<p>At what point would it be pointless for someone with a low gpa to not apply. Like say I had a gpa of 2.5 would it be worth applying to top schools? That's not my real gpa btw, but my real isn't much better. I am black male and my worst year was 10th grade, and I feel like I have a seriously good reason why (had some serious family issues) which my teacher (who knows me really well) agreed to talk about in his letter of rec. I feel my ECs are really good and I've won numerous state level awards, showing a strong interest towards writing. My gpa has a kinda dipping effect. Start out kinda good (3.ish freshman) major drop 10th (like 1-2.ish) then coming up slowly (3.ish) Then senior year first quarter (4.0). My course load is like all AP and hard classes (esp senior year)</p>
<p>PS the schools I'm talking about are:[list]
[<em>]Johns Hopkins
[</em>]Washinton U in St. Louis
[<em>]Case Western
[</em>]U Chicago
[<em>]Emory Oxford
[</em>]Gorge Washinton </p>
<p>I got this chart of Stanford admissions. Lowest GPA that someone applied and got in with is about 3.2 – Sorry, saw the schools you listed later. Well, with those schools, I suppose the GPA could be a little lower. If 3.2 is minimum for Stanford (which only 1 single person managed), then you can somewhat guess the GPA for these schools.</p>
<p>Realistically, I am quite sure JHU, WUSTL, Chicago and GW are going to fill their entering classes long before they get to applicants with grades such as you have described, and, realistically, I think all of them will have a sufficient number of young black men who apply with stronger high-school grades. Sorry.</p>
<p>I don’t know enough about CWRU or Emory Oxford to have an informed opinion.</p>
<p>I think it would be wise to apply to maybe a few of your “dream” schools, but wouldn’t spend much of my time composing different essays and working my behind off for schools that I have a low chance of acceptance to.</p>
<p>I would include a few “likelies” (SP?) and “safeties” into the mix. If you dream of going to a top undergraduate program, I would advise going to Comm. College for two years then transferring over. But, you will miss out on the college experience, such as dorm life, and all that good Freshman stuff. So use your time wisely. Maybe apply to 2 dreams schools (early, before October), then apply to the other schools before January, the regular admissions deadline and you should be fine. </p>
<p>EDIT: WOAH! NVM! They switched to holistic this year…crud/yay But it doesn’t matter. As long as you are ranked in the top half of your class and have at least 25 on your ACT you’re in. Its not that hard.</p>
<p>Hmmm, can you post the site where it states that? I’ve looked at the admissions page and I don’t see it. I’m interested because my wife worked there a few years ago.</p>
<p>I think your best hope is to make sure you get the best grades this year that you possibly can (straight A’s would be good) to show an upward trend.</p>
<p>Why is there “no chance” at those schools if 1) someone writes a letter confirming the reason for the decline in your grades sophomore year, 2) one of the essays [that is written FABULOUSLY, of course] describes part of this time period and how it changed your outlook on life or got you into writing or something, 3) non-binding EAs are submitted to the schools which will take them (without forcing you to attend if accepted), 3a) a binding EA is submitted to your favorite school [if applicable], and 4) rolling admissions applications are submitted early to your safety schools?</p>
<p>Btw, are all of your big awards in writing? Or do you have other EC awards?</p>
<p>You’re still an URM…never know who’s applying! Is your family highly educated, or are you first to attend college? Did you take the PSAT…with good results? </p>
<p>While your GPA doesn’t help, you may have some things to help your application get to the “read again” or “admit” piles, rather than to the automatic “reject” circular file. I have faith! You should, too!</p>
<p>@mummy24 Would it be smart to apply early, or should I wait for my first quarter senior grades to come in and apply RD?</p>
<p>I have speech and debate awards as well. My other ECs are Archery, Speech and Debate, I was doing tennis but I messed up my knee and had to quit…sigh…</p>
<p>My dad got a degree in arts, mom little college (no first gen :/) And no good PSAT results. I’m scoring around 2350+ on practice tests I’m hoping for 2400 on real deal…</p>
<p>When will you get 1st quarter grades? Yes, likely wise to wait, unless LOR and essay could be strong enough without…but upward trend is better (as other poster noted). Definitely apply to several safety schools you’d be comfortable attending. </p>
<p>Grad school is where you REALLY want to hit the big time schools with the top-ranked professors, so don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t work out now. Just think of it as having 4 years to practice for what you’re truly shooting for. Either way, it’ll work out! :)</p>
<p>^Official first semester grades would come out after Decision Release. Yeah I think I’m just going to try for the upwards trend. Also, yes I am applying to several safety schools.</p>
I have faith! You should, too!</p>![http://0.tqn.com/d/collegeapps/1/0/w/M/-/-/Stanford.png[/url]](http://0.tqn.com/d/collegeapps/1/0/w/M/-/-/Stanford.png%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
