Class of 2028. NYC top public high school that accepts 3% based on entrance exam, 11 APs, 94 average (3.85 unweighted), 1580 SAT (780 verbal/800 math).
Kid was admitted within a week for McGill BA but wanted BSc. AP scores in tenth and eleventh grade for humanities all fours and fives and humanities grades higher than STEM, all mid to high As.
Took AP chem sophomore year without intro chemistry and had a B. Honors algebra 2 also B same year post pandemic. Huge step up in difficulty that year! Rest of science math grades were A- plus apart from AP stats had a B+. McGill requested senior mid year grades all notably higher as STEM grades had upward trend. Finally accepted to BSc third week of April for life sciences.
I’ll comment that a classmate with substantially easier STEM classes with all As (no AP science, a bit of honors math) … mine took every AP science and some honors math, AP stats, AP calc etc got in much earlier!!! Seemed unfair like they weren’t assessing rigor but ultimately our kid was accepted.
She did not get into any top 20 US schools even though extremely well rounded and great essays etc. Waitlisted to Cornell (10% of her class going there) Seemed extremely unfair with so many kids test optional. Greater than $30k merit to top 30/top 50 schools but McGill is cheaper as dual citizen.
Going to McGill for life sciences. Super stressful admissions cycle….dont ever want to go through this again!!!