<p>Courses taken:
9th (this was at a public school, i didn't attend private school until 10th grade)-
Honors English
Honors Geometry
Honors French
Honors Biology
Honors History
Computer Applications
Web Design
PE
I got pretty much all A's and A+'s, with the A+'s mainly going to math and science.</p>
<p>10th-</p>
<p>My school goes on a 0-6 scale with 5-6 being honors grades. A 5 is typically equivalent to an A/A-, a 4 is around B/B+.</p>
<p>BC Calc 6/5/6
AP Chem 5/5/6
English (only one level offered) 6/5/5
Second year French 5/6/6
One term electives:
History 4
Human Nature 4
PE Pass
Compsci 6</p>
<p>Current:
AP Phys 6/6/ proj 6
Linear Algebra and Multivar Calc 6/6/ proj 6
English 4/4/ proj 4
Third Year French 5/5/ proj 5</p>
<p>One term electives:
Organic Chem 5
Introduction to Spectroscophy proj 6</p>
<p>I've also been doing an advanced Bio Research course.</p>
<p>EC's-
Cross Country
Track, lettered
Math Club
Science Club
CompSci Club
Co-President of Mock Trial Club
Chess Club</p>
<p>Awards-
Honor Roll every term
School Science Bowl Winner
2nd place team in state at National Science Bowl
Captain of top 12 team in state at National Ocean Bowl
AMC/AIME- 126.5/6
7th place on Calc at HMMT
MAML finalist
Eastern Mass ARML team</p>
<p>Standarized Tests-</p>
<p>PSATs- 68v/80m/78w
SATs- practice 660v/800m/730w
SAT II's- 800 IIC and Chem
AP - 5's BC Calc and Chem</p>
<p>RPI should be a Safety and good scholarship school for you. Depending on where you want to go to school and what you want to major in and $ you could get into many excellent schools including Ivies. Case Western and Carnegie Mellon are two similar alternatives to RPI for you. Many other options out there.</p>
<p>My suggestion? Ask your parents how much they think they can afford for college. Have them fill out one of the on-line FAFSA calculators. It might help you when looking at schools. Even if you get into an Ivy, you still have to be able to pay for it...</p>
<p>Your grades look good, and SAT's are great (pop the verbal up a bit). If your prep school is prestigious and you have a decent ranking CMU and Ivies will be very interested. However, AdComs can make some oddball decisions. I suggest you put together a list of colleges you are interested in, visit the ones that sound best to you first. If any one jumps out at you and you feel you would really want to go there and that you feel you would fit in, you could decide to apply ED. Otherwise CMU and Ivies will let you know approx 3/31.<br>
As per RPI, enquire about the Rensselaer Medal, see if you can be nominated by your school. If so it is a $60,000 merit scholarship ($15,000 per year) and comes with an EA application. You could still apply elsewhere ED or just apply RD everywhere your interested in and know that you have RPI available. With the medal and EA acceptance you don't have to commit to RPI until 5/1. Note, RPI has EA for medal winners only.</p>
<p>mathwiz,
Aren't you a Junior? If so, you still should have time. Check with your guidance counselor if your school has chosen a medallist. Let him/her know that you are very interested in RPI and that you would like to be considerred for the medal.</p>
<p>Even if you don't get the medal, RPI seems very generous. One of my son's classmates (not a medal recipient) received a similar scholarship and her grades are not phenomenal (good student but likely not even top 10% of the class).</p>
<p>RPI's tuition is comparable to the tuition at the top LACs , but for someone who wants an excellent education in engineering or science, the facilities at RPI are so much better. My son had been accepted at a LAC that would have cost us $43,000 per year and the only "aid" (if you can call it that) was a $2,000 loan. While the school had good facilities in the sciences, there was no comparison to those at RPI and 4 years of an RPI education is costing us the same as 3 years at the other school. So, yes, the tuition is high, but in our case, we found no one else as generous.</p>
<p>My daughter's public HS had never been involved in the Medalist Program. She persued it through RPI and Guidance in September of her senior year. By October the school qualified and she was selected as a Medalist just a couple of months into her Senior year.</p>
<p>Check it out through RPI and then get your Guidance Dept. involved.</p>
<p>My son asked to get the medal, guidance looked into it, then decided to give it to another student with a slightly higher GPA. The medalist ended up applying ED to an Ivy and never applied to RPI. Now my son is stuck with a much lower financial aide offer from them. He may now go to a different school since it is the most expensive option right now.</p>
<p>Plantree - That is a scary scenario and one I hope my junior son doesn't face. Right now RPI is his first choice but he's not going without the medal at a minimum. I'll feel bad if it goes to someone else - especially if they don't use it!</p>
<p>That's why I didn't apply for the medal when I first heard of it. RPI isn't my first choice, and I'd feel horrible if I took the medal and didn't even go to RPI while someone who really needed it couldn't go.</p>
<p>RPI and Cornell had been his top two. He didn't get into Cornell. Now he is leaning towards Va Tech, Rose-Hulman or UIUC, but still considerring RPI and waiting for their Fin Aide to respond to our appeal.</p>
<p>plantree- we also requested a review of our financial aid from RPI which is still in the running for our son since other schools offered more even with RPI's Medal that son was awarded. Did they give you any indication of when they would get back to you?
Thx</p>