I messed up really bad freshman year but rebounded sophomore year, I am in the middle of applying to colleges and I realize that I want to go to an ivy league or at least an elite school, but freshman year messed me up so bad. and I am not a good test taker, therefore, i only scored a 1200 on my sat.
stats-
freshman year -no honors or ap classes. very low average like 82.
sophomore year - still no honor or ap classes due to my freshman year mess up however my GPA was a 97.
junior year- two honors classes no ap- GPA 94
senior year- all ap classes(4 in total) plus advanced research class which is basically an ap class in my opinion.
sat- 1200, really hoping on improving that.
extracurriculars - president of stem club, math league, NHS, robotics, a research project on micropropagation(idk if that helps)
I taught myself 4 different programming languages idk if that helps my application and I started multiple businesses however they were not all that successful.
I have a great college essay but my sat and low GPA is really bothering me.
am I even considerable for Harvard and the other ivies and other elite schools like Stanford, caltech, mit? Am I even good for NYU or Georgia Tech or any of the UC schools?
You can google the class profile and/or common data set of each school and see how your academic stats match up. In addition if your HS ha Naviance that is an excellent tool. While admissions are holistic, academics are of paramount importance. Unless you have a major hook (ex. recruited athlete, child of a huge donor etc.) it doesn’t look like your academic stats are in the range for Ivy and equivalent schools. I suggest that you expand your horizons and recognize that there are many wonderful schools out there where you can have a great 4 year experience and get where you want to go in life.
Most of the U.California’s and most schools in Canada don’t even look at grades from grade 9. However you would need to get your SAT up a LOT to have a chance at the top schools in either California or Canada. Given the time frame you don’t have much time to retake the SAT. Also, the U.California’s have very little aid for out of state students. Therefore if you are from any of the other 49 states you would be full pay at any state university in California.
Another thing to think about is whether you should apply to SAT optional schools. The ones that I know about are small (such as LACs).
A more likely option, again depending upon what state you are in, is to go to a pretty good in-state public university, and hope to go to an elite school for graduate school. However, for this to work you would need to both have very good grades as an undergraduate (ie, from when you arrive at university until you get your Bachelor’s), and you also would need to be able to afford graduate school which implies that it would be best to minimize the cost of your undergraduate university.
I know my sats need to go up a lot, I took many practice tests after my first sat and scored in the 1400-1500s so I think I will score decent, I am retaking it in November and December. I am from NY, and there are pretty good city and state universities I really want to go to an elite school
Without a major hook, even getting your SAT up above 1500 is still a far reach to get into Harvard, et al. I thnik you really need to be very realistic about your chances, and come up with safeties and reaches. Even for kids with spectacular grades and scores are being rejected from the elite schools, especially the Ivys. There are many other excellent schools you can apply to and get a great education without having to go to any Ivy or its equivalent.
Also if your SAT is 1200, unless you fully dedicate all your time to studying for the SAT, raising the score above 300 is extremely unlikely, especially since there isn’t much time to study before you apply.
@persaud10192: I apologize in advance for this blunt comment, but you have absolutely NO CHANCE of admission to any ivy league school with a 1200 SAT, as that test score indicates you could not handle the reading, writing and math workload of a school like HYPSM et al.
So, it’s a complete waste of your time – and your parents money – to apply to any ivy league school with a test score so low. Don’t believe me? Please see Harvard’s golf recruitment page and read what they expect from a golf recruit: http://www.gocrimson.com/sports/mgolf/faq
If those requirements are needed for a golf recruit, you can be assured they are also needed for an academic applicant.
A 32 is in the 25th percentile of accepted students, so that’s not in your favor either, as many of that cohort are probably seriously hooked as recruited athletes for example.
There are much better engineering program’s than Harvard’s, IMO.
Getting into the elite school isn’t the only hurdle. If somehow you are able to get into one of these tippy top schools, it’s surviving academically that’s a another major hurdle. You will be competing with super smart kids, most of whom had perfect or near perfect gpa’s and board scores. There are numerous STEM schools you can apply to that most likely will be a perfect fit for you, and get a great education and eventually have a great career in the engineering field. So do not treat getting into college like buying a lottery and dreaming about all the things you can buy with the 100million dollars.
Are you a California resident? If so, then some of the UC’s could be possible with an ACT of 32 but not the top UC’s with your GPA although UC’s only use 10-11th grades in their GPA calculation.
