I had a very low gpa freshman year that keeps pulling down my cumulative gpa. I had a 3.1 sophomore year and I have a 4.0 now (I’m a junior). I’m doing really well and I will be taking 2 APS aand all honors next year (I only have one AP now). I’m doing really well but my overall gpa is only a 3.3 
But I do really well on standardized testing and I got a 34 on my ACT. I’m also bilingual and first generation to go to college (my parents are 100% polish). I’m very involved in my community and school I started a polish club and I’m the VP of 3 other clubs. I also started my own organization that helps students from polish schools in the US connect with stufents in Poland (kind of like penpals) I’m also planning on doing college courses over the summer and a leadership thing at Brown. Taking all this into consideration, if I write a very good essay do you think I could get into these schools?
Umich
USC
Santa Clara University
UW madison
Penn state
I’m just very frustrated that a mistake I made when I was 14 has such a huge impact on where I get accepted
move to chance page.
But I think your GPA will limit your chances with these schools.
Agree with ^^^^. Your GPA will hurt your chances at USC. Average unweighted GPA for in-coming Freshman was
3.82. They will take into consideration your 9-11th grades along with your Mid-year Senior grades for their GPA calculation along with ACT score and essays, but it probably not make up for the lower GPA.
SClara, Penn State and UW-Mad are doable, not so much with UMich and SC, because of the gpa.
You have a good chance at Madison based on the ACT alone. SCU you have a shot at…Penn State…I’d say iffy. They have a decent amount of strong applicants with a better GPA and a good ACT score.
UMich is a definite reach, and so is USC.
Is there anything that I can do to increase my chances at Umich and USC? Thanks for all the feedback btw 