My gpa is low right now. Currently I have a 3.5UW and a 3.9W. I am very strong in the other parts of the application(standardized testing, ECs, essays, recs). Is it possible that these factors can still get me into a top 25 school? Or will the GPA immediately eliminate me from any chance at admission?
It depends. Looking through your other posts it seems as though you had a death in the family. When did you have the death in the family? What were your specific grades (IE: how many A’s, B’s, C’s).
How many A’s, B’s, C’s have you had cumulatively in high school? When?
Also, have you sought to try and take courses at your local CC? When? Which ones?
You sound like you could be a competetive applicant. Just from talking with other AO’s, I’d need to hear more info about what happened to formulate an educated decision.
There is no such thing as “make up for” any of the most important factors. For almost all of the most selective colleges, GPA is at the top of their list of the most important factors. Remember that these highly selective colleges have hundreds to thousands of students with test scores, ECs, and essays, similar to your, AND they have higher GPAs.
That being said, overall a 3.5 GPA is not average, but above average, and in the top 25% of all students who are applying to college.
However, again, college which are accepting only 20% of the students who are applying, are usually rejecting more students in the top 5% of GPA than they can accept (their applicant pool is usually mostly made up of students with GPAs and test scores in the top 25% of graduating seniors). High test scores and low GPAs are also something of a red flag for many very selective colleges, since it can indicate that your are good at tests and are smart, but are unable to maintain a constant high level of academic work that they think you will need at their college.
On the other hand, there are literally hundreds of amazing colleges out there where you will succeed and thrive.
You can apply to a couple of highly selective colleges as high reaches, but I would not recommend that you focus on them. Focus on colleges at which your GPA would be in the mid 50% of the accepted students.
At colleges in which your GPA is the bottom 25%, your test scores and ECs would likely not help much. However, at colleges in which your GPA puts you in the mid 50%, having tests scores which are in the top 25% could help.
Basically, high test scores, great ECs, and a great essay will sometimes put you in a better position than a student who has a similar GPA, but lower tests scores and weaker ECs and essay. So colleges at which your GPA is in the bottom 25% are unlikely to be looking seriously at unhooked students with GPAs in that range at all (+ that mismatch between GPA and test scores). However, if your GPA is in the mid 50%, they will be looking at your application seriously, and the rest of your profile would make you more competitive than most other unhooked applicants with GPAs in that range.
Good luck!