<p>Also, I emphatically agree with tokenadult that nothing is a sure thing. . .
except, to turn the situation around, it’s very nearly a sure thing that a student with 2300+ and a 4.4 GPA–but no extra-curricular activities–will be turned down by almost all top universities.</p>
<p>Your daughter should stick with the academic competitions, if she enjoys them. She might also want to consider a different type of activity, either something that benefits her community or something done purely for fun, to follow an interest. </p>
<p>You might want to limit time spent talking to the score-mongers, too. I know the score of only one of QMP’s friends, the one with 2400, and only because that was in the school newspaper.</p>