I go to a private school specifically for gifted children, ranked top 3-4 in state. Live in mostly black neighborhood in large city. GPA 3.2, scoring around 31-33 on ACT. 3 years student government, 3 years basketball, 2 years track, 2 years Vice President of grade. Applying for class of 2021.
First of all, you mean class of 2025, am I correct?
Second, are you Black or Latino? The racial composition of your neighborhood does not matter, though URM status does include low income of all racial and ethnic backgrounds.
Third, what is your class rank, roughly? Some schools for gifted students have grade deflation, others do not. If you are, say, in the top 25%, that 3.2 may have more weight than a 3.2 from a high school which has grade inflation.
Fourth, does your high school have AP classes, or is it like IMSA, and considers their regular classes to be on par with AP classes?
All that being said, a GPA of 3.2 does not put you in a very good position for being accepted to any of the most selective colleges, unless you are an athlete, a legacy or the child of a donor. For example, according to Stanford, the acceptance rate of all students with GPAs of under 3.7 was 1%, so you can figure out what it would be for a GPA of 3.2.
However, there are hundreds of excellent colleges where you would succeed and thrive, and there is no need to focus on the twenty which have the lowest acceptance rates.
Good luck!
First of all, your extracurriculars show that you have taken advantage of opportunities in school, but you haven’t really done much outside of school. A 3.2 GPA is very weak, and I don’t think you have a shot for selective colleges. Your ACT could be improved, and you may have a better chance with a higher ACT score.
That’s a big discrepancy between GPA and test scores. That’s a red flag to me and will probably need explaining. Honestly you would have to have a great hook and a great story to see a T20 with those numbers.
I think you need to look local and lower.
I am not a big fan of attending a top 20 university with a high school GPA of 3.2, even if you were to get accepted.
Can you explain the GPA for us here on CC? Is there a reason for this that will not repeat at a very competitive very academically tough university?