On the right track?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey,

So I am a freshman, and I was wondering about my possible chances a few years from now for applications.

Current stuff:

Go to one of the top 10 schools in USA by ranking, also one of the best for STEM.

94-95 GPA (we have a 100 scale)

1st doubles on my varsity tennis team, which is one of the best in the state

Took AP bio test (lot of self-studying, no formal AP bio course), not sure what I got yet, most likely a 5 definitely a 4 though

Took PSAT, no studying, got something like a low 1400.’

Took a mock SAT 2400, no studying, got something like a 2100

Planning:
Take AP physics I and II, gov, micro, macro

Learn python, MySQL, JS, and maybe a C language (I’m teaching Arduino over the summer to middle school kids, and I should get the C language down)

Internship at either a local tech/software company or maybe in NYC

Compete in research competitions, try to get to national recognition at Intel/ISEF (idk if I will get there, but I have some solid projects planned)

Improve my GPA to about a 96-97 next year

Get to 1st singles for tennis team, which is possible because the seniors who took the singles spots are going to college

Basically, if I fulfill all the stuff on my planning list next year, and continue the trend, then apply for a software or mechanical engineering major, what are my chances?

(Plan to apply to almost all ivies and many tier I’s (Cornell, Carnegie, Georgia Tech, or one of the UC’s are basically my ultimate schools)

Also don’t call me “that freshmen” but you probably will anyways

Thanks in advance btw :smiley:

2

Wow… I wish my school was the top ten in the US… But wow! That is a lot for a freshman and I don’t know how you did it all. I don’t know why you’re worried about future college admissions because with stats like yours…It seems like if you continue in this path you’ll be OK. Just don’t be too obsessed with the numbers lol. Remember to enjoy high school as much as you can! - A Sophomore

3

Ty for the reply. A lot of the reason I’m worried is because many of my peers are high achievers too… often times more than me. i.e. we had two freshmen go to ISEF/intel and both got grants, and one placed highly. Another friend is already starting his first internship in a month at a half-billion tech company. Most people with whom I associate already have my goal GPA of a 97.

From what upperclassmen at our school say, I hear that the grading process is very comparative to one’s own school. For example, this one senior pissed a lot of ppl off because she got into three ivies off of ED, then took up ivy spots to see how many she would get into. She got into every college she wanted (MIT, caltech, stanford, harvard, CMU, GaTech and every other ivy from my knowledge). What pissed a lot of people off was that she took their spots at those colleges and blocked ppl from going there, and ended up just declining for MIT. Even then, that puts a bad name on our school for the future admissions, because schools want to accept people that will actually go there, and not just deny like the senior.

4

If your school is this fabulous and your stats are this amazing, you should be fine. Just make sure you’re enjoying yourself at the same time. You should be fine. And the random girl you’re talking about should not be allowed to do that. Cuz the 3 Ivies that do that have single choice ED, so doing more than 1 is illegal…

5

Hey, thanks for responding. My school is fabulous, but that works against me, at least IMO. In a normal school, I’d be def in the 90-95 percentile, but in my school I have:

  1. No idea where I stand (exactly). We are in such a competitive environment, that releasing class ranks would probably get the school sued
  2. I have harsh competition- more than half the grade goes to tier 1+ schools, like half the school does varsity something, everyone’s an officer of the club, and our school mandates that we submit a valid research project for competition.
  3. An unweighted GPA. Not even seniors have a clue what the school sends colleges in terms of grade transcripts, and when I tried to ask the counselor, she said it “varies”
6

@MyGPAisDank It only works against you if your see it that way. If you go to an elite university your classmates will be brilliant as well. Instead of competing against everyone, try to work with your classmates and learn from them. Most of them will obviously have a wealth of knowledge. There’s nothing that says only a certain number of people in your school can get straight A’s, or that only a certain number of people from a school can get a 34+ ACT. Studies show that young people learn and study best with one another, so use the brilliance of your classmates to your advantage. You can do projects and EC’s outside of school with some of your classmates as well. You might be surprised what 3 or 4 smart kids can accomplish when they try.

7

@danfer91 Thanks so much for the reply, really encouraging :D. What kinda sucks though is that a lot of people don’t understand exactly what you just said. They are so competitive, that they think working with other people will only count against them.

8

Lol… I feel like you might also be one of those people since you’re on college confidential as a freshman… But I do hope you truly overcome that competitive environment and open yourself up to collaboration since our society is built upon collaboration