<p>Colleges of Interest (from least to most likely that I will get in): Columbia, Brown, Stanford, UChicago, Pomona, Barnard, Haverford, Reed, Macalester, Pitzer, Whitman, Bennington, Lewis & Clark, Willamette, UC Santa Cruz
High School Grad Year: 2013
GPA: 4.0 (unweighted), 4.5ish I think (weighted)
SAT Scores: 2150 (800 Critical Reading, 690 Math, 660 Writing - embarrassing)
AP/Honors/Running Start Classes:
Honors Math - 9th-10th
Honors English - 9th-10th
AP World (4) - 10th
AP Macro/Micro Econ - 11th
AP US History - 11th
AP Music Theory - 12th (not taken yet)
AP Psychology - 12th (not taken yet)
AP Environmental Science - 12th (not taken yet)
AP English (not sure which yet) - 12th (not taken yet)
AP Comparative Government - 12th (not taken yet)
Honors Orchestra - 12th (not taken yet)
Running Start (RS) Pre-Calculus 2 - 11th
RS English Compostion - 11th
RS Expository Writing - 11th
RS Rock Climbing - 11ths
RS Astronomy - 11th
RS Calculus - 11th
RS Sociology - 11th
RS Self Defense - 11th</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:Orchestra, SEPIA (Autism Awareness) Club, Key Club, Tutor at Kumon, volunteer tutor with Catholic Community Services, Violin, youth symphony, Pacific Northwest Film Scores (violinist)
Leadership Positions: Orchestra concert master (10th)
Volunteering: 101.25 hours and counting, SEPIA club, volunteer tutoring, Stories of Autism
Awards: Knight Valor Community Service (100+ Hours) Award, Most Inspirational Musician (2 times), Citizenship Award</p>
<p>Your SAT score and extracurriculars will hurt you for the Ivies and very top schools. Columbia, Brown, Stanford, and UChicago will all be pretty hefty reaches. I don’t know enough about the other schools to say anything about them, though.</p>
<p>The HYPed schools are a stretch for almost everyone; including you.</p>
<p>Example: here’s what Brown’s admissions results are for someone with your SATs:
- 800 Critical Reading: accepted 20%; denied 80%
- 650-690 Math : accepted 7%; denied 93%
- 700-740 Math: accepted 10%; denied 90%
- 650-690 Writing: accepted 7%; denied 93%</p>
<p>Another thing: seeing Columbia and Brown in someone’s prospective college list is always a red flag to me; they are both fine schools, but it’d be hard to find institutions with more disparate curricular philosophies. Brown has no requirements; Columbia has a strict core curriculum. Perhaps you are an exception, but it’s a rare thing to find a student who would thrive equally under those two very different educational philosophies.</p>
<p>What that means to me is that the criteria for your list may be tilted more toward external factors (e.g., the school has a good reputation) rather than how they may fit your unique sets of skills and capabilties. The rest of your list tends toward the quirkier, which makes me think that there must be some other reason why you’d include a such traditional school.</p>
<p>That said, your range of ECs is solid and I’m sure you’ll get quite a few acceptances; be on notice, though: 8 of the first 10 schools on your list are reaches.</p>
<p>P.S. Have you checked out Oberlin College in Ohio? Has lots of music oriented students and rings simiilar to Macalester.</p>
<p>P.P.S. Are you full pay or will you need merit aid?</p>
<p>Work on your SAT! Having above a 700 in each section will make you very competitive. Your GPA is superb, and I’m not very good at judging ECs, but I think yours are decent. Columbia, Brown, Stanford, and UChicago are reaches for now, but if you improve your SAT, you will be a very competitive applicant. Good luck!</p>