommended?</p>

2

<p>bump(10char)</p>

3

<p>a lot of schools (including princeton i think) don't look at freshman year grades at all. even the ones that do will focus more on soph, junior, and senior year. i think you have pretty good chances.</p>

4

<p>Chill...you're doing fine. Don't worry.</p>

5

<p>Stanford - Reach
Princeton - Reach
Northwestern - Semi-Reach
University of Chicago - Semi-Reach
Notre Dame - Slight Reach
UMichigan Ann Arbor - Match
UCB - Semi-Reach
Columbia University - Semi-Reach
JHU - Slight Reach</p>

6

<p>There's no harm in aiming high....and having overcome a rocky beginning can be a good thing.....without going into gory details, you can reference it in your essays and talk about why you are a stronger person now. Just make sure to add a couple more match/safeties to your list...places that you could legitimately be successful and happy at. Just pay attention to the threads from the last couple of weeks here on CC......even with stronger grades, etc. none of the really competitive schools are "shoo-ins" for anyone. And be open minded that there a lot of REALLY good schools that don't have the cut-throat admissions mentality. Best of luck to you. Relax and enjoy being a good student in high school....</p>

7

<p>i defeinetly agree with astrophysics.... write about your ordeal in freshman year in a passionate way, and i think you will find yourself attending at least one of your top choices</p>

<p>make "change" a theme in your college essays if you get a chance</p>

8

<p>bump(10char)</p>

9

<p>you really can't explain laziness, lol. would you prefer a student with straight high marks 9-12 or a student with high marks 10-12? even if they say they only look at soph through senior year... come on, they still see the marks, right?</p>

<p>guess i'm just kinda negative because i just went through the college admissions process. i hope you're ready for the ride because next year (class 08/12) is gonna be the toughest yet. </p>

<p>however, your sat/act look stunning (but be warned they do not compensate! i was a low GPA/high SAT-er and it did not help me one bit) and your ECs are pretty amazing too. </p>

<p>i'd say...
Stanford University - waitlist/reject
Northwestern University - waitlist/accept
University of Chicago - accept (do amazing on them essays)
Notre Dame - accept
Princeton University - reject
UMichigan Ann Arbor (Same as Stanford) - accept
UCB - accept
Columbia University - waitlist
JHU - waitlist</p>

<p>i suggest applying to some LACs, seeing as they are more 'wholistic' in their approach and more forgiving (usually) than the hardcore ivy universities.</p>

10

<p>Where are your safeties? All of the schools on your list are reaches these days, even for kids will stellar records for all four years. Eight major reaches plus your safeties will mean a lot of essay writing... Do these schools fit what you want or are you after name brands? They are very different, so you should make an effort to know their individual strengths, weaknesses, and how they fit into what you are looking for.</p>

<p>Do you need financial safeties? That's a consideration, too.</p>