Unless you have a hook of some form (with your stats you’d need a superhook), remember that every kid applying to those schools can have “great ecs, killer essays, etc.” with a better transcript. Even with holistic admissions, schools prioritize GPA and transcript first- it shows not only your potential, but how hard you can work. I agree that a sudden upward trend senior year is late- what happened the first three years? Any extenuated circumstances?
IMO NYU will be a reach.
Tippy top, probably not. Top 50, quite possible if your senior grades are really good. Some schools are forgiving of “late bloomers”. I would try to think of a way to explain what made you turn the corner on effort. It doesn’t sound like your grades for the first three years were disastrous, but simply meh. Did you take any AP exams yet? If so, how did you do?
Re. #13 – if you’re on the bubble, they will wait for your midyear report. But depending on how high you reach or if you apply ED, you may be in the reject pile before the midyear report even comes in.
4s and 5s on all 8 I have taken to date, sat subject tests are literature: 780, math2: 800 and us history: 800
so as you can see im a good test taker i just have bad grades and no hooks or anything but I have an alumni recommending me for georgetown and the explanation for my gpa is that i was on medical leave for some time so my grades fell a ton and thers documentation and my counselor will write about it. @AroundHere @gardenstategal @hope469 @VANDEMORY1342
^Well, the medical leave is pretty important information that you left out from your first post. If that is the primary reason for your low GPA and can be explained, your ACT score will have more bearing.
Sorry for this being so long!
I’d have to disagree with what most people here are saying. You actually have a pretty good chance at some top 30 schools. But you’ll have to make sure your ECs are amazing and your resume looks stellar- trust me. (Are u a current senior? You still can change a lot!)
I’m currently a senior and will be applying as an intl. undergrad applicant this year (lol obviously). And I’m pretty average at my school but my school is extremely competitive and a lot of students go to some of the top US universities. Maybe it’s the environment I’ve been in but I’ve never even considered going to a college below top 30 (in either liberal arts or national universities) and I’m only applying to USA.
My high school grades though…while they have been on an upward trend: they’re not very strong. I was at a 3.67 UW semester 1 of junior year and then really messed it up and it fell to a 3.59 UW end of junior year 
I was really demotivated and my whole college list changed and I started looking at lower ranked colleges. Like you, I have a low GPA but high test scores and my resume is pretty great.
I’ve been talking to a lot of successful college counsellors lately and I’ve realised- not much needs to change. Sure I can’t aim for HYPS and some very selective schools but I still have a really good chance at some of my top universities (of which some are very selective). I actually even have some top10 colleges and one counsellor even asked if I would consider ivies like Cornell or Brown (I personally didn’t like these schools but basically I’m competitive for them). He actually completely transformed my application; I’m back to looking at top schools- and while some are still in my “reach” category, a lot are also targets. He even turned one of my first choice schools into a safety :0
If you want, I’d love to share some tips with you about what the counsellor told me to work on and do (in terms of grades, ECs + application strategy) and a list of top colleges and how he ranked my competitiveness for the- didn’t want to share all of this information bc 1. This is really long already and 2. It is slightly personal lol.
I’m aware that your GPA is a bit lower than mine but I’m sure you can still be competitive for colleges in top 30.
I’d definitely also recommend looking at liberal arts schools bc some of them are very prestigious but can be easier to get into // have less competition.
Many may think that I’m being too confident but trust me, I’ve taken a lot of inputs from counsellors, Harvard professors and some very successful people. And of course I’ve looked at the colleges stats and all that.
Don’t be too conservative with applying- there’s nothing wrong w/ trying to aim; as long as you’re strategic about it!
No. OP has asked this 12 times now (1 thread, 11 replies.) He isn’t understanding that his high school record is what it is. His academics are not as successfully as a top 30 can expect. Lower grades, like it or not, reflect lower learning levels.
A medical leave can’t change that. Last minute A grades for one semester can’t change that.
Kids only think about getting an admit. The colleges are looking at how you’ll do, once there. Unfortunately, top 30 will have more than enough top performers to choose among.
And sorry, but with this misunderstanding about grades, good chance OP (and you, too, @suzixx) doesn’t understand what a top 30 considers good ECs or essays.
Holistic doesn’t mean you can flub one aspect and get in. No. It means all of it matters.
OP hasn’t said what major. What courses did you get lower than A in?
Familiar story ! S1 was wait listed at UMich, NYU and Carnegie. Attended a #100 school. Got it together and transferred to a top business school.
A 35 ACT will get you tons of merit aid at some fine schools.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
Closing thread at OP’s request. It’s going in circles anyway.