About High School:
Number one high school in Texas and nationally recognized (top 40 last time I checked). I took 1 AP class sophemore year, 3 AP classes junior year, and currently taking 6 AP courses as a senior. Every single class I took that wasn’t AP was honors.
Academic Profile:
GPA: 3.6 UW / 4.00 UW (1st quartile)
My school doesn’t calculate weighted GPA.
Ethnicity: Japanese and Indian (Asian)
Gender: Male
General Bio:
Second generation US citizen, and second generation college attendee in the US.
Test Scores:
SAT: Extremely poor compared to my GPA.
Math: 580
Reading: 520
Writing: 520
Essay: 8
SAT Subject Tests: At this point you can see I’m horrendous at standardized tests.
Biology E: 570
Math II: 540
Extracurriculars:
Marching Band as Section Leader
Exclusive Ensemble for Band as section Leader
800+ hours of community service (try hard)
Golf Club as Co-Founder
Co-Chair of E-Sports Club
In-School Volunteer Organization as a Recruiter (junior and senior). Got around 50 people to join.
Applying with Biology Major:
Rice University
Carnegie Mellon University
Georgie Institute of Technology
Trinity University
University of Texas at Austin and Dallas
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Wisconsin at Madison
Baylor University (Accepted with 120k / 4 yrs)
University of Washington at Seattle
Penn State University at University Park
University of Iowa (Accepted 30k per year)
Texas A&M University (Auto-Admit and 25k per year)
Syracuse University
Quality of Materials Submitted:
Essays: A+ (spent lots of time editing)
Reccomemdations: A (I made a B+ in one of the reccomemder’s classes)
Questions:
Based on only my academic performance do I have a good chance at the schools I have applied to?
Will my academic results (gpa/rank) outweight my SAT I and II scores?
How strong is my application in terms of each of the schools that I have applied to (1 being poor and 10 being amazing)?
Thank you for reading my lengthy and mediocre academic profile. I look forward to seeing your responses.
You should apply to some test optional schools. Your SAT I and II scores are not going to be of much help with Rice and some of the more competitive schools on your list. And don’t consider yourself a failure, there’s more to you than just some bad test scores. Your academic profile is not mediocre just because you’re not the best test taker. Don’t be down on yourself, you’ve already been accepted into three colleges with scholarships.
Look at the common data set for the schools on your list to see where you line up with their test scores. Revise your college list accordingly.
Go to google and type in: name of school common data set
When you open up the PDF scroll down to C9
Thanks for the CDS information, I was mostly concerned with the colleges besides Rice, Carnegie, and GIT (I’m just giving it a shot). Also, I’ve looked into a system, that my school provides, called Naviance. It has shown a lot of my fellow peers have gotten into most of the schools that I’ve listed above including Rice with GPA’s a bit shy to mine but SAT’s around the 1700s.
I’m assuming you go to the School for the Talented and Gifted (which is also ranked 1st nationally) in Texas, so your GPA could possibly (don’t quote me) make up for your testing history. I think you should still apply and to the schools you’ve listed and see what happens. You won’t know unless you try.
I think Rice, Carnegie Mellon and Georgia Tech might be out of reach. I’m not sure about Rice, but I know CMU and GTech take test scores very seriously.
But in no way does that make you a failure. You already got into two good universities with scholarships. Also, the rest of your application is great. I think you have a solid chance at the other universities in your list.
I agree with checking out the common data sets, because it tells you what the university prioritizes. Like CMU here:
@told 2015
Haha, I actually go there. Also, I have legacy at Rice and I’ve done 2 interviews with them so I think I tried my best.
@Enthouse
I agree with your perspective regarding Carnegie and GIT, mostly my female counterparts with higher SAT’s (~1900s) have gotten in, though they made a to 3.0 in school. Also the title was supposed to be more of an attention-grabber not really overly depressed lol.
Haha, sorry my bad. Well, if your school is as challenging and highly-ranked as you say it is then I guess a 3.0 is actually pretty great? In which case your GPA would be outstanding.
Haha, I might of fluffed myself up a bit, but this is all unweighted I’m referring to so anything above a 3.0 is above half of my class. That said the average SAT score in my class is a 1950.
You’re lucky you go to the School for the Talented and Gifted. At my high school (and probably most schools), 3.6 is a low GPA for universities like Rice, CMU, and GT. I have a higher GPA and much higher test scores than yours, but I think I’m a failure because of my rejections/waitlists.
Your high school’s prestige probably makes it easy to get into top universities, so your chances will be good.
@Mangiafuoco
Thanks, I wa s just very concerned with my testing scores. And yah 3.6 UW is pretty low at most high schools, but there aren’t many classes that can boost anyone’s GPA here. All electives aren’t included in the GPA, merely if you pass the elective you get the credit and nothing more.
I think you’ll have to be a bit lucky to get into the more prestigious colleges on your list but I think you still have a change. Don’t feel bad about your test scores. They may not get you into every college on your list but they’re still well above average. Keep a positive attitude! I’m sure you’ll end up somewhere great!
Your scores aren’t that bad! I know some people with lower scores (trust me, like 1200’s) and they ended up in fairly decent places (asu, csu’s)… Looks like you’ve already gotten into some uni’s. Like the first poster said, your GPA is decent and so are your ec’s, go for some test optional schools. Remember, colleges actually like GPA more because it shows how well you can perform in a classroom environment. Besides, SAT is gradually losing importance as an admissions factor because those with “higher income” can get “certain prep” to increase scores. There are some schools which allow for February tests (Yale I believe). Why not try the ACT? I scored badly on SAT but the ACT was not too bad… I say 5-6 chance.
P.S. That’s an interesting ethnic background! Did you talk about that in your essays?
@Musktard
Thanks for the info. Greatly appreciated!
@Catria
Thanks, I just saw my new SAT score from December. I made a 2200, 800M, 720R, and 680W, though my essay was a 6.
@poorvi1
Thanks for the support! I’ve just got my results from my second SAT and I got a 2200!!! I also did talk about my background and discussed that diversity at a university was one of the factors I took into consideration.
Rice University: Reach
Carnegie Mellon University: Reach
Georgie Institute of Technology: Match
Trinity University: Safety
University of Texas at Austin: Low match/Match
UT-Dallas: Safety
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Low match
University of Wisconsin at Madison: Low match
University of Washington at Seattle: Low match
Penn State University at University Park: Safety
Syracuse University: Safety
@RocketMan90
Thanks, I have hope! I’m also pretty sure I had an amazing essay especially as I made some puns about the cultures I bring to the table from the chopstick to the chapatti, and such haha!
Congrats on the 2200!
Rice University: High match
Carnegie Mellon University: low reach
Georgie Institute of Technology: Match
Trinity University: Safety
University of Texas at Austin: Low match
UT-Dallas: Safety
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Low match
University of Wisconsin at Madison: Low match
University of Washington at Seattle: Low match
Penn State University at University Park: Safety
Syracuse University: low match
