Chance me for top schools? 3.83/4.45 and 2370...

Applying to College
1

<p>GPA: OVERALL: 3.83/4.45 (all my B's were in advanced classes)
9th: 4.0/4.60
10th: 3.92/4.60
11th: 3.50/4.3 (YIKES, I know... I had a really rough junior year. I know that's bad :/ )
12th: predicted 4.0/4.67</p>

<p>Rank: My school doesn't rank, but I'm in the top 10%. I go to an extremely competitive public school, and my class has over 900 students. Last year we sent 1-3 students to each ivy, 3 students to Stanford, and a handful of kids to MIT/Caltech.</p>

<p>SAT I: 2370 (790 CR, 780 M, 800 W) (one sitting)
SAT II: Bio E- 800, Math 2C- waiting
AP Scores: Bio - 5, Eng Lang - 5, Calculus BC - 5, Calculus AB Subscore - 5, Physics B - 4, US History - 4</p>

<p>Senior Schedule:
AP Comp Gov
AP English Lit
AP Statistics
AP Chemistry
Psychology (no AP offered)
Speech and Debate Team
Pretty sure I'll get straight A's this year, which would raise my UW GPA to a 3.85 by the Midyear Report. (I talked to admissions officers who all say senior grades ARE considered before any decisions are made.)</p>

<p>ECs:
I have pretty strong ECs (did research at Caltech, have LOTS of leadership (class president among other leadership positions) and am very involved in student government and school organizations, founded and spearheaded a couple of organizations, am very well rounded, did some interesting volunteering, and am involved in other organizations/academic teams that relate to either science or business). I'm pretty sure I'll have awesome recs from 2 teachers, my guidance counselor (who knows me very well out of my class of 900+ students and likes me a lot), and my Caltech professor. I'm also considering asking the Vice Principal for a rec talking about my leadership. I'm working really hard on writing amazing/unique essays too. </p>

<p>I'm applying regular decision to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Columbia, UPenn, Brown, Northwestern, WUSTL, Williams, Pomona, and USC for my privates and UCB, UCLA, UCSD, and UCI for my publics. </p>

<p>I know my list of private schools is quite a load of extremely selective schools that are crapshoots, but my parents aren't letting me go out of state unless I get into a really good school, otherwise I'll probably go to a UC, hopefully Berkeley. </p>

<p>I know I didn't divulge too many details but I'd appreciate any insight or opinions. </p>

<p>MY MAIN CONCERN... I know my 3.83 UW GPA is on the low side for the schools I'm applying to. And I screwed up junior year (took on way too much, luckily got the toughest teachers, did too many ECs, yada yada, my fault though for doing too much)... which is bad. However, I contacted most of the colleges I'm applying to and directly spoke to admissions officers who said that no decisions are made until the midyear report is reviewed, so please don't say that senior grades won't matter. And I'm pretty sure I'll get a 4.0 this semester... even though I have the same number of APs as I did last year, my teachers are not as ridiculous. Yeah, teachers are all luck of the draw here... anyway. Will the rest of my application partially make up for my crappy GPA? If I stand out through my recs and essays, do I still have a chance? Is rigor of transcript also really important (I took a super rigorous schedule) when looking at grades?</p>

<p>Thanks everyone... I really appreciate it.</p>

2

<p>I don’t think couple of B’s in AP courses in junior year are going to be a determining factor. Your AP /SAT scores are very good. If your SAT math 2 subject comes close to 800 and your mid-year reports are all A’s, that would be increase your chances. For HYPMS, it is always a chance as scores/gpa/sat aren’t just the determining factors. But you would definitely be at their door and after that a little bit of luck and how impressed they are with your ECs/essay. I would think good chances at UCB and rest of the schools.</p>

3

<p>It would obviously be better if you hadn’t dropped a bit Junior year. A strong first semester Senior can counteract this somewhat.</p>

<p>Otherwise - you’re in the ball park for all these schools. The private schools all have very small acceptance rates, so prediction isn’t usually possible for any one of them.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

4

<p>What major? Some of the UCs’ selectivity differs depending on division or major. For example, Berkeley freshman admissions selectivity differs by division (L&S, Engineering, Chemistry, Natural Resources, Environmental Design), and differs by major within Engineering (supposedly, Bioengineering, EECS, and Engineering Undeclared are the most selective).</p>

<p>Have you figured out which schools are safeties which you will definitely be admitted and which you can definitely afford to attend (without excessive student loans)? Put “financial aid estimator” and “net cost calculator” in each school’s web site search box.</p>

5

<p>Applying to Letters & Science for UCs. I’m planning to major in biology (pre-med track) and minor in business.</p>

<p>Safeties: USC, UCSD, UCI
Target/Safeties: UCLA, UCB</p>

<p>The rest are low to high reaches I think. According to the financial aid calculators I’m pretty sure school will be affordable (more so at UCs and the top top schools) if the calculators are relatively accurate…</p>

6

<p>You have a good chance to get into some very good schools and a very good chance to get into some good schools.</p>

7

<p>Turns out I got 780 on Math 2C. Retake or no? </p>

<p>Btw, thanks for all the responses. I’d appreciate a little more feedback about my drop of gpa junior year…would it be a big impact on my chances? </p>

<p>Is there a threshold adcoms have for GPA and SAT that once an applicant passes, the adcoms view them on the same level academically and just focus on ECs and everything else? Or is everyone still compared down to the decimal point?</p>

8

<p>No don’t retake the Math2C- your 780 is fine.</p>

<p>Hard to predict if the 3.5 junior year will have a big impact–if adcoms are looking for a reason to toss your app, they have one. If you are outstanding in ECs and character as shown by your recs and essays, they could concentrate on the senior year improvement. </p>

<p>You might want to shave a few applications of your list of private colleges in order to create quality essays for the rest.</p>