are my reaches actually SUPER REACHES?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey everybody! I am planning to apply to 3 reach schools, but I am afraid that these are not even reaches, but instead like SUPER Reaches…I plan to apply to USC, Northwestern, and Georgetown (among other matches/safeties).

These are my stats:

GPA - 3.65 /4 uw, 4.3 weighted, huge upward trend
New SAT: 1560/1600
ACT: 35/36
SAT Subjects: Bio (770), USH (800), Math2 (760)
Took 8 AP classes, and the rest were honors with 1 or 2 regular classes.

Clubs:
– President, cofounder of Media Club for 2 years, Founder and VP of Quill and Scroll for 2 years
– Volunteer Coordinator of MUN during senior year, was a member all 4 years
– Member of HOSA (4years), Envirostories (2years), and Math Club (3 years), NHS for 2 years, Relay4Life (all 4 years)
– JV Badminton for 2 years

Awards:
– 3 Best Delegate Awards from MUN
– Imagine Tomorrow - 1st place (Engineering Comp. at WSU)
– Won a few regional science/engineering awards
– QUALIFIED for Intel ISEF
– NHD - Qualified for Nationals @ DC – 5th place (i think)
– National AP Scholar!

Internships/Volunteering:
– Junior Health Scholar at Swedish Hospital, Seattle (volunteering for 400+ hours, earned a certificate from UCLA Public Health School)
– Paid internship at Fred Hutch Cancer Center during summer after junior year (paid)
– Worked at a Neural Engineering Lab at University of Washington for 9 weeks (paid)
– 6 month internship at Waste Management in Seattle (non-paid)
– Microsoft YouthForce yearlong internship (paid)
– Volunteered for 100+ hours at different non-profits

Jobs/Other ECs:
– Learned Classical Dance for 12 years
– Worked at Target and the local Theatre to help support my family
– Taught dance to beginners and intermediates for 4 years
– Worked at KUMON as a grader for about 10 months
– Started a organic, vegan skincare line on Etsy (about 700 sales so far)

I already wrote my essays and I think they are really good, as are my recommendations! I know my GPA is pretty bad, but I think I have a pretty good ACT score. My gpa isn’t great bcuz I had to work a lot to help support my family (we have a rly low income!) I will definetly be needing Financial Aid. My brother got a full ride at NYU bcuz we qualified for a lot of need based aid.

Please let me know whether I am reaching too far or if there is still a chance for me to get into those schools (USC, Northwestern, and Georgetown)!!

2

Perhaps you should try to have some more confidence in your abilities and reach higher? There is a very decent chance you could get into all three. If your family has a very low income, look for schools with some 100% need financial aid deals as your match schools.

3

You’ll be fine. They’re like low reaches probably. Also if your PSAT is as good as your SAT you’ll probably get National Merit finalist which gets you a 1/2 tuition scholarship at USC (and would make them want to pursue you demographically, possibly making it a match).

4

Georgetown is a pretty high reach given your GPA. But the other 2 seem possible.

5

These are great chance schools. If you want, you could try for other great colleges because your ECs are incredible. Also, I’m sure you can explain your GPA in the additional info section of common app, and that will also help. GOOD LUCK BUD

6

Well your test score is above average at all three, while your GPA is below average. Find out how much each school weighs both. Things like ECs and essays are also important, but they are more subjective. I think your chances will probably be fairly close to the overall admission rates at each school.

Which probably means Northwestern is a reach, Georgetown is a borderline reach/low reach, and USC is a low reach.

If you love one of them most, and you can afford it, consider applying ED. But only do that if it’s your clear #1 choice and if the NPC indicates that you will clearly be able to afford it without taking on too much debt.

7

@intparent,

Northwestern actually has lower admission rate, higher test scores (70 points higher on SAT), and higher percent in top-tenth of HS graduating class than Georgetown.

8

It seems to me that GTown is more brutal when it comes to a lower GPA, though (just anectdotal observation).

9

OP,

I think NU would be a match for ED but a reach for RD. The admit rate for ED is almost 4 times higher than RD (8.4%). It is a myth that you can’t get out of ED; you actually can reject the offer for financial reason. The only bad thing is just you won’t be able to compare different packages from RD since that round would no longer apply once you accept the ED offer.

10

You can get out of it for financial reasons, but it’s still probably a pain in the rear… so IMO it’s best to be safe: check the NPC, sit down with the folks, and make sure you can afford it. Then if the school is your #1 choice, go ahead and apply ED.

11

Thank you all for your input! I think I am gonna apply while hoping for some miracle haha

12

Georgetown is definitely not a “low reach”. I agree with @intparent that it is a reach and that GPA is very important to them.

None of these schools are “super” or high reaches for you. High reaches are schools where you are a significantly below average applicant compared to the rest of the pool (ex: 3.2 uwGPA with 1200/1600 SAT with no substantial special situation applying to Cornell).

13

okay thanks for you input! Would applying ED to Northwestern help at all? That is by far my first choice but idk about the whole financial aid and I could really use the extra semester to bring my grades up :confused: @prezbucky @yikesyikesyikes