<p>Female, Georgia
Applying to Math or Engineering</p>
<p>EDUCATION</p>
<p>Top private school in the south (no rank)
GPA: 4.3 weighted, with a sharp upward trend
AP Courses: US History (5), Biology (4), Calculus BC, Physics C, Computer Science,
Statistics, English Literature
Standardized Testing: 35 ACT (36 Math, 35 Science, 35 English, 32 Reading); 780
Math II; 770 U.S. History </p>
<p>EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES</p>
<p>Yearbook: Editor-in-Chief; Copy Editor
Varsity Swimming: Long Distance; 2 Varsity Letters; Most Improved
Service: Executive Service Leader of school
Night shelter: Service Leader and Volunteer
Peer Tutor: Coordinator; Math Tutor
Sustainability Committee
Varsity Math Team
Student Ambassador
Model U.N.</p>
<p>SUMMERS</p>
<p>University of Pennsylvania, Management & Technology Summer Institute
Princeton University, Summer Workshop in Mathematics
University of Pennsylvania, Internship Program
Art Institute of Atlanta, Summer Studio in Graphic Design</p>
<p>EXPERIENCE</p>
<p>Bioengineering lab, Researcher
Published articles in 3 magazines
Published poems in 3 literary journals
Summer Intern/Writer at a magazine in Philadelphia</p>
<p>Stanford
UPenn
Princeton
Cornell
Dartmouth
Duke
Northwestern
UVA
Vanderbilt</p>
<ol>
<li>~3.8 UW (Junior 4.0, Sophomore 4.0, Freshman 3.5)</li>
<li>i don’t know, and my school makes it VERY ambiguous, but i would assume i am at the top</li>
<li>no</li>
</ol>
<p>You have a shot, but your GPA is quite low for almost all of those listed schools. Duke, Northwestern, UVA, Vanderbilt are safer bets, but I would suggest adding some more safeties as well. Stanford and the Ivies are pretty big reaches.</p>
<p>This is, of course, assuming you have no hook (URM, legacy, recruited athlete etc etc)</p>
<p>are you serious? all are reaches just because i had a bad freshman year? everything else up there must outweigh that (female applying to engineering, from georgia, act, ec’s, summers, research, published, etc.)</p>
<p>Not all are reaches… The schools I mentioned above you stand a good chance to make it in. However, to be honest, the Ivies and Stanford receive thousands of applicants with scores just as high and higher than yours who received straight As during high school and are STILL rejected.</p>
<p>I d say you stand a good chance for half of the list because you are a female and the ECs look good to me with a good balance between science, sports and literature.</p>
<p>Stanford (reach)
UPenn (match)
Princeton (reach)
Cornell (match)
Dartmouth (match)
Duke (match)
Northwestern (match)
UVA match
Vanderbilt (prob in)</p>
<p>You have a great ECs and experience. Great ACT and academics. GPA is somewhat on the low side but I think hollistically speaking (since that is how colleges judge you) you are a great candidate for all these colleges, but of course with Stanford and Princeton you cannot say anything for certain but you have a decent chance in those two.</p>
<p>Georgia really helps though Stanford does not admit by major. The real question is where you rank in your class. They will know this even though your school does not officially rank. At a top private school, your first layer of competition is your own classmates, and they’ll usually be applying to the same schools you are.</p>
<p>I know it’s hard to think a college will hold a bad freshmen year against you, but when they are accepting less than 15%, and when you add in the number of hooked candidates it really is much lower, they just have too many flawless candidates to need to overlook anything.</p>
<p>They do not use freshmen year grades in recalculating GPA. This does not mean they don’t look at them. Rank is very important at all of these schools. They look at everything.</p>