<p>My high school is currently number two in the nation. It is a non-selective charter school.
I am currently a freshman. My classes: AP Economics (Macro and Micro), Precalculus AB, Honors Chemistry, French II, AP US Government and Politics, Honors English Language, Honors English Literature, and PE. I am not on a block schedule.
My GPA for trimester one was a 3.25 and my GPA for trimester 2 was a 3.14. After punching numbers for a few hours, I figured out that after finals and APs these next three weeks, my GPA will be somewhere between a 3.39 and a 3.79.
My classes for next year: AP Comparative Government, AP Calculus BC (I will be skipping AP Calculus AB), AP Chemistry, AP English Language, AP European History, Honors Physics, French III, and PE (once again not on a block schedule). I know that next year, as a sophomore, my GPA will be higher than that of this year because of the way AP scores are used.
This year, I am confident I will get 5s on both the AP Macroeconomics as well as the AP Microeconomics. I will probably get a 4 on the AP US Government but maybe even a 5.</p>
<p>My question: because of the school’s ranking and my classes, do I have any sort of chance to get into a top college? I want to either pursue a degree in neuroscience and become a neurosurgeon or a degree in economics in hopes of working for a hedge fund. Right now, I think becoming a neurosurgeon is a better fit for me as well as being the more realistic choice for myself.
I want to go to either Harvard, Yale, or Princeton. I COMPLETELY understand how hard these colleges are to get in to. Do I have any sort of chance? What steps can I take to improve these chances? Thank you.</p>
<p>Everything is possible. By the way, Neuroscience and Neurosurgeon are very different field (neural anatomy is probably the only overlapping area).
Try to bring up your GPA. Freshman year grade is often forgiven though. Since you are in a very competitive school, the admission office will take that into considerations. Each college send out people to each high school to collect profiles. They know how the grade distribution and the difficulty of classes offered in each school.</p>
<h1>2 is a charter school? According to whom?</h1>
<p>US News has us at number two. We’ve been recognized as one of the best by NYTimes, etc.</p>
<p>A startlingly large number of high schools seem to be very highly ranked.</p>
<p>Reading College Confidential has led me to believe that the list of the Top 100 High Schools in the U.S. includes close to a thousand schools.</p>
<p>OP, no matter where you go to high school, you’ll need stronger grades than those for the most selective universities and colleges (HYP and their peers).</p>
<p>Sikorsky… you made me laugh! I think the same… seems like EVERYONE on here goes to one of THE most highly ranked high schools. Also agree that even if they take into consideration the rigor of your school, your GPA needs to come up.</p>
<p>If you rank among the top 10% in a highly recognized high school, that will make a difference. If you are below average in the same high school, you better move to a less competitive high school and get higher GPA and class rank.</p>
<p>Ballis</p>
<p>Not all schools are created equally. We read posts from some that the “Ivies” never take anyone from their school, even valedictorians. In other cases, >10% of the class goes to those or similar institutions (NYC Stuyversant or Bronx Science are two examples).</p>
<p>Ok – that’s out of the way. Here’s the practical advice.</p>
<p>You’re a freshman. Do the best you can in your classes. If you do, then you have every right to be proud of your accomplishments wherever that lands you. That is the BEST you can do and you shouldn’t worry about artificial standards.</p>
<p>If you slack off and wind up with a 3.3 instead of the 3.8 you could have gotten – well yes,it will probably hurt you in the admissions game. </p>
<p>Once you’re a Junior, ask your GC about Naviance (at the number 2 HS in the Universe, I’m sure they have this). You can look up your numbers and see roughly what your chances are at any school, based on your school’s records. However, it’s way early to even be thinking about this now.</p>
<p>I would not take so many APs next year if I where simply because your grades are not that great this year with easier classes. Can you really handle that rigor as a sophomore?</p>
<p>4 APs are required next year…</p>
<p>Bring up that GPA!! A 3.4 for HYP is really low, no matter where you go to high school. I got accused of being an MIT AA case for having like a 3.88 uw GPA…so 3.4 is definitely low by those standards.</p>
<p>It’s way too early to predict if you’re competitive for HYP. Your freshman GPA is low but that’s often ignored in admissions, and you don’t really have any idea if you’ll succeed in your upcoming APs (econ and gov are supposedly two of the easiest, so if those are giving you trouble, harder ones may be rough on you – I’m thinking AP Chem in particular, and Physics if you take that junior year).</p>