<p>Well, it is pretty difficult to chance you since you are only a sophomore. However, I think that it would be pretty hard to get your unweighted GPA up at over 3.7 or 3.8 with those low grades in 9th grade, and so I think that Columbia and Brown would be high reaches. With your GPA, I think that you should be sure to look at some good colleges that are not quite so selective. I would never say NOT to apply to Brown and Columbia, though. Perhaps IF you had a very hgh ACT (35 or 36), very high SAT (over 2300), very high SAT II’s (at least 2 over 750), and amazing EC’s, you might get in. However, rigor of course work and grades are very important to most selective colleges. Some books say they are MORE important than SAT/ACT scores; some books say the SAT/ACT scores are a bit more important. Bottom line–GPA and SAT/ACT are close to equal in importance, and they trump EC’s/essays/rec letters at the selective schools, although the latter are important, too. As to rigor, it looks like you will only have 2 AP classes when you apply (US and Psych); the selective schools want more unless your HS just doesn’t offer many. They want you to have taken advantage of many of the tough classes which your HS offers. Does your HS only offer 4 or 5? Then you might be OK with 2 Jr Year and 2 Sr Year, but if they offer more, you really should avail yourself of them if you hope to get into a selective school. Also, selective colleges often look for students who have taken challenging math (Calc, or at least Precalc–I don’t see those on your list) and 4 years of the same foreign language. I don’t see ANY foreign language on your list. Hope this helps.</p>