SAT prospects (only practise so far) 2200- 2340

AP prospects: Calculus - 5, biology - 5

high school average: 95%

class rank: 1/350

ECs: worked with an autistic child one on one for an entire summer, this summer have a secured position in research at a hospital

As well, placed 7th team (me and a partner) at queens university natioanl debating tournament.

Most importantly, very accomplished pianist (finished royal conservatory and teaches)

This on top of smaller, school related activities

So, do I have a chance at Harvard? Yale? Princeton? Cornell?

Thanks

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=804628&forum_id=1#9686229)

Also with classes, is your course load diverse with artistic classes. Maybe you've taken two languages. Independent Study would help.

I don't think you'll get into HYP without 5 expected AP classes by the time you graduate. If you did get into one of the 3, my bet would be Yale. Also with the piano gig, did you use your musical talents in school also (playing in Band).

Theres a supplement (art and music) thats where you will be able to show your talent to them personally.

SAT II's are necessary. Showing consistency between ACT and SAT is good.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=804628&forum_id=1#9687156)

Will the American colleges recognize this?

And yes, i play in the school jazz band, but its not such a time consuming extra curricular

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=804628&forum_id=1#9687550)

Cornell - 65%

Yale - 40%

Princeton - 30%

Harvard - 25%

Do some more APs!

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=804628&forum_id=1#9687209)

this is actually a really helpful metric. if you are in the type of school that routinely sends 3+ kids to HYPSMC, your rank will mean a hell of a lot.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=804628&forum_id=1#9687375)

Does being from Canada help at all (filling an international quota)?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=804628&forum_id=1#9687558)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=804628&forum_id=1#9687579)

Do you really need to be this good to get into harvard??

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=804628&forum_id=1#9688210)

The girl I know who got in last year was merely an A+ student, with a 2350, first generation though, but was an overall class citizen participating in several things, nothing overblown. She did science research but I don't think she completed it. She was bilingual in Russian and English. Though she didnt do it, theater doesn't hurt.

Just some advice.. among the intellectuals in my class there was one elite group that was very strong in Literature and Language, where they took an extra language or created an advanced college level English course. I was in the music and artistic crowd where one friend was a renowned Julliard violinist who got into Yale, and I served in every music performance group and extracurricular and went to Northwestern. What I noticed in college was that all of our passions merged into the others interest strongly (part of the cross competition maybe??) so don't be one-sided, but easily focus your energies into the extra things you can do.

What I suggest is taking AP Music Theory, and AP Spanish/French. If you pass your language early, you don't have to take 2 years of it (probably the most inconvenient schedule waste of time for a Freshman/Sophmore). Anything you were doing Junior Year, you want to be doing it next year, the more extracurriculars the better. I think you'll prove you really have a knack for conversing, interpretative, and natural elitism if you take up a second Foreign language as independent study. Russian, Latin, German (something out there your school doesn't teach but you may get mentored in). If you want HYP, don't make your Senior schedule easy. Also, PLEASE have another volunteer job outside of the Hospital. Help the homeless and get dirty, but don't just rely on Hospital work. I really think they hate comparing the hospital volunteers to each other when it comes to final choices. They can only assume you spend your time ass kissing the intellectual Johns Hopkins doctor who you hope will give a recommendation, doing homework, or claiming 200 hours of work reading a book to an old woman. Really think broadly with community service, the more original your ideas are the more they appreciate your effort at standing out. If the title of your community service activity is really broad, make sure you explain what you did and how it has affected you somewhere in your application. Also you should be apart of the leadership of an organization. Also, Artwork is a major plus if your good at it. You can send your slides to them.

And also, as a side note from wisdom, that I think no one in college would tell you but you should know.. is that while you still have time go to Barnes and Noble and find some books that scientifically stimulate your mind, and pop fiction. I can bet you that by the time you reach college you will be a little scattered. You don't want to get there and forget how you used to read and how fast!!! I know people in the upper epsilon of higher education who either read to fast or too slow because everything you read in High School is interpreted as important and quintessential to your journey to knowledge. Now that they have to read 6 novels for ONE class in 10 weeks, they are speeding through passages getting little to nothing from it.

