Can I get into top schools? (very low gpa/high sat)

Applying to College
1

<p>Hi I'm an Asian Indian female living in Delaware and I'm looking into applying to the following schools:</p>

<ul>
<li>University of Delaware (safety, but I don't wanna go at all)</li>
<li>Pennstate (safety, would consider going but would prefer not to)</li>
<li>UPenn (The College, not Wharton because I know I can't get in)</li>
<li>NYU Stern (#1 choice, except money might be an issue since I hear they give horrible aid)</li>
<li>USC Marshall</li>
<li>UVA</li>
<li>UChicago</li>
<li>Georgetown</li>
<li>UCLA</li>
</ul>

<p>Stats:
GPA unweighted: 3.4/3.5 (i fell into a rut of being lazy T__T and i have a slight downward trend; my school doesn't weight AP classes at all, and I'm a senior now so I can't improve my gpa much but I'm trying)
Rank: 25.5% out of about 400 students (rank is calculated according to unweighted GPA and many students who don't take AP courses have higher GPAs. Some students take like 4 music classes like marching band and chorus and automatically get 100s in those classes, which boosts their gpa)
SAT: 2210 (I hardly studied at all. I'm going to retake and actually study and I'm expecting 2300+)
M: 760
CR: 750
W: 700 (missed only one MC question, but essay brought overall score down)
Subject Tests: haven't taken yet but am expecting 700+ in math 2, world history, and biology</p>

<p>ECs:
- Technology Student Association (member since 7th grade and have held 3 chapter-level leadership positions and 1 state officer position; recieved 20+ top 3 awards at state level and two top 3 awards at nationals)
- Academic Bowl (not very good, but have been participating since freshman year)
- Math League (member since 7th grade, been to state invitationals every year and have won 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place at regionals in 3 different years)
- Science Olympiad (freshman, junior, and senior year)
- Tennis (freshman and sophomore year)
- IUSD Youth Committee (Indian US Society of Delaware; member since 8th grade, Secretary in junior year, President in senior year)
- Be Educated (raise money to help build libraries in poor areas of India, Pakistan, and Nepal; can get an excellent recommendation from member of board of directors; Home</a> - <a href="http://www.beeducated.org/htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.beeducated.org/htm</a>)
- volunteered in finance department of local hospital this summer (74 hours)</p>

<p>Hobbies:
- very passionate about dance (bollywood and kpop; minimal formal training but i perform for cultural charity events and cultural shows) there aren't any places for learning indian and hip hop dance where i live, so i teach myself. was thinking about writing one of my essay on that</p>

<p>APs that I've already taken: US history (didn't take the test), psychology (3), english language (3), micro econ (2), us gov (2), calculus (1)</p>

<p>I've been spiraling since sophomore year into a rut in which I never study and barely remember to homework. I didn't do well on the AP tests, even though I usually got good grades in the classes because I didn't study for exams. However, my junior year I got a 70 in AP Calc and this really brought me down. I've gotten my act together over the summer and am currently taking an extremely difficult courseload and plan on getting straight As so that hopefully it will show on my RD applications.</p>

<p>I plan on working relentlessly at my essays to make them perfect and my recs should be good if not great.</p>

<p>Also, would it look bad/suspicious if I didn't sent in my AP test scores? Do colleges use AP scores as a factor for admissions or is it just to determine which classes you can get credit for?</p>

<p>I want to major on the business/international relations/finance side. I would like to go to a top law school after undergraduate and do corporate law, but since that's 4 years away I want to go plan to do ibanking as a back-up in case I don't want to go to law school.</p>

<p>Oh yeah and my senior schedule is:
AP Biology
Chinese 2
AP Spanish
AP Physics
AP Literature
AP Statistics</p>

2

<p>Super long post… sorry I didn’t realize how much I typed…</p>

3

<p>UCLA, UVA, USC, UChicago, UPenn, and Georgetown are all going to be reaches, do to your low GPA. Your EC look fine. You need to find some Safeties, that you actually LIKE</p>

4

<p>I don’t dislike UD or Pennstate, but I would just prefer not to go since I’m very set on the other colleges.</p>

<p>How about NYU Stern? Is that a reach too?</p>

5

<p>I think you would be a decent canidate at NYU Stern</p>

6

<p>Your list has a lot of very high reaches, and then a big empty gap, and then your ultimate “safety” which is a school you don’t want to attend–so it’s not really a safety school if you don’t want to go there.</p>

<p>You need to find some schools you like that are a lot more likely to admit you. Your reaches accept very few applicants overall…and most of them have your excellent scores, but they also have grades and ECs, and excellent essays. </p>

