Current co29 soph in wind ensemble, I noticed the "Wind Ensemble 2026-2027" roster outside of the band room had a ton of co28 ppl that must have dropped. Is there a reason why so many people do? Is it collegemaxxing? Time commitment?
Does anyone here have any resources or things they used to self study MI3? I'm trying to find ways I can study MI3 by myself, such as when I am at home or unable to attend study hours. MI3 is kinda frying me rn icel.
Does a 4.0 unweighted gpa mean all A's or all 100s? Confused as I've seen it indicate one or both in the past.
Edit: my father told me that gpa is calculated as a percentage and a 100 is a 4
Hi all,
I am a rising sophomore in Illinois who will be attending a highly competitive selective enrollment high school next year. I know I have time, but I just want to know what I should do to maximize my T20 chances in the time I have left (please let me know if this goal isn't realistic based on my stats).
During my freshman year, I attended my local public high school (my new school is soph-senior only). At my local high school, I had all A's with a 4.0 uw and a 4.3 weighted (honors goes up to 4.5, AP goes up to 5). I took honors geometry, honors english 9, honors biology, world history, spanish 1, PE 9, and jazz band as a saxophonist. This was my courseload because it was the most rigourous possible courseload my underfunded school would allow me to take (and a huge reason why I'm transferring).
In terms of ECs, I am a Life scout (getting Eagle at the end of soph year), I went to state for math and chess, I did Model UN (won 1 award), I did scholastic bowl, and I did esports playing Madden NFL and placed at sectionals (did not qualify for state 😢)
For other stuff that may matter, I am a first gen immigrant, I got a 1460 on the SAT (680 math 780 reading) and a 32 composite on the ACT (32 math, 28 english, 36 reading, 28 science, no writing), and my new school has pretty much every opportunity you can think of not including athletics.
So here are my main questions:
What can I do to make myself a competitive applicant in 2 years? What ECs and opportunities should I pursue, what else should I do?
Are my goals realistic? If not, what should I do?
How to maximize the amount of aid I will get?
If this description reveals who I am, please don't dox me. Thanks for your help!