To current students/alumni: Will I get into Princeton/Harvard/Brown/Johns Hopkins?

Question

Stats: I live in Baltimore.
GPA = 4.1 (I think; I know my weighted average this quarter alone is 102.9%)
Ranked second in class
Maryland Distinguished Scholar
AP Scholar, and currently taking 4 more APs
Played violin for 9 years
Won an award for a poem
Have sold original paintings
Baltimore City Badminton Varsity champion
Irvine Nature Center rep for Maryland Alliance for Environmental and Outdoor Education Conference
Participate in monthly math contests
National Honor Society Secretary
(For interview) I am clean, articulate, polite, and I make direct eye contact.

My concern is that I haven't done anything "special". Do you think I'll get in?

Answer 1

Assuming your SATs match the rest of your stats, Hopkins will love you. The other schools are more iffy purely because of the level of competitiveness, but you seriously need to reassess your definition of "special" if you think you need to add more to this list. You've got talent in multiple arts, strong interest in math and science, significant community involvement, athletics, and you've got the awards in just about every arena to back it all up. I don't know what else you could do.

Answer 2

I'd say in at JHU. Don't know about Brown. But I applied to H & P so can say something about them.
Your stats are good but like you said, nothing pops out. Something that looks quite different from others' resumes is the selling original paintings. On what scale did you sell them? How many? If you can play it up, that'd be an advantage.
btw, GPA cannot be > 4.0. Anything above an A is still counted as a 4.0.
Interviews don't matter much for P but may make a slight difference for H.
At this point, you have fair chances but nothing that would really set you apart and nothing that would make you an immediate reject.
So work on what you can: essays.

Also, consider posting this on the collegeconfidential forums.

Answer 3

You don't mention your SAT scores. If you can get a 2150-200 or better on your SATs, you will be qualified to get into any school -- even the most selective.

Being qualified isn't enough. If we assume that half the students applying to Harvard are qualified (and I suspect the number is greater), then 84% of the qualified students get rejected.

If you can get high SAT scores -- then you will get into at least one top tier school. If you can't do that well on your SATs, then you will not get into a top 20 school -- but will certainly get into some very good schools.

Since so many qualified students are turned down, you will need to do something to stand out. Activities are nice -- but they are easy to fake and hard to verify. Therefore, I suspect that it is your interview and your admissions essay that will be the determining factor.

Good luck.

Answer 4

i became into born into the Methodist faith, yet as quickly as I went into the U. S. military, I switched over over to the Presbyterian faith. I made that decision as a results of fact they think interior the Trinity, the daddy, The Son and The Holy Spirit!!

Answer 5

What... did you post this question just to brag?!? I have a feeling your achievements could get you into any of the schools you listed. And don't worry most of things you have listed qualify as "special". And geez don't be such a show-off!!