thank you @notjoe I guess that even though the odds may not be in my favor, there are still many upper tier colleges that may consider me.
They will ALL consider you. You’re a credible applicant. But most will turn you down. The best schools reject most applicants. But how many colleges are you going to go to? One. So, you only need one reach to accept you. Just make sure you have a couple of safeties with which you can be happy.
As a fellow junior, I will tell you this. A couple months ago, I was pretty college-crazed. What I mean by that is, I was unnecessarily worried about my stats and accomplishments. Attending a nationally recognized high school, I almost fell demoralized due to the amount of monster stats around me. Now, I do fairly well myself but I just didn’t feel stellar. But over the course of junior year and getting to know more admission stories and all, I’ve realized that when admissions say they look at the student and their story as a whole, they’re not lying.
I’m not trying to say that stats are unimportant nor am I trying to sweet-talk you. But, I just don’t want you to be as naive as I once was because I do regret that. Academics and ECs are most of your application but it’s also about how well you can convey YOUR story. So, even if you are a bit lacking in terms of gpa and all, I want you to focus on representing who you are, or even selling yourself a bit. I wouldn’t really listen to people telling you not to apply. Sure your application fee might go to waste but if that 75$ means that I won’t regret not applying for the rest of my life, I would be willing to give it up no time. Good luck for the coming year and keep on moving forward.
These top colleges look at applications holistically; that is, we have no way to tell you whether or not you will get rejected based on this post. We can tell you that though your GPA is low (though it is mainly due to freshman year, which can be explained), you are qualified and OF COURSE you have a chance, albeit a small one (as do most people). Based off of your stats, OF COURSE you should apply, as your application and how you outline your ECs, Recs, and Essays are huge factors that can tip the scale and determine your decision.