What are my chances, am I aiming too high?

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>Hey I'm a junior who's trying to get a head start on the process, could you guys check my stats and possible schools? I live in Maine, go to school in NH.</p>

<p>I go to a boarding school called St. Pauls, its pretty selective (17% this year) and we usually send about 30% of our class to Ivies, the classes there are extremly difficult. I think this is good for me because we usually have really good matriculation. </p>

<p>White Male
SAT 1 (took just recently for the first time, the math score will definately go up)
Verbal 800
Math 720
Writing 690
SAT 2's: Chem: 780 Math 2c: will take later this year</p>

<p>GPA 4.0 unweighted
Top 5% of my class
My Rec's will be awesome </p>

<p>Classes this year: Robotics, Engineering design, AP Chem, Bio, AP English, Frech, Pre-Cal Honors
Next Year: AP Physics, AP Bio, English Electives, French, BC Cal (Calc 2 AP)</p>

<p>EC's (athletics are my biggest by far)
Assuming I stay on varsity next year</p>

<p>4 years Varsity Football (all league status)
4 years Varsity Basketball
1 Year JV baseball, I year JV Lacross, 2 Years Varsity Lacrosse
2 Years of US First Robotics
Chinese Socitey (Roomate's from Hong Kong, got me into it)
Physics Tutoring
Investment Club
Prefect (leader within the dorm, like harry potter lol)
3 summers working 40 hours a week in a local restaurant
Volunteering at Senior Center
Volunteering at Animal Shelter
Clarinet in Concert Band (for one year)</p>

<p>In college I'm interested in either aeronautical engineering, astronomy, or Computer Science</p>

<p>Looking at: Safety: U Colorado Boulder (older brother lives there), Rensselaer Polytech, U Mich </p>

<p>Not sure abot match vs stretch, you think you could group them for me?
Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Stanford, Cooper Union, MIT, Duke, Princeton
Any other school suggestions, particularly match schools?</p>

<p>Notes: My dad is a fully disabled veteran, I will be looking for a LOT of financial aid (low income), if it's a D3 school I could play Football, would that help my admissions?</p>

<p>I really would appreciate any comments, I like to get realistic opinions other than my own ideas. Thanks alot this forum is awesome.</p>

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<p>Forgot to add in MUN for extra curriculurs</p>

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<p>Harry Potter wasn't a prefect, lol. (Ron and Hermione were. Dumbledore thought Harry had enough to do). But your profile looks good -- a 4.0 from St. Paul's is awesome.</p>

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<p>U are in almost everywhere with probably all the fin. aid u need.</p>

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<p>How did you afford to attend a boarding school if you now need a lot of financial aid for college?</p>

<p>Otherwise, good chance at all the schools on your list, or as good a chance as any "unhooked" applicant.</p>

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<p>luckily st. paul's is amazing, the financial aid department is amazing and was able to completely meet my needs, my family only has to pay about 2,000 of a 40,000 a year education. This is where st. paul's is so much better than other schools such as exeter or andover who wouldn't meet my financial needs. Its great that a school like this can really offer financial aid to anyone who can't afford it.</p>

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<p>by the way, any other ideas for schools?</p>

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<p>dude, i hate u, u can get into those ivies, hate, hate, hate</p>

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<p>the world of prestigious boarding schools eludes me.</p>

<p>but dude, if you say 30% of your class gets into ivies and you're in the top 5% AND heavily involved in varsity sports...can you do the math?? maybe st. paul's isn't as difficult as you make it out to be <em>cough</em>.</p>

<p>you're in good shape to go anywhere you want with a gpa and ecs like that. sats aren't perfect, but it's just a test, so.</p>

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<p>you also have to take into account that boarding schools like this have tons and tons of kids with legacies at ivy league schools with definately affects admmission</p>

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<p>no legacy helps, but only important legacy affects admission (if you are a big contributor, someone famous, someone important to the school). It seems like you seem to be on track to make one of the ivy leagues if not more, but at this point u should just chill and relax and pray. Uve done all you can, its out of your hands and out of ours as well.</p>

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<p>thats the most encouraging advice I've heard</p>

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<p>With slightly higher SAT scores, you're a shoe-in.</p>

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<p>Vanderbilt
Emory
Georgetown
Columbia (my bias)
Northwestern</p>

<p>And Harry Potter rocks.</p>

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<p>i think you have a very very good shot at making it in to an ivy, esp with that gpa from st pauls and your background..i recommend that you spend more energy on essays (def talk about your father/ backgroud...it will set you apart) than trying to improve your sats.
if you can, apply ed to a school. and as a princetonian, i will shamelessly endorse princeton---its a great school. i would tell you to apply ed to princeton, but this is the last year, unfortunately :-(</p>

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<p>Thanks guppy, as of now my top choice is really princeton, thay seem really dedicated to giving good financial aid.</p>

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<p>You have a great shot at your list. To add a few low match/safeties that would give you lots of aid, how about Worchester Polytechnic, Case Western, George Washington U, Lehigh, Wake Forest. Also, have you considered Olin? You sound more like a traditional school person, but it might be worth investigating.</p>

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<p>Congrats on doing such a job so far.. just a headsup though, most student's GPA go down junior year.. and try to load up on AP's and Honors, I see that you are taking 2 AP's this year. </p>

<p>What's your first college? You should try to see if you can get in for a summer program / session. It'll help your admission a lot.</p>

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<p>this year has been pretty stressful so far, but I still have all A's as of now. AP courses at st. paul's work a little bit differently. We only offer ten AP's but a lot of our regular, non honorsclasses take the AP, including regular english, 4th year non-honors language classes all take the AP, teachers even encourage many non honors science classes to take the AP, and our regular calc class takes the AB AP. The school has chosen not to cater its teaching to the AP because teaching for the AP can leave out some vital areas in certain subjects, so the advanced class are instead dubbed "advanced" and go beyond what the AP tests. The regular classes are still pretty challenging and due to a 6 day a week schedule, manage to fit in enough to prepare for most AP's.
I was told by some people that going to a school's summer program doesn't help admission, is that correct? If not, I'd definately consider princeton or MIT, although those programs can be expensive.
To one mom, WPI turned me off because their average debt load upon graduation is really high, Case Westerns location for some reason didn't suit me, but George Washington and Lehigh interest me, what made you mention them? And why is Olin different, that intrigues me as well.</p>

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<p>by the way, is it any important that I've had a steady job for two summers even though its not academic related?</p>