Can my ECs make up for GPA? SFS, UChicago, WM, Ivies

Applying to College
1

<p>Alright, I know the overall answer is no, generally. But I dont have a horrendous GPA, although it is on the low, low end when it come to elite schools.
First, let me give you the lowdown of the schools I'm looking at.
I like Georgetown SFS, UChicago, College of WM, UVA, and HYP+Dartmouth. I know the latter 4 are impossible, so focus on the first 4.
I'm a VA resident, which I guess helps for those in-state schools.
And I like International Relations, Economics, and Government</p>

<p>Transcript
I've taken one of the most rigorous course load available at my school, which one of the top 20 public schools in the nation. I have taken college courses in International Relations and Calculus I. I have also taken APUSH, AP Comp Gov, AP US Gov, AP MicroEcon, AP MacroEcon, and AP Spanish Lang. Next year I'm taking specialized honors electives, since I've met all the curriculum requirements. I'm also taking AP English Lit, AP BC Calculus, AP Psych, and I'm self-studying AP World History.
So yeah, rigorous schedule, something like 12 college credit classes by graduation, and everything else is honors.</p>

<p>Here's the bad part.
GPA: Unweighted out on 4.0 scale- 3.52 (cumulative)
The weighted that my school sends to colleges- 4.09 (cumulative)
Non-freshman unweighted GPA on 4.0 scale- 3.65
Non-freshmen weighted GPA- 4.25</p>

<p>So, as you can see, I have an upward trend, but my GPA is unimpressive. I'm lucky that the only GPA that colleges see will be weighted, but as soon as they recalculate it, I am all but certain that they will be unimpressed. As a general student, I have a 5:3 or 6:2 A:B ratio.
The good news, in a way, is that my only non-As are in math/science. The bad news, it's pretty obvious that I suck at math and science, lol.</p>

<p>Now, on to better stuff.
Standardized testing
SAT: 2260/2400 2nd try. I also got 1570/1600. I didnt prepare for writing and it showed lol. But SFS and maybe others dont look at writing, so all they see is an (in my opinion) impressive 1570.
PSAT: 223, which is good enough fr NMSF in VA. I got a letter in May that I was over the cutoff.
SATII: 710 Math 2 (lol), 790 US History. I'm planning on taking another one for SFS.
AP: 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 4 (c-c-c-combo breaker!)</p>

<p>I am of the mindset that my testing is pretty impressive for most of my schools. For Ivies, this is right in the middle of what they expect. So no differentiation here.</p>

<p>Extra-curriculars
I think that this is where I shine the most.
-Model UN- President of the Club and head delegate.
I have 2 gavels (best delegate) and a verbal commendation. I train the newbs and do other stuff too. This is my fav EC. I destroy in committee with my policy wonking, networking, and politicking.
Since freshman year</p>

<p>-Debate- Captain of the team. I have won a few tourneys, finished 2nd in the state. Then went on to the national tournament, and finished top 40.
Since soph year</p>

<p>-Honor Societies- NHS, English, Russian, and History. I'm President of History, and Secretary of NHS.
Since junior year</p>

<p>-Volleyball- Varsity 2 years, JV 2 years. JV captain soph year. Varsity captain this year.
Since freshman year</p>

<p>-Boys State of VA- Elected to Senate. Then elected Senate Majority Leader. It was ballin. I made the senate legalize weed and ban abortion to troll. Legalization of weed passed the House. We trolled the American Legion so hard.</p>

<p>-Students for Liberty- Was Libertarian Club, but then me an a few buddies manipulated the crap out of our comrades and turned it into a young leftists club for teh lulz (it ****ed off the Conservative Libertarians so much. They had a hissy fit, called administration, and it was just a big bawwfest hahah). But I'm Vice President.
Since sophomore year</p>

<p>-I was Class Treasurer one year and raised a ton of money, like 5k or something, I never kept close track. But politics and corruption made me lose faith in student government. I chose not to run and made a counter-student gov campaign and rallied the students behind it. Every single incumbent was defeated. It made me lolz bc of how much I hated the corrupt student-politicians. </p>

<p>To recap, 4 President/Captain, and 4 VP/Sec/Treasurer officer positions</p>

<p>Professional Experience
-I've started my own company with a friend (service-based), I'm co-proprietor and COO. We have 4 employees, lol, but have steady revenue. It's not big, and profits arent in 4 figures yet, but it's a time investment and I think it's rewarding for me.
6 months</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Paid internship at a Fortune 500 corporation in my hometown. I do pretty solid data analysis/analytics, and travel with my department out of state. It's actually way more legitimate than I thought it would be. I thought i'd be getting paid to serve coffee, but it's actually offers a good view of the business world.
1 month</p></li>
<li><p>Volunteer internship with local House of Delegates representative. Meet a lot of really cool people, but don't do particularly interesting work. But the people are incredible. Crazy politicians, all of them.
1 year</p></li>
<li><p>Paid soccer ref. Boring as s***, soccer parents suck. I stopped a year ago or so. Too many negative vibes.
2 years</p></li>
</ul>

