Wow, you remind me of myself at your age…
Seriously bro, chill. Someone on CC brought me to reality, so you should wake up too. You rank low when compared to so many kids in the nation. We are freshman, let’s relish it. Stop bragging about your freshman grades and test scores until they are official. All these people giving you advice are probably college graduate. We need to stick to only reading posts, not giving advice. Relax and think about these schools after you complete sophomore year and get test scores officially… Again, we are FRESHMEN.
@Anish14 I don’t really think that he ranks “low” When he said that he got his test scores he probably got them through the Johns Hopkins Talent Search, like I did, you actually take these things with juniors taking the test for real!(sorry about the choice of words, I don’t know what else to write) Actually, he probably is one of the top kids in the nation, for freshman of course. BUT, you really need to show some commitment going forward, and I guarantee that you will get into a good school. Your doing great, and all the best!
@2020hind Yeah, maybe that was a bit harsh. I did take the ACT as part of the Northwestern Talent Search. OP You don’t rank low, but don’t think of yourself so highly either 
@Anish14 True Dat, as urban people say
OP, you will get into a great school. It may be Columbia or Harvard. It may be Macalester or Grinnell. And then perhaps on to Cambridge for a grad degree. Who knows? One thing I can virtually guarantee is that each of these schools will be even harder to get into three years from now. (Yale might be an exception because they are adding slots.)
I don’t think you are “full of yourself.” You are ambitious (which is a good thing), and maybe a little anxious. Looking for advice, but OTOH, maybe also looking for a little reassurance? Be reassured – you will get into a great school.
Advice, FWIW: Get off CC for at least a year. Don’t even read the posts. You love math. Do with it everything that you possibly can. Skip the research work with an Ivy prof for now. Find a math need in rural India that needs to be met–then, next summer, go over and meet it. Do this stuff for your own love of math, not what you think adcoms will like. The rest will follow!
Hey @iambrutus
Everything in your stats seems really amazing, but you do seem to be lacking volunteer work.
Recently, colleges have been pushing more and more for community service, so I highly recommend you try to do more volunteer work. There are tons of really good clubs that you can join(which would also give you more ECs), find out if your school has a Key Club, if it does, definitely join. Colleges love seeing that, and it is widely respected among admissions officers.
Besides that you are definitely on the right track, so just keep doing what you are doing!
Ok
@iambrutus, I think with your great stats and enthusiasm for the top schools, you should consider going for the University of Phoenix or ITT Tech, both renowned colleges in America. The former has affiliated campuses throughout 34 states. I think you will have a very good chance at these places. Good luck with your hard classes!
@iambrutus
Look Kemal, you are a smart kid. No doubt, a hard worker. But the thing is, there is no set recipe or procedure you can follow to ensure admission into Harvard. In the past ten years, from Staten Island Tech, 208 kids applied to Harvard, only 14 got in. You’re on the math team, you can calculate the acceptance rate.
You have an issue that has become very common among the current high school generation. You all are just to arrogant. Just because you aced life in your first 9 years of elementary and intermediate school, does not mean you will be the best of the best until the end. You have potential, everybody in your school does, but when compared to the brightest of the nation, you are just another kid with high hopes.
I am pretty certain that you are not aware of how difficult it is to be an Intel Semifinalist. Additionally, a 2400 SAT score?
If you look at the word “ASSuME” carefully, you will realize where you are headed, if you keep on ASSUMING.
Math Team honestly isnt a big deal. Neither is being another one of the many track kids.
How does being a COLUMBIA double legacy help with HARVARD?
I am going to assume you either want to be a doctor or an engineer, since you have oriented your extra circulars towards that subject matter and you are brown. Being brown puts you at a disadvantage.
I strongly suggest applying to schools which you would do well in and fit in perfectly. Schools include Georgia Tech, Stony Brook University, Northeastern University, Hofstra, Binghamton University, and if you get lucky, John Hopkins University.
Your arrogance is way to high. I suggest you take a chill pill, put your little boy track sweatpants on and get a reality check.
Good luck kiddo. With an arrogance the size of yours, you will be needing it
Sir, I would like to thank you for your comments.
With all due respect, my intention was not at all to seem arrogant or insult anyone. I must be honest in saying that I feel disappointed that a few people feel this way.
To tell you a little bit about myself, my motto is that we can conquer ambitions with our values…as Albert Einstein said; be a man of value. My sincerest intention was to portray this and ask if my hard work would pay off. In other words, I was inquiring about where I stand in terms of my accomplishments.
I must also say, that I neglected to revise my inquiry carefully. As I said before, I just was asking for an answer to a hyphothetical.
I do have one question; how do you know my first name?
All the best!
I must say, the “assume” lines made me chuckle. Come back when you HAVE indeed accomplished something, not when you’re projecting accomplishments.
I’d recommend toning down the arrogance just a tad, I’m not sure admissions would love to hear how much money your aunt and uncle donated…
Moving on from that, I haven’t bothered to read the rest of the thread yet, because I can see it’s littered with ridiculous remarks from both sides.
I do agree with most in regards to the fact that you do not seem to have a realistic understanding of precisely how competitive the admissions process truly is. As a previous poster mentioned, 80% of perfect SAT scores are rejected from Harvard. It happens. To most.
Your extracurriculars thus far are average (for a mid-level ivy applicant). Math team. See, put that in perspective. At your school, it may seem quite important. On a state, national, or international level, it begins to wither away; rather ephemeral, wouldn’t you say?
Nothing as of now even mildly suggests you have a better chance than the overall acceptance rates.
Bolstering about things like “receiving the highest grade in an 11th grade class in 8th grade” is childish. Woopity-doo. I received the highest score in an AP calc class in 8th grade, but do you think I’ll share that with anyone? Admissions? Not a snowball’s chance in hell.
I understand math EC’s pretty darn well, so I’d be happy to help if you just tone it down a bit.
I have one last comment;
I am not trying to be arrogant.
That is all and I thank you very much for reviewing my post.
@iambrutus are you kidding me? A valedictorian with a 4.1 weighted? That’s outrageous. I go to a competitive high school (ranked top 100 in the nation), I have a 4.1 weighted, and I’m not even in the top quartile of my class. Sorry to say this, but if you want to be valedictorian, aim a lot higher than just 4.1 weighted.
As for your original question, like the others said, keep your trend up, do well on your tests, and keep aiming to be the best. But remember to have fun in high school. Do what makes you happy, not the Ivies, and you’ll go far.
@michelle426 You can’t compare weighted GPAs across different high schools when different high schools may have completely different weighting systems.
I did not apply to Harvard, but I got into another under 10% rate school. Do I know why I got in? No I don’t.
Ask the many other people that got into highly competitive schools. They do not know why they were picked over other highly qualified applicants. The point is you cannot really do much more to improve your chances, as you are doing a lot already. Just enjoy your high school life while it lasts. You’ll look back to this time while in college and realize that worrying during freshman year was futile.
How can you assume perfect SAT scores when you get a 186 on PSAT? Also I’m getting so tired of these young kids worrying nonstop about college admissions. They’re important but they not going to make or break your life. I have two uncles. One went to northwestern, hated it there and committed suicide junior year. My other one got a degree from a state school and made 100,000k out of college. College isn’t everything so maybe do what I did today and sleep until until 11:30 go fishing, play some Xbox and go to the movies. Oh I forgot it’s summer and I am on college confidential. I should be conducting paid cancer research at Johns Hopkins. My bad. But Jurassic world was probably more interesting.