Hi everyone! I’m in the process of applying to colleges and I wanted to know what you all think. I’m applying to quite a few Ivy-tier universities (along with safeties obviously), but my GPA is not too preferable. My stats are as follows
I hope to major in Physics or Mathematics.
Numbers:
1510 SAT no writing
3.9 weighted GPA with a very strong upward curve
(The reason for this bad a GPA was my adjustment to the American School system coming from India)
Math 2 - 750, working on increasing it
Physics - 720, same deal.
AP Human Geo - 4
AP European - 5
AP Comp Sci Principles - 5
AP English 3 - 4
AP French - 4
Strong classes (despite my bad grades freshman and sophomore year).
I hope to emphasize my extracurricular involvement in music. I have played the Indian Classical Violin for a very long time, and I am a touring musician who gets paid to perform. Also, I have been the Ambassador of many Non-Profit music organizations, and I run my own music performance organization.
Outside of Indian Classical I am a member of the school orchestra and I play the violin. I joined the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra’s Philharmonic Group this year.
Given all of this information, I was wondering if I was a suitable candidate for schools like Uchicago, Yale or Columbia.
I’m most familiar with Yale, so I’ll give some Yale specific answers, which are also generally applicable to other schools with single digit acceptance rates.
First consideration would be towards your unweighted GPA. Elite schools want to see unweighted numbers, and will calculate it themselves. They will then look to your HS report and whether your college advisor checked the “most rigorous” box on the report to determine their own impression of how rigorous your classwork is as compared to what is available at your school.
At Yale, 95% of students had a GPA in the top tenth of their HS graduating class. It is generally in the 90% range (or very close to it) at the most selective schools.
Math/Physics kids at Yale typically have 780+ on relevant SATII, take BC calc, and AP Physics if offered by their schools (and often self-study if not offered) as well as STEM related ECs.
Yale’s overall acceptance rate for female applicants was under 6% last year.
When you include carve-outs for legacy, donor, recruited athlete, URM, etc., the actual acceptance rate is far lower.
Asian STEM violin player is about as close to the opposite of a URM as you can get.
With so many top kids applying from the US as well as India, “a very strong upward curve… The reason for this bad a GPA was my adjustment to the American School system coming from India,” is unlikely to gain much traction as an explanation or an excuse.
You may be a “suitable candidate” but this in no way means you are likely to be admitted. But it’s worth trying for a few of your favorites-- just have a solid backup plan. And I agree with tdy123 that you don’t really present well as a math/physics major. Not sure it matters if you are not applying to a specific major but you should think hard about what you want and what you really excel at.
Why are you applying for math? Your ec’s and APs indicate a future social science major - perhaps economics.
To give yourself a shot at all, don’t apply for math/physics. (You can take a class in those first semester to see if they’re truly your calling, since you don’t have to declare for a while, but apply for something else that matches your profile).
That being said, there will literally be a thousand kids with a similar profile to yours. So, sure, send a few applications but your odds are lottery ticket level.
Most importantly, choose 5 affordable matches carefully. What do you like at UChicago, Yale, Columbia? Look for those characteristics in a university with 25-30% acceptance (reach) or 30-45% acceptance rates (match).
Make sure you’ve applied to your flagship and its honors program - many have Nov1 deadlines.
Vanderbilt would make more sense as a reach if what matters to you is prestige because they like high test scores.
UMichigan may work.