<p>I was wondering what my chances were for getting into top 25 schools, including Ivy's, UC's, Duke, etc.</p>
<p>So basically here are my statistics, and I am currently a junior.</p>
<p>GPA: 3.6
Weighted GPA: 4.5
Class Rank: 26/789</p>
<p>I've taken all Honors/AP classes throughout my current three years of high school, and plan on continuing to do so as a senior. I took 3 AP classes as a sophomore, 6 AP classes as a junior, and will take 7 AP classes as a senior. I have and plan on continuing to get 4's and 5's on my AP exams.</p>
<p>SAT (projected): 2250</p>
<p>Extracurriculars (current and projected):</p>
<p>NHS (2 years, 1 year as Blood Drive Chairman)<br>
Link Crew (2 years)
Mayor's Youth Commission (3 years, 1 year as Points Commissioner and 1 year as Vice-Chair)
Tennis (4 years, 3 years JV tennis and 1 year varsity)
Academic Decathlon (3 years, 1 year as captain)
Debate (3 years, 1 year as PFD captain)
Model United Nations (4 years, 1 year as Secretary and 1 as President)
Key Club (2 years)
Hospital Volunteer (4 years)
Work in lab at one of the top Neuro-research facilities: Barrow Neurological Institute (2 years)</p>
<p>Overall I have completed 600+ hours of community service through all of my activities. I am also Indian-American if that makes a difference. I was also wondering if it helps my odds if my brother attends Duke.</p>
<p>I don’t know for sure about Duke, but at a number of top schools having a sibling there is helpful.
Your unweighted GPA won’t look stellar at those top schools, but perhaps your rank will help. Your (projected) SAT is in the zone for top schools, but of course a lot will depend on what you actually get and how well you do on SATIIs. Your ECs are good but not highly unusual at top schools.
In sum, I think it is reasonable for you to be looking at highly selective schools, but it’s far from certain that you will be able to get into one of them. Make sure that you have a sensible list of schools, including reaches, matches, and true safeties. I think you have to consider all the Ivies, as well as Duke, to be reaches. I don’t know enough about the UCs to opine about those.</p>
<p>Thanks for your help, but I was wondering if perhaps working in a lab would help me significantly, especially if I can get something published or perhaps work on a research project.</p>
<p>Wow, very impressive. Only thing that looks low for your schools is your UW GPA but 16 AP’s is a ton so you should be fine with that. Also you have a lot of URM and service hours which should make you stand out. If you apply to 10 top 20 schools, I see you getting into at least 3 of them.</p>