<p>I've always believed in myself, but as college comes closer (I'm almost finished with my junior year), I've been realizing that my chances at getting into my dream school (Stanford) are pretty low. In fact, I'm worried I might have trouble even getting into University of Michigan (also one of my top choices). I have a large amount of extracurricular's that I participate in, but I'm worried that they're not impressive enough, especially when combined with my average grade point of 3.6 and my alright ACT score of a 29. I'm retaking the ACT after doing a highly rigorous ACT prep study load (I'm shooting for a 34), but I would like to hear some of your opinions of whether or not I should even apply to some of my more prestigious school choices.
Here's my course load for this year (I'm en route for the IB Diploma):
1st Semester:
O-Hour Band (we meet before school because there's no time in the schedule with IB)
IB SL Math
IB SL Biology
Economics
IB HL English A
IB ab-initio Chinese
IB HL History of the America's
IB HL Psychology </p>
<p>As this was my first year in the diploma program, my grades dropped a little bit, I went from a 3.75 to a 3.6 and I'm worried about how that downward trend will come across to the school's who are used to mainly admitting students with 4.0's and above. I would be very pleased with U of M, but I would prefer Stanford, Brown, Dartmouth, University of Chicago, Or Berkeley.
My EC's include:
Swimming (5 years/Team Captain)
Class President (3 years,hopefully going to be 4)
Tutor to disadvantaged kids (2 years)
Mayor's Youth Council (1 year, going to be 2 years/Secretary)
Youth Grant Committee (1 year, going to be 2 years)
Vocal Music Workshop Choir (1 year, going to be 2 years)
Environmental Club (1 year, going to be 2 years)
Saturday Chinese School (1 year, going to be 2 years)</p>
<p>In addition, I started an IB improvement group to help kids understand the requirements to passing the IB exams, I've played the flute for 5 years, I spent a month at Michigan State's Secchia Center last summer for their Highschool Summer Scholar's Pre-med institute and I addressed the State Board of Education under the Mayor of my hometown. </p>
<p>I think my EC's are pretty good, but again my grades are just alright.
I'm just looking for some advice.
Thanks!</p>
<p>3.6 weighted or unweighted?
That ACT, as you admit, won’t do you any favors. Good luck on your retest!</p>
<p>Your ECs, according to you, are good. However, for all the admittances I have seen to Stanford and other very selective schools have far better extracurriculars. At those type of schools, many of the applicants have very good grades and they use extracurricular activities to differentiate between them (along with letters of recommendation, essays, interviews etc). You do not have the grades, which is the most important factor in your application (many people say this is not true for very selective schools, but that is only because most of the applicants do have very good grades). You appear to have taken difficult courses, but an unweighed GPA of 3.6 (I am assuming) is fairly low for a university such as Stanford. And you do not have anything outstanding in your application to cover that up either. My suggestions to you are improving your GPA, taking more difficult courses, taking more standardized exams (SAT II subject tests, SAT I, ACT, AP Exams etc) and going well on them. Even if you do all that, your extracurricular activities at this point not good, but not really enough to differentiate you from others in the applicant pool. You should try to engage in more such activities and math/science contests (they, along with olympiads, look very good on your application). At this point, however, your chances do not look good. Good luck!</p>
<p>Stanford would be a very high reach for you. For UMich LSA, your GPA is low (avg 3.85) while your ACT is at 25%. It will be a low reach for in state and reach for oos. What is your class rank? If the low GPA is due to the grading system at your school, it is not as bad. Otherwise, you do need to bring up both your GPA and ACT scores if you really want to go to UMich.</p>
<p>I think Stanford is a high reach. Your GPA drop from 3.75 to 3.6 is not doing you any favors. If you have a very very good justification for the GPA drop (you developed some medical breakthrough, or were training for the Olympics… just kidding, nothing so lofty, but a very reasonable justification), then that may mitigate the drop in GPA.</p>
<p>Stanford is one of the most selective schools around, and even more so for international students. However, even the 3.75 GPA might not be enough given that you are an international student.</p>
<p>I was accepted to Stanford, and my grades went up each year. I had a 3.86 GPA when I graduated. For an international student, I imagine Stanford is even more scrutinizing.</p>
<p>My school doesn’t weight our GPA’s, even though the entire school is required to take the complete IB curriculum (comparable to AP in some respects, but more difficult in other respects). Also, they don’t rank us. I go to a very small, underfunded, inner city school. I’m not actually an international student, I live in America, I just take an international curriculum (IB). What kinds of EC’s should I engage in that would help me to stand out? I’m starting a Classic Literature Club with hopes of hosting a City wide youth poetry slam, also I’m working on publishing a novel. Is there anything else I can do to improve my chances? </p>