<p>-150 hours of CS at Public Radio station.</p>

<p>I also have some more awards like for Spanish contests that I might put on my app. I'm fluent in Russian so I guess my awards for that dont count. Idk. But anyways, what do you guys think?</p>

<p>I think I have a lot of leadership positions, good passion for debate and MUN, and the awards to back that up. I have a good amount of professional experience. Everything comes back to economics/business, government, and IR, just as I stated at the top.
My standardized test score are good too, but my GPA is weak. I work hard and put way too much work into things that I care about (like turning Young TEA Party Libertarians into Students for Liberty) but I cant get an A in Calculus lol. </p>

<p>Anyways, do you think with solid essays and pretty good recs, I can get into some of my schools? Even with a pretty average GPA?</p>

2

<p>Your big problem will be getting anyone to believe there is time to do all that.</p>

3

<p>GPA is in the toilet. Try your local CC or local state school. Do well then attempt to transfer.</p>

4

<p>@ Lmaniac, the hours add up. Some of them (MUN, Debate, Vball, my company) take a good chunk of time, but the others dont. But the hours DO add up, that’s not an issue. But look at my GPA. Im a classic A/B student. I dont study for hours a day. Most of my friends do 4-6 hours of schoolwork at night and go to bed around 1-3 AM. I do 1-3 a night and go to bed at 12 AM. I guess I take it as a compliment, but all my ECs sound more impressive than they are difficult to attain. For some people, academics come naturally. They are perfectly happy studying for hours on end. I can’t do that. I am happy doing independent research and relaxing and doing my ECs.</p>

<p>laxbrah, but GPA def isn’t in the toilet. My reputable state schools for my interests are JMU, VT, UVA, WM. You think I could make it in pretty easily, then? CC obviously isn’t an option if I make it into a 4 year uni, which I will…</p>

5

<p>But does anyone have a concrete idea of how my chances will look? I think my ECs match up with the top schools (no cancer treatment or anything, haha). But I fall flat in GPA. Unfortunately, GPA is the most important thing, IMO.</p>

<p>On the plus side, my school does NOT rank.</p>

6

<p>VSU and VUU might be perfect academic fits for you. College is becoming increasingly competitive these days…</p>

7

<p>That’s true, and I appreciate that you’ve done your research on VA schools.
HBCU are not what I’m looking for, though. They tend to be underfunded and the quality of the education tends to be lower than other Public Unis.
Lastly, I know VUU is in a pretty bad part of Richmond, so that’s not on my list.
Thanks for the suggestion, though.
I’m looking at schools like those in the thread title. Not too many others, although in theory im open to suggestions.</p>

8

<p>Why not a liberal arts school? They care less about the grades and more of the person.</p>

9

<p>UVA you have a good chance. You seem to like business, and they have a great business school. You’re in-state. It seems like a perfect fit.</p>

10

<p>UVA is my least favorite of the schools that I listed, because I like theoretical economics and public policy stuff better than raw business. Although McIntire is really awesome, and I would be honored to go apply there if I went to UVA (remember, you need to apply as a college sophomore). </p>

<p>Laxbrah, I’m not fundamentally opposed to LACs. But nothing really has jumped out at me. I have the same problem with te Ivies, as you can tell by my lack of focus on those.
For example: SFS clearly jumps out. It’s the best in the nation at what I want to do. It’s in DC. It has awesome campus spirit thanks to basketball. It is, for me, the perfect size.
UVA and WM are both awesome, cheap, in-state schools. WM has one of the nation’s best IR programs (Madeleine Albrights favorite!).
UChicago has a great Econ and PoliSci program, one of the nation’s top 5 in both. Plus they have a commitment to undergrads and I just LOVE chicago as a city. </p>

<p>It’s partially my fault for not doing the research, but LACs just dont seem to have what I’m looking for. I want medium-size campuses with spirit and awesome IR/Econ programs. And prestige.</p>

11

<p>I LOL’d reading you post. </p>

<p>Anyway, just like all ivies, it’s a crapshoot, so you can’t really say. But, with your GPA I think you have a lower chance. Of course, if you write a magnificent essay you may be debated among the admissions officers.</p>

<p>I guess SFS, UofC, WM and UVA in theory would be easier to get in.</p>

<p>My biggest piece of advice: work as hard as you can to improve your GPA and focus your essays on why you want to do IR/Econ.</p>

12

<p>Touche .</p>

13

<p>You have really strong test scores, a rigorous courseload, and great ECs. The UW GPA is relatively weak; it probably would have been a 3.8+ if you had went to a public school.</p>

<p>HYP + Dartmouth are probably not doable in all honesty. You should still apply just in case, though. Most kids who have been accepted have similar-caliber ECs with near-perfect grades.</p>

<p>Not familiar with UVA. I’ve heard that 3.9 UW/2300 kids get rejected, but I’ve also heard of people with 3.5 UWs getting in. I think the former might just be a myth. I could see you getting in.</p>