I plan on applying to early decision in the fall. I am a white male currently living in Florida; it may also be of note that I am graduating a year early with 27 total credits, 6 of which are from middle school. My unweighted GPA is 3.90, weighted is 4.53. There is also an upward trend, as since I have entered high school I have an unweighted GPA of 4.00 and a weighted GPA of 4.71. My schedule is essentially the most rigorous available at my school. My freshman year included AICE AS Thinking Skills and AP Human Geography. I got an A (5) in Thinking Skills and a 4 in Human Geography. This past year I participated in 5 AICE classes (1 A Level) although I do not yet have my scores. Next year I am enrolled in 5 AICE and 2 AP classes. For those of you unfamiliar with AICE, it is a program based out of Cambridge University that is of similar rigor to AP. My SAT score is approximately 1500, although I will take it again in the fall and am hoping to get a score of around 1550. I am applying early admission as previously stated, in addition to having made an official campus visit and having had email contact with university admissions employees a few times. However, I am admittedly very lacking in out of school activites. I was a member of my school’s academic team last year. I also am involved in a non-school affiliated model train club, although I do not know whether that matters whatsoever. As to volunteering, I hope to gather around 100 hours at a local animal shelter by the time of applying, in addition to a very brief visit to a special needs school with a family member and her service dog. My mom has a graduate degree, but my dad never earned a college degree although he attended a community college for a year. I have five half siblings, three of which obtained college degreees. The other two attended but did not graduate from college. Also, how generous are financial aid packages usually with early decision? My family is almost as low income as possible, so there should not be much of a question as go whether it is necessary.
I don’t know if graduating early will affect your application at all. You’re definitely academically qualified. I think the model train club will help your application stand out- don’t hesitate to put that as an EC!
Lacking in out of school activities is understood if you’re low income. It looks like you’ve achieved a lot so far academically, I think you’re fine.
Be careful with early decision and financial aid. You can negotiate with your financial aid offer after they give it to you, and if you’re low income they should be generous, but there’s no surefire way to tell if they’ll fully cover you.