Is This An Impressive Record For The Top Level Colleges?

Chance Me / Match Me!
21

If you mean 8-12 combo AP and DE, it still depends on what the hs offers. There are hs that have very few, for various reasons. As a junior at a hs that’s “slightly below average,” OP has 9 so far, incl bio, chem, physics, BC, WH, US. Engl. Good. In that context, his rigor is fine. He just shouldn’t go the route of too many easier AP next fall, just to stuff more in for some count. He should choose the DE courses wisely.

You most certainly do not have to invent something or intern for a Boeing level company. Or cure cancer. Or win national awards. The point is more about thinking a bit outside the high school box, not just what they offer. When colleges speak of leadership, it’s nice to have a title but it refers as much to a mentality, some inspiration, the ability to (start to) pursue some of you goals.

22

I would echo the comments of @hellothere1334 and others about your chances for the schools you list. Based on Naviance information for our school – a college preparatory day school – I would estimate that, considering only GPA and test scores (and assuming that your unweighted GPA of 4.0 translates somewhere into roughly a 4.5 weighted GPA), your chances are as follows:

Stanford – forget it; it has a 5% acceptance rate, and of the 30-40 kids from our school who have applied there over the last 10 years, only one has gotten in (and that one was a legacy). Don’t waste your time or money applying there.
Duke – on the bubble.
Northwestern – competitive.
Georgia Tech – competitive.
University of Georgia – admissions safety.
Notre Dame – insufficient data.

Of the kids from our school who have gotten in to Northwestern and Georgia Tech, for example, all have had not only good GPAs and test scores but pretty solid ECs going back through several years of high school – multiple years of involvement in school plays, robotics teams, Model UN, athletics, etc.; their ECs don’t look like a drive-by or an afterthought, but demonstrate interest and passion. As the other posters have suggested, you still have time to remedy the perceived deficiencies with your ECs. Focus on depth, not breadth, of activity.

Assuming that you can get your ECs in order, you might also think about the University of Virginia, which has high quality programs in both engineering and government/political science/history; and George Washington University (ditto programs), where you should have no problem with admissions based on your statistics.

In addition to the schools that you ask about, you might think of public universities that have honors colleges or honors programs, such as Clemson or University of South Carolina. While they may not have the cachet of a Duke or Northwestern, you can still get a very good education there, especially in an honors program.

Finally, you haven’t mentioned whether you would be able to afford the schools you list, or “others of that class.” If you can’t pay for a school, or have no prospect of paying for it either through merit or need-based aid, there’s not much point in considering it.