In a college like say NYU the average gpa of accepted students is 3.5 so for every successful applicant with a 4.0 there is another successful applicant with a 3.0 and for colleges that state that they have an average sat score of 2100 for every successful applicant with a 2400 there is one with an 1800. So technically people with lower grades do get into highly competitive colleges. For me I have a gpa of 3.3 and a sat score of 2000 but I have published two books and my political article has been published in a national newspaper. Further i have founded my school magazine and I am a contributor to an online political magazine. So is there a chance that competitive colleges looking for a diversity in student abilities may accept me for my writing skills and ignore a lower gpa than what would be required for their college.
Sure they would! If your ECs are awesome, you would have a chance. You probably want to go to colleges and find out the percentile ranges for the GPA and SAT scores. I think as long as you are above the 25 percentile range in both of them, you have a really good shot. You could find that information on the Collegeboard website too. Just search up the college and click on Applying on the left corner and then scroll down.