3.5 GPA unweighted, 35 ACT score, what are my chances of going to a good (top 50ish) school?

Took 11 APs, (Though 6 of them will be this year (senior)) Didn’t partake in many afterschool activites except track for 3 years, Key club for one year, and just inducted into NHS. I did a good amount of community service, especially environmental through helping at my local beach and pond. Took a math and physics sat 2 and got an 800 on both. My gpa is pretty subpar because in 9th and 10th grade I slacked off a lot and just didn’t realize the importance of my grades. I stepped it up in 11th grade with 4 ap classes in calc bc, physics, english, and us history and got A’s in all of them. Ideally, I would really love to go to Cornell but I don’t think I have the grades/ecs to get in. It doesn’t help much that I’m looking to go into engineering (probably environmental or mechanical). Other schools that I’m considering are Johns Hopkins, Lehigh, Northeastern, Virginia Tech, Carnegie mellon, and rochester. What are my chances of getting into these schools?

I’d say pretty good. I’m in the same boat as you (3.5 GPA, 36 ACT). I’d recommend that you check out some of the comments on my chance thread, to see what people tend to comment about our profiles.

John Hopkins- low Reach
Cornell- low Reach
VT-High match
Lehigh-No idea
NE-High match
CMU-high Match
Rochester-Safety? Don’t know this one two well.

I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised this spring.

I put Rochester because it’s where both my parent went so yeah, pretty much a safety school.

I definitely think that Johns Hopkins and Cornell are either reaches of high reaches. While your ACT/SAT 2 scores are extremely good, I’m not sure if it will offset BOTH your GPA and your extracurriculars. Your GPA is on the low side, and in addition, your extracurriculars don’t show much leadership or commitment. It’ll probably come down to your essays. Good luck!

Yeah that’s the general consensus I’ve been getting on those two. I’m definitely thinking of applying ED to Cornell tho because I think that’s the only way I could get in… Trying not to get my hopes too high though.

One issue applying ED is that they may want to see your first semester senior year grades since your GPA is suspect, which could mean a deferral to RD. Still applying ED is your best shot.

Yeah I was thinking about that, definitely gonna be going 100% this year to make up for my gpa.

One question, if you get deferred from ED is that noted when they read your RD application?