<p>There is always hope you will get in, and of course you should apply if you really want to, but there really isn’t anything about your application that would stand out so as to give your reach schools a compelling reason to admit you. The schools on your list receive thousands of applications, and they are reviewing each application asking “why should we admit this applicant?” What can you bring to the school that will make your application stand out from the rest of the pack?</p>

<p>You would be a very attractive applicant at a lot of schools. Have you considered some of the smaller, but prestigious, LACs? They don’t have a surfeit of Indian applicants, so that might make you an attractive applicant to them.</p>

7

<p>I’m not considering any LACs because that’s not the type of education I’m going for. And as I’ve said, I don’t dislike my safeties, but I just have hopes of getting in elsewhere.</p>

<p>Could you chance me for NYU, USC, UVA, and Chicago?</p>

8

<p>Sorry, not so much chance on some of your reaches… UPenn, UChicago, UVa, USC, Gtown, UCLA, and most likely NYU. Your rank is really going to be the biggest hindrance. Your grades also aren’t very strong, especially that it’s a downward trend. Your AP test results are very weak and may even hurt you, so maybe don’t tell them. (Except that looks lame too and they’ll know why.)</p>

<p>The biggest unknown to your application is the essay. PLEASE don’t bother to tell us if they’re great or perfect or whatever. That’s your opinion, and no one could tell you how “amazing” they are except the adcoms. Maybe they won’t matter, maybe they’ll make all the difference. Just put in your best effort.</p>

<p>Meanwhile, decide what you like about some of these colleges. There are plenty of others and somewhere is your perfect fit.</p>

<p>ETA: don’t try to make excuses for rank. Colleges have their own system to figure out “what’s fair” across the board.</p>

9

<p>Alright, so the Ivies educate ~1% of the total population. You are in the top 25% of your class, so unless your school is one of the phenomenally competitive schools that people on this site tend to discuss, UPenn, UChicago, and any other top 10 university is going to be a big reach. I don’t feel that your school is “competitive” based on the students you mentioned who don’t take APs, but the best way to judge is how many students go to top 20 schools each year.</p>

<p>At UPenn, for example: 87% had h.s. GPA of 3.75 and higher, 96% in top 10th of graduating class, with a SAT midrange of 2030 to 2300. (That means that ~25% had an SAT higher than yours).</p>

<p>NYU Stern has a median SAT of 1450, with 92% in the Top 10% of high school class.</p>

<p>Even 67% of Penn State has a better GPA than you. Your SAT may make it a safety, but you really need to find one school you like (I know you said you didn’t dislike UD or Penn State - but I’m talking about a school that you have visited and could picture yourself there, would enjoy the location of the school, would be able to afford the school, and would be academically challenged there - by being part of an honors program or something).</p>

<p>I’m not trying to discourage you from applying to these schools - I’m just trying to illustrate the following: you need matches. </p>

<p>If you like the entire city of New York, consider Fordham University, a Jesuit school in the Bronx with its Gabelli Business school. It’s listed by U.S. News as a A+ School for B Students and ranked by that same site as a #56 National University.</p>

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<p>could anyone chance me at the following schools?</p>

<ul>
<li>UMich</li>
<li>UWisconsin - Madison</li>
<li>UNC at Chapel Hill</li>
<li>U of Maryland</li>
<li>U of Georgia</li>
<li>Wake Forest</li>
<li>Barnard College</li>
</ul>

11

<p>Downward trend, admitted rut, poor APs, etc. Not a pattern top colleges like to see. If the APs are on your transcript and you don’t send scores, you know what message that sends top colleges.</p>

<p>Btw, colleges will factor out A’s in band, ceramics and other non-solids. If it affects your rank that your school includes them in gpa, your GC should mention this.</p>

<p>If this is a matter of a boring hs- but you really are smart and motivated when it matters…well, adcoms like to see kids triumphing over adversity. They may wonder how you will respond if you get into a rut during college. Or if you hit a string of less interesting classes. Your reaches are too reachy. A calculated stab at one or two is fine. But, drop your sights down a rung or you may be caught unprepared. My suggestion is that you look for schools that will meet your needs but where the competition for an admit slot won’t be so fierce. Sorry- and wish you good luck.</p>

12

<p>All of the college on your second list, other than Barnard and Wake Forest, are out-of-state public schools.
They generally favor in-state candidates unless your family is going to be full-pay.For that reason, I think those schools (other than Georgia, maybe?) might be almost reaches, although not as extreme as your first list. And I think that with your grades, both Barnard and Wake are also reaches, although not as high reaches as the schools on your original list.</p>

<p>Does your school have Naviance so that you can see where students from your high school with your profile have applied/been accepted?</p>

