<p>My class rank is unusually low partly because Im in a highly competitive school. About 20-25 people from our graduating class go to Ivy League colleges.</p>
<p>I have a 3.54 UW gpa and ranked about 60 out of about 520 students. My Test scores are pretty high though.</p>
<p>My SATs are Math: 740 CR: 750 and Writing: 800
And SAT2s are Math 2: 790, US History: 720, Chemistry: 710.</p>
<p>I am planning on retaking Chemistry SAT2 and also Biology SAT2 and am expecting around 770+ on those 2. I took 2 APs so far and got a 5 and 4. (US History and Lang Comp)</p>
<p>My Extra Curriculars are decent, including volunteering at a hospital, 5+ years of commitment to two clubs, members of numerous honor society, held officer positions, etc.</p>
<p>Do you think my low class rank/gpa will exclude me from colleges such as Johns Hopkins and Cornell? Or also any of the combined Medical Programs?</p>
<p>Does your school have scattergrams? You need to know your school's history with those colleges.</p>
<p>My daughter is top 20% at a school that sends more than 20% to very top colleges (unusually high). Kids with her rank have gotten into ivies from her school. Some of those ivy admits were actually turned down by far lower rank state schools that do not adjust for rigor of schools.</p>
<p>Yeah, the truth is finding out your school's history with colleges is much more informative than asking people from other schools. For example, I know that my school has not had one person over the last four years get into Yale, but every year at least one person gets into Brown and usually one or two into MIT. I know it's not what you want to here, but try to get your access to your school's database of information by asking your GC.</p>
<p>i'm very interested in what happens to you as well. i'm in the same situation as you (really competitive school, low gpa, high test scores, ok rank).</p>
<p>Definitely talk to your counseler, he/she will have all the information on the statistics of your schools. Also, if your school is highly competitive, colleges will probably know that so it'll affect you, but maybe not as much as it would otherwise. I think you still have a good shot at cornell and johns hopkins.</p>
<p>Agree with what some others have said: most colleges have admissions officers assigned to particular regions. If your school is as competitive as your post suggests, the adcom assigned to your region will be very well acquainted with it, and they'll understand the context of your class rank and gpa.</p>
<p>That is my fear for the UCs since they are so number driven. You just need to apply for more schools. But I've seen most CDS and a lot of top schools has a very high percentage of people in the top 10% of their high school.</p>
<p>so does this mean that the location of the college you're applying to matters, since the further you're applying from, the less adcoms there are...?</p>
<p>Your counselors send a school profile to the adcoms giving them an idea of how competitive your school is and will take that into account. I went to a very competitive school and a lot of people from my school who were in the top 20%, including myself, ended up going to top schools still.</p>
<p>combined medical programs are suuuper competitive (and super awesome), and i believe the only two are PLME at Brown and HPME at Northwestern.</p>
<p>i think your high test scores will attest to your capability, don't be discouraged, your school (especially since it sends so many kids to ivies) likely sends statistical data on itself to colleges, so they will know how competitive your class was.</p>