Chance Me Low GPA- Georgia Tech, UNC CH, Carnegie Mellon...

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey, so my gpa is kind of low and my SAT is average, but I think I have pretty strong ECs and essay. I’m thinking about taking the October ACT, as a last attempt to raise my test scores…

Georgia Tech (1st Choice Fit/Reach), Carnegie Mellon (Reach), UNC CH (Reach), UPenn (Super Reach)

East Asian, Female
State: GA, USA
School: Public (Ranked top 20 in GA)
Income: 100K+
UW GPA: 3.5
W GPA: 3.7
UW Percentage: 88.4%
W Percentage: 93.6%
SAT: 1440 (720 RW 720 M)
Major: Computer Science/Computational Media

Classes: (Semester 1 Grade/Semester 2 Grade)
—Freshman Yr—
AP US Gov - (B/A): 4
AP Music Theory - (A/A): 4

----Sophomore Yr—
AP Environmental Science - (A/B): 5
AP World History- (B/B): 4

—Junior Yr—
AP Calculus BC - (B/C): 4 ***My mom had a car accident that yr that’s why I got a C
AP Human Geography - (A/A): 4
AP Biology - (B/B): 3
AP Seminar - (A/A): 4
AP Lang - (A/A): 4
AP Statistics - (A/A): 4

-----Senior Yr—
AP Chemistry
AP Research
AP Computer Science A
AP Econ

—Extracurriculars— (I don’t feel like expanding, so this is the gist of it)
Dance: 11 years, Assistant Teacher, Multiple Awards
National Honor Society: President, Organized a fundraiser that raised $5K+
Computer Science 4 All Club: Co-Founder, Lead Instructor teach Scrach and Python
Software Engineering Internship in the Summer
Chinese Cultural Club: President
Invented Different Apps throughout the year~

—Awards—
ATL Hackathon Winner
Governors Honors Program Finalist
Presidential Volunteer Service Award
International Skills Diploma
Dance Academy Exemplary Student of the Year

2

bump

3

It generally doesn’t work for “pretty strong” EC’s and essay to make up for weak academics.
For schools that admit by major, CS is generally one of the competitive ones.

If your grades are a blip the year your mom had her car accidentbut otherwise OK, apply and explain your situation in the additional information section. If you had extra family responsibilities (such as cooking, cