<p>Penn State and Texas A&M are safeties. You’ll be fine.</p>
<p>Nuclear/mechanical engineering? Hard stuff, and to be good at it at your age?! Wow… </p>
<p>You must have really come into your own taking all IB classes and having that GPA, even with mostly C’s freshman year. What happened junior year?</p>
<p>University of Illinois is a match. </p>
<p>DON’T APPLY OUT-OF-STATE TO UC SCHOOLS OR MICHIGAN!!! They will charge you an arm and a leg tuition, make it impossible to become a CA resident, and generally make going a hassle if you manage to get in. I know this because it happened to me. The budget slashing hurt Berkeley bad and they’re barely able to take care of Californians now, let alone out-of-staters. Michigan was almost as bad, same problems becoming a resident, same peanuts for financial aid. It’s too bad. You’d have a better shot at Michigan than Berkeley, though. Berkeley=reach, Michigan=lower reach.</p>
<p>HYP and Columbia will be really tough. I don’t think Harvard likes to admit people who are really young. The SATs in CR and writing would need to really jump to put you in range. SCEA may help a bit at Yale, but I’m not sure how much.</p>
<p>MIT and Dartmouth are reaches, but as they are both famous for math/science, you may have a slightly better chance than at other Ivies/similar schools with your sweet math scores.</p>
<p>Talk/write about your dad’s illness if you can. Interview as much as possible to show you’re not some wunderkind who only does math and won’t contribute to campus life. It’s a stereotype for kids who skip grades and excel in math, yeah, but you still need to dispel it. Ivies will really want to know your whole character. Reveal it. Bare your soul about your dad, skipping grades, getting C’s, and clawing your way back to the top with all IBs.</p>
<p>Service is great to have, especially on top of caring for your dad. It proves that you know that helping your fellow man doesn’t stop outside the family. You will really show your sincerity on wanting to do good, which is something that not all people with good service hours have. Once again, explaining in an interview would be the best thing here.</p>
<p>Best of luck. I hope this helps. Could you chance me? The link is below. Thanks. Peace.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/811352-crossing-my-fingers.html?highlight=Crossing+Fingers[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/811352-crossing-my-fingers.html?highlight=Crossing+Fingers</a></p>