The one thing that really needs to be addressed is that due to the budget crisis and the DOD being on the hit list, what happened ly or 2 yrs ago will not be what may happen this yr.
The last 2 yrs even without the budget issue, the amount of candidates applying for scholarships, due to the perception it is free money
has greatly increased. With the demand increasing and the supply decreasing the stats have changed for every branch regarding scholarship recipients.
Additionally, your hs will submit a school profile, and the boards will look at that school profile. That 4.2 wgpa, doesn't say a lot to us when we look at it, because nobody knows the school profile. Is the pt scale 7 or 10? Does the school multiple 4.0 for an A be it a 92 or a 98, or do they multiply the numerical value to the weight. Big difference. What is the weight based on 4.5 for IB or 5.0? Big difference when you are looking at 4.2. It is best to when asking for a chance to put uwgpa and wgpa. This allows people to see the "real" grade...in other words, 4.2 on a 5.0 scale is a B overall, and your uwgpa would be in the 3.4 range. 4.2 on on a 4.5 would be an A overall.
Also on the transcript will be class rank, plus the % of students that go Ivy, 4 yr Private, Public, 2yr, Tech and nothing. Now if you are top 20% and 10% go Ivy, 40 go 4 yr. 25% go 2 or Tech and 25% nowhere. That says something different than top 20% and 35% go Ivy, 50% go 4, 15% go 2.
OBTW colleges use this too for admittance.
Our DS was recruited by Cornell with the same stats in 08 and I would guess you are on target for Cornell admittance.