Chance Me JHU, Princeton, CMellon, UMich, Georgia Tech, Emory, Berkeley

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey Guys,

Please have mercy on me and my vile GPA.

Male, Asian
NJ, Top 10 Public HS
Prospective Major: Biological Sciences/Natural Sciences/Life Sciences
Financial Aid: HAKK YESS

I had a rip of depression from 6th grade onward and family dilemmas (nothing as serious as a death in the family), but we have moved on from that together and we looking forward to the future

GPA:

Scale at my School (because I’m not sure how colleges recalculate grades):

4.0 = 95
3.5 = 90
3.0 = 85

A+ = 98-100
A = 93-97
A- = 90-93
B+ = 88-89
B = 85-87

Freshman:
UW: 2.5 (you’re throwing up right now, I KNOW it)
W: 2.7
(3 Honors)
Pls

Sophomore:
UW: 3.6
W: 3.7
(1 Honors - wasn’t allowed to take advanced classes )
I was pulling myself together at this point, slowly and steadily.

Junior:
UW: 3.8
W: 4.1
(4 APs and 1 Honors):
AP Calc AB
AP Lang
AP Bio
AP CompSci

My teachers have told me that the past terminal was the toughest of the year, and my Bio teacher is so impressed he wants to nominate me for Gov’s School!
Life is good right now, and I’ve stopped caring about grades…don’t get me wrong, I study hard, am highly motivated, review tests and ask questions, but I stopped looking at my averages until I have to. I just feel like looking at my grades is pointless and depressing…if that makes any sense xD

Senior year:
By senior year, I will have taken:
AP Calc AB
AP Calc C
AP Biology
AP Lang
AP CompSci
AP Physics
AP Chem
AP Lit
AP Statistics
AP Gov & Pol
AP Enviro Science
I am also taking the AP Psych test.

I predict my Senior year UWGPA to be around 3.7-3.8 and WGPA around 4.2…or maybe I’m fooling myself xD I don’t really care for the difficulty, I just want to take classes that I am interested in and that I will get the most out of. I bash myself for abusing the opportunities I had in 9th grade and how ignorant I was. I’ve somehow twisted myself into some convoluted philosophy…idk I just want to learn.

  • With all of this, my cumulative UWGPA would be 3.425, and my WGPA would be 3.675.
  • I'm going to pour my heart and writing skills into the essay and my own way
  • Teach Recs from Bio and Eng teachers should be pretty good because I have extremely good relationships with them.

Standardized Tests:

SAT: 2330 M [780] CR [750] W [800] Essay: 12 - First Attempt

I didn’t take any AP tests or Subject Tests yet.

ECs:

I did jacksquat in frosh and soph

FIRST Robotics: 3 years, Captain 1 year
Service Club for animals: Founded in Soph year - Founder and Pres 3 years
Academic League: 3 years, 2 yrs state champ

Elaborated Extra Activities:

-I called and contacted the county’s parks corps and spoke with the state’s Park Ranger. With them, I organized an environmental cleanup with school volunteers.

-Got in touch with the state parks again, and helped collaborate on a monitoring project for special, curative plant species. Got school volunteers to join.

  • Called and contacted the State's Fish and Wildlife department and conversed with representatives for a week. I managed to arrange for a biologist to come to my school and give a school-wide presentation about endangered species within the state.

-Organized a school-wide fundraiser for endangered bear species

PASSIONs:

As you can tell, I care about animals xD But besides biology, my main passion is writing.
Let me go into further detail:

I have been writing for a while, and have entered into numerous nationwide competitions - I didn’t win anything (I am entering in more this year) but besides publishing in my school’s Literary Magazine, I’ve got squat.

But I’ve been recognized for my writing by established organizations, and I plan on writing my essay on this one, great experience I had learning with actual authors about writing when I techincally wasn’t old enough to be allowed to do so.

My goal:

I want to be a research scientist (PhD and all) - discover things; contribute to the world. I also want to write - scifi, lit fiction, genre fiction. I want to give back to Earth by conserving the rapidly dwindling endangered species. Wherever I end up for my undergrad, I know that there is more that matters…or maybe I’m just comforting myself?

I’ve already posted this for Emory, but I was hoping I’d get feedback on some other schools. I’m applying to a lot of safeties and schools I’m perfectly fit to attend, but I’d appreciate any feedback on my emaciated chances at the schools above.

Also, should I ED Emory, or a school I’ll have better chances at such as URochester?

Thanks guys, and please ask any clarifying questions!!! :slight_smile:

2

bump

3

Your upward trend looks really good, and you have a good reason for your low freshman/sophomore year GPAs. Your extracurriculars are also strong. Even though most of these schools are reaches, you have a good reason for your low GPA, so I think you should still apply to them if you want to.

4

Any tips on how to buffer my gpa? And what chances do I have at these schools ^

5

I would not suggest applying early anywhere. You need first semester senior year to improve your grades. Apply early to all your safeties if you can. This way, you’ll have some acceptances in hand before Christmas break.

UMich, Georgia Tech, Berkeley are out of the question as they are all out of state, very expensive, and do not offer a lot of financial aid (Berkeley doesn’t give any to out of state applicants).

Do you know your rough class rank? Top 10%/20%/30% etc.

JHU, Princeton, CMU will be high reaches due to your GPA (objectively-speaking), but I am not sure on how they will view your GPA given your circumstances.

Wait, are you a junior or a senior? If you’re a senior, why didn’t you take any AP tests?

You should definitely take some subject tests to further prove your academic capability.

6

I am a junior, so I haven’t taken any AP tests. My school doesn’t rank so I really don’t know. And could you chance me for Berkeley, UMich, and GTech anyway?

7

UMich-Low Reach/Reach
UCB-Reach
GT-Low Reach

Honestly, if you can’t pay for the schools even if you do get in, why waste all the money on the application? However, look into merit aid (both from inside these schools and outside).

8

I can pay for these schools, I was just stating that financial aid would be helpful

9

Definitely look into merit aid then, your high school or surrounding programs might offer scholarships, as well as the schools you apply to.

10

You struggled in coursework without AP, and now you plan to overload and run the table with rigorous courses? It might work out or you might seriously continue to struggle. If you struggle you need to be realistic in your college list.

11

@ClarinetDad16 I don’t think you read my other response - I have match schools and safeties, I was just asking for crapshoot chances at the schools above.

I honestly can’t say how I’ll preform this year, and your right, it might all be conjuncture and I may end up failing. But I believe my past preformance wasn’t necessarily because I was “struggling,” but rather underperforming.

I finished the first quarter with straight A’s with only 6 other students in my grade, and my teachers seem to believe in me, so I was just predicitng I could maintain these grades or slightly below them.

Who knows how it will turn out. I was just asking for an opinion.

12

Best of luck. Don’t wish for more than the effort you invest. Those courses get much harder in the next 3 quarters.

13

Since you are a junior, I would wait until you have completed the remainder of the school year for a more accurate estimate. Freshman grades count the least and the upward trend is very encouraging. Your SAT score is excellent so no reason to re-take - take Math II and one more like Bio,Chem or Physics. If the trend continues your will be a reach-high reach for most of the schools you mentioned, but also starting thinking about safety schools that are affordable for you and your family.

Georgia Tech and Cal will probably offer you nothing in FA. Costs are 40-55K annually.

Look at the NPC for the others. You will have to finish off the year with a 4.0 to have much of a shot, average UW GPA’s run 3.8 -3.9 with high rigor at those schools. With the very best results you will be a below the average, even if your freshman year grades are ignored. Good luck!