<p>I have decent SATs (760v/730m/700w) and equally decent extracurriculars (community service at a library, founding member/president of an extracurricular, a few academic awards, part of a band that performs quite often locally, etc). I took a reasonable amount of AP courses throughout high school, but my schedule would probably not be called grueling. However, my high school cumulative GPA is an exact 3.00. Is it even worth my time to apply to any Ivy League schools? </p>
<p>If it's worth anything, my junior year was my best statistically, as I sat at about a 2.8 before it. Also, there are some mitigating issues regarding my family situation, which I simply don't know if colleges will take into account. I'm pretty new to the college admissions game.</p>
<p>Thanks for the help.</p>
<p>bump...i wanna hear what you guys have to say about this too. i don't pretend to know the first thing about college admissions, especially at a school like columbia. one thing i do know is that if you think you have a decent chance you should apply because everyone that responds could tell you that you have no chance but you might just get in. people here tend to have the impression that all the students at the top 20 or so schools have perfect 4.0 gpas and 1600/2400 sats which is highly unlikely. so saying that i say that you have a chance because i think that everyone that meets most of the other requirements can get by if they happen to fall short of one statistic.</p>
<p>one school that could, not likely, but could is the U of Chicago.</p>
<p>I'm sure if you are an extemely exception case you might have a chance. It's not like the ivies never accept people with 3.0's. But it would have to be very exceptional; maybe you go to a very competetive high school, and you had some death in the family a billion miles away which made you miss several weeks of class.....twice...
Something like this....
Don't make anything up, of course, but if there is a good reason for your low GPA I'm sure you have at least a slight chance--you have good test scores.</p>
<p>Also, there are plenty of great schools where you might be a match. Like Reed, for example. Look at all of your options. You might find you'd prefer a school like Reed to Harvard.</p>
<p>Yes, many colleges will take family situations into account, but you have to keep in mind the sheer number of applications the Ivys receive every year.</p>
<p>At an LAC or smaller university, the admissions department will have a much better chance to get to know you, your circumstances, and take special circumstances into account. At a school like Harvard, where they have to sort through around 15,000 applications a year, you might not get that type of attention or consideration.</p>
<p>If it's your dream to attend one of the Ivys in particular, you shouldn't rule out applying, but seriously think about smaller colleges and universities where you'll have a much better shot at explaining your situation and letting the admissions staff really get to know you and see why they're worthy of having you as a student. :)</p>