Chanches for Duke, Colubia, Oberlin, etc?

[SunshineState]

<p>I go to public school in Florida. Rising senior, reaching kinda far for acceptance lol, but my best friend got into Columbia in '09 and I really want to go there.</p>

<p>Top choices: Reed, Duke, UNC Chapel Hill, Columbia, Oberlin, Bennington, Brown, Macalester
(Applying to UMiami also, since I'm pretty much guaranteed admission)</p>

<p>Unweighted GPA: 3.6
Weighted (6.0 scale): 5.2
Class Rank: #3 in a class of ~500, Top 1%
SAT (only taken once so far): CR: 730, M: 610, W: 640
Commended National Merit Scholar
(Going to be) a Silver Knight nominee</p>

<p>APs (Grade Taken):
World Hist (9): 4
Human Geography (10): 4
Biology (10): 4
Statistics (10): 3
US History (11): No score yet, confident 4-5
English Language (11): No score yet, confident 4-5
AP Art History (12)
AP English Literature (12)
AP Government (12)</p>

<p>I've done 26 credits worh of classes at my local community college through Dual Enrollment, which I began summer after freshman year.</p>

<p>EC:
Drama/Thespian Society: Secretary, Treasurer, President
Yearbook: Underclass Editor, Business Editor, 2 year Ed-In-Chief
National Honor Society, 3 years
Social Studies Honor Society, 3 years
Science Honor Society, 3 years
Peer Counselor
Student Government
Newspaper
Volunteer at an afterschool program for kids
I have hundreds of hours of community service.</p>

<p>I'm also fluent in American Sign Language, Latin, and Spanish, and am learning French this summer.</p>

[billabongboy9828]

<p>4s on most of your APs, and a bad GPA/SAT means that Duke and Columbia are out of reach.</p>

[HONORLIONS]

<p>yeah u'r gonna need at least a 2100-2300 SAT and a 3.8-4 GPA bud</p>

<p>EC's aren't bad, and being fluent could do you good for a linguistics major.</p>

[SunshineState]

<p>Yeah, I know Columbia and Duke are pretty far reaches. Call me an Idealist.
I'm probably going to focus on getting in to Bennington and Oberlin, since they seem a bit more realistic.
& as for my SAT, the sad part is that it's the second highest score of the classes of 2010 and 2011 in my school, and I didn't study. I'm taking it again in October though, so hopefully my math will go up.
Thanks for your input though. :)</p>

[decrescendo]

<p>SunshineState - For Brown, Columbia, and Duke, you have very little chance. Unless you get your unweighted GPA to a 3.75+ by the time you apply and raise your SAT Composite to a 2100+. Also, you put fluent in Spanish... are you a fellow Hispanic? :) Because if you are, that might help a little.</p>

<p>You've got a good shot at all other schools. Good luck!</p>

[SunshineState]

<p>decrescendo - Yeah, I'm hoping that actually studying for the SAT and eating before the test will raise my scores to where they need to be, because I had no idea what I was getting into the first time lol.
Yeah, I'm Hispanic and a girl, so I'm hoping that will work to my advantage. :)</p>

<p>& thanks, you too!</p>

[HONORLIONS]

<p>Yeah, you may be able to use that in a good essay</p>

[liu02bhs]

<p>dont' let others drag you down, you should apply anyways.</p>

[glassesarechic]

<p>^lol, optimism has nothing to do with it. Still, OP, your race and rank make you a viable, if not exactly outstanding, candidate.</p>