<p>I agree with the other posters who pointed out that not including your AP scores might be a red flag attached to your applications…the schools certainly don’t require the AP scores to be submitted, but generally students who have taken challenging curricula with lots of APs include them as a sort of bragging point–so that when they are not included it sends a different message. </p>

<p>If you could give us some idea of what you are seeking in your college experience, we could help you identify some appropriate schools to consider.</p>

<p>One other thing–do you have strong teachers’ recommendations lined up, and a strong letter from your GC?</p>

13

<p>dancing… I know you’re a senior. I know you’d like some answers. Don’t rely on this chances thread. Do the research yourself and explore lots of possibilities. </p>

<p>You can easily find where you fit in. There’s no secret about these schools. We’ve also told you a lot about the direction you should consider taking. But, this whole process is really up to you. </p>

<p>Spend some considerable amount of time researching what looks good, based on where you think you could get in and other criteria. Honestly, there are tons and tons of schools out there. </p>

<p>Narrow your list based on what’s important to you. For instance, if you like large public universities, look into them all, not just the most well known 8. This is YOUR task. Please don’t expect a bunch of strangers from an online forum to guide you on this important journey.</p>

14

<p>No my school doesn’t have Naviance :(</p>

<p>My teacher recs should be pretty good, one of them should be great since she’s my AP Lit teacher. I’m not sure what my letter from my GC will be like, but I meet with her a lot more than the average student and she likes me so I’m thinking it’ll be good.</p>

<p>My perfect school would be NYU Stern. It has a big city environment and I like larger schools with more opportunities. Small school communities don’t do it for me unless there’s opportunity to mingle with students outside of the school (like Barnard). It also has a great business/finance program and great internship opportunities since Wall Street is right around the corner. And it has a great study abroad program, which is a very important factor to me.</p>

<p>And not to be superficial, but prestige is also an important factor to me…</p>

15

<p>You’ve taught yourself Bollywood and kpop dancing? That’s really cool. o:</p>

<p>On a more serious note, I think it’s a bad idea to apply to a whole bunch of reach schools, especially if they’re a far reach; but if you pick out two reach schools and make a real effort to streamline your application, then you never know. </p>

<p>I mostly wanted to say though, regarding grad school, as long as you do really well in college and work hard, it doesn’t matter so much where you go. So, I don’t think you have to worry about prestige. (That being said, I can totally understand wanting to apply to prestigious schools.)</p>

16

<p>“You’ve taught yourself Bollywood and kpop dancing? That’s really cool. o:”</p>

<p>Thanks haha.</p>

<p>And yea I spent the rest of the day after posting this thread on researching which colleges to apply to and I’ve decided on UD, Penn state, NYU Stern, USC Marshall, UVA, and maybe one other high match/low reach school.</p>

<p>Most of these schools are reaches again, but the thing is Penn state is a safety that i WOULD LIKE to go to if I had no other options. The only reason why I said I wouldn’t want to is because I’d prefer to go to a more prestigious school if I can get in. So if I were to go to Penn state, I’d be sad I didn’t get in anywhere else, but then I’d get over it because Penn state is still a good school near a big city.</p>

<p>UD is only a safety however, because it’s the only good in-state school in DE and it would be super cheap for me to go there. I’d really rather not have to go there though. My dad said if I can get into Stern, he’d find a way for me to go no matter what the cost, but I don’t want to apply ED because I don’t want to bound by a financial burden even if my dad says it’s ok. I’d just feel guilty lol.</p>

<p>The reason I posted on CC was because I wanted to know which of the more prestigious schools I had a better shot of getting into, so I could narrow my list. Sooo… if anyone wants to help me with that… :D</p>

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<p>Also, I was thinking of applying for non-binding early action to all of the schools that offer it. Is that a good idea, or should I just wait and apply regular decision so that I can send in my senior grades (which I’m expecting to be very good) too?</p>

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<p>Based on what you want I agree NYU Stern is the best place for you… however your grades make it quite a reach. If being in the city is that big a deal for you (which for finance is a significant advantage in that you can have internships year-round) would suggest applying to CAS instead and looking to transfer into Stern. At recruiting events there was never a shortage of CAS students anyway, you’ll just have to work harder to be aware of them. You will, however, still have to contend with NYU being stingy as hell.</p>

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<p>I heard it was almost impossible to internally transfer from CAS to Stern tho… 0_0</p>

20

<p>It’s hard, but if you maintain a high GPA you can do it. If you can keep yourself motivated, it’s a shot. The benefit is very few recruiting events are Stern-only, meaning even if you don’t get in you can still pursue finance. I ran into a lot of CAS econ majors at banking gatherings.</p>

<p>Edit: Though, I will point out that I don’t know how many got offers, nor how the IBank recruiting landscape is for CAS right now.</p>