chance a low gpa/high sat for top schools PLEASE

Chance Me / Match Me!
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 only because it's super cheap)</li>
<li>Pennstate (safety)</li>
<li>UPenn (The College, not Wharton because I know I can't get in, but it would be my dream school if i got)</li>
<li>NYU Stern (#1 choice)</li>
<li>USC Marshall</li>
<li>UVA</li>
</ul>

<p>I might not apply to UPenn because I feel I have no chance of getting in. Instead I might apply to one or two of the following: UWisconsin-Madison, UGA, Boston College, UNC, UChicago, UMich, Wake Forest, Barnard.</p>

<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 students who don't take many AP courses have higher GPAs)
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
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 - Donate</a> now - <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>

<p>Also, I'm scheduled for an interview with USC. Will explaining some of my inconsistencies with my GPA help my chances a bit?</p>

2

<p>BUMP. Please help!</p>

3

<p>Maybe apply to some of the higher ranked schools located in the less sexier places, to increase your odds, because presumably, the competition is a bit less.</p>

<p>University of Rochester
Case Western
Washington University
Michigan</p>

<p>Also, perhaps apply to some top schools where perhaps being Indian would be considered a “diversity” advantage. Just guessing here, but perhaps some southern school or pacific northwest school</p>

4

<p>your AP grades seem very low for a kid who can achieve such high SAT scores.</p>

5

<p>I was considering Washington University and Michigan. Would I have a good chance at those schools? If I went to Michigan I’d prefer to go to Ross, though, which is extremely competitive.</p>

<p>Could you tell my what chances are for the colleges listed above? As in high match/low reach, that type of thing.</p>

<p>And yes, I admit my AP grades are low because I fell into a rut of being lazy and never studying. Not even for AP exams, sadly T___T I’m so mad at myself, but I have to work with that now that I’m applying to colleges.</p>

6

<p>Based on your performance, you have no shot whatsoever at UPenn. UVA and USC would be huge stretches even because UVA OOS is as hard as Ivies. Do well this semester and NYU is a possibility because it emphasizes test scores. PSU and Delaware shouldn’t be problems for you at all. Your problem isn’t AP scores, they won’t really help you in admissions much at all. GPA is far more important, trends especially. Also out of the other schools you are considering. UNC, Chicago and Michigan are reaches as well. UNC OOS is tougher than Duke and Michigan has recently gotten a lot harder OOS because of the switch to the common app. I’ve noticed that a lot of people on CC regard Michigan as easy to get into but for OOS, it is not at all. The acceptance rate dropped to 40% last year and should drop further, somewhere between 30-35%, with OOS acceptance rate at around 20%. BC and Wake will also be difficult but for Wake, your chances is in your essays. They want a lot of them and if you can show something to the admissions officer, Wake is definitely a possiblilty. UW-Madison, UGA should both be matches for you. </p>

<p>You’re a similar student as I was when I applied to college two years ago. I had a 3.64 (UW) GPA and 33 ACT, I even had a slight upward trend. I had kind of average ECs, so you’re slightly better than I was there. I applied to some schools I had no business trying for, such as Northwestern and UVA and was rejected. I was also waitlisted and ultimately rejected from Michigan, and I was in state. You need to look at more realistic options rather than your dream schools. Focus your attention to schools you have a chance to get into. GPA is far more important to schools than test scores, they are much more indicative of strong performance in college. If you are really interested in those elite schools, you are better off trying to transfer in. Make sure you get at least a 3.8 next year and a 4.0 your first semester in college and try to transfer into your dream schools as a sophomore. That is by far your best bet right now.</p>

7

<p>Wow, thanks so much. That was more helpful info than I got on any of my other threads combined. I was already expecting being rejected from UVA, but will apply anyway in case I get in by some miracle because I really love the school.</p>

<p>Would a good list be UD, PSU, UW-Madison, UGA, NYU, USC, and UVA? (I think I listed them in order of my chances of getting accepted.) And maybe a few more reach schools if I have time to do more essays?</p>

<p>I thought USC would be a match/low reach for me because my friend told me someone from her school (same level as my school) got in as a biochem major with just top 50% of class, 1850 SATs, bad APS, and average extracurriculars. Then again, she might have been an exception, but it increased my hopes a bit lol.</p>

<p>Also, should I not send in my AP scores at all or would that look worse than actually sending them in?</p>

8

<p>I totally understand why you want to go to UVA so much, I do too right now. I’m trying to transfer into there myself. But yeah, I think that’s a solid list. You have a good combination of safeties, matches and reaches. I mean there is nothing wrong to apply to a few reaches and maybe you write such a good essay, you get admitted. But just keep in mind they are long shots and don’t get too disappointed to get a rejection letter from them. And as for your friend who got into USC, she is very much the exception. I think she had to have had some kind of special circumstance or accomplishment, otherwise she probably would not have gotten in. I know someone from my school that got a 3.78 and 31 ACT and was rejected from SC. I have heard this only from Michigan, well they were the only school I asked, that it doesn’t matter what your AP score was, just send it in anyways but most people also don’t send them in unless they get at least a 3 on it so I don’t know what to tell you. </p>

<p>Make sure you don’t overextend yourself with your senior schedule because I know you’re very bright but going from being a bad student to a 4.0 student does take some adjustment. Part of getting a 4.0 isn’t necessarily being the smartest kid in class but by having the best habits. That schedule you have would be equivalent to a 19 credit college semester, which is very difficult. Make sure you can handle this before jumping in because with that schedule, it’s very easy to get all Bs and Cs, unless you’re really careful. From my personal experience, it’s difficult for someone to go from a 3.5ish student straight to a 4.0 student if the courseload is increased by that much. Ask yourself this, are you capable of staying up until midnight every day to do homework? It’s better to take a easier schedule and get high grades than to take a difficult schedule and get low grades. I also tried to do something like that to compensate for my poor GPA during senior year, I took 4 APs and I couldn’t really handle the amount of work and ended up getting a 3.5 first semester, completely blowing my chances at good schools. It wasn’t until second semester that I finally knew what it took and got over a 3.9. So just keep that in mind.</p>

9

<p>I’m completely sure I can handle it, but thanks for your concern. And thanks for the help :D</p>