But by the time your in college, you've looked at so much information that your intellectual challenge have drifted into other arenas of your life. I KNOW, it seems bizarre for intellectuals.. but your really just a layman. Don't worry about friendships, because they're like magic, but try and gain some perspective in how you read for fun.

Thats it.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=804628&forum_id=1#9688433)

-Zack

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=804628&forum_id=1#9688877)

The admissions committees will understand if your school hasn't many AP offerings, but then will expect you to take classes at your local college and do well in them. That goes to motivation and seriousness of purpose. That would prolly do it - if you do very well in those courses.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=804628&forum_id=1#9760129)

OP, you are doing everything right. work hard to nail the SATs (above 2250 if possible), keep your #1 ranking and get involved/continue to be involved in activities you love (if possible, take on a leadership role). Put some effort into your essays and select your reccomenders carefully. Apply and hope for the best. id be mildy surprised if you didnt get into one of HYPS. and you are likely in at cornell.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=804628&forum_id=1#9689715)

I am from Canada (Montreal more specifically), and I got accepted to Yale this year. Because of the Quebec education system, I never took AP or IB classes. Secondary school finishes after grade 11, and then we go off to cegep, which is a pre-university institution. We are supposed to complete our program of choice after two years, but some people stay as long as four years or so. My program was Liberal Arts, which was an honours program and had a rigorous workload. Anyway, I suppose I can't compare my program to that of the APs because I have nothing to compare it with...

As for extracurriculars, I participate in the drama clubs, although admittedly I have not been as active as I was in high school. In any case, I listed my high school activities, which included being part of the grad committee, basketball team, cheerleading, dance, acting, co-writing our play, newspaper, albeit these were not done all in one year haha. I took some things up then abandoned them for other things that interested me each year. I do volunteer at an animal shelter and I spent my last summer volunteering at an orphanage in Cambodia. I have also volunteered at hospitals, but not in research or anything.

As for my SAT IIs and my ACTs... applying to Yale was a very impromptu decision for me, so I registered for the tests pretty much the day before the deadline, and I knew I couldn't take the tests again in January because I was traveling around Egypt until the end of January, and I couldn't retake the ACTs in February because I'd have to catch up with school. Anyhow, the tests were pretty much at the end of my semester, so I also didn't have a lot of time to study for them. In fact, for the saturday that my ACT was to take place, I had about 5 exams, 3 essays and 2 orals due that week. In that case, I really was not able to study a lot, and admittedly, I did not receive marvelous scores. I got a 29 on my ACT, which is in the 95th percentile, but I thought it wouldn't be good enough for Yale given most score in the 30s. But I think that they took into account that I am from Canada and have never taken a standardized test in my life, and I only took it once.

My essays were pretty good, I found. Liberal Arts taught me how to write well. The key is to write with heart. My teacher recommendations were also very excellent (my teachers let me read them haha).

The point of my message is that, as you can see from my "credentials," I am not the perfect student who has saved the world twice from a dangerous disease and who has scored perfect on all my standardized tests. I also don't participate in a million extracurricular activities. So in the end, the perfect resume on paper doesn't matter all that much. What they're looking for is an interesting person who they think will truly contribute to the diversity of their class. I was told that my maturity, resilience and strength truly impressed them. Ultimately, it will be hard to evaluate whether or not you get in. I have heard of people who have applied to Yale who have won national and international science fairs, who have achieved perfect scores, etc, and yet they didn't get in, and I used to and still wonder how I was chosen over them. I even emailed my admissions officer and asked him, and what he said was that "the admissions process is not a science, it's an art, and often art doesn't have very clear explanations" and I think that's the best way to describe it.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=804628&forum_id=1#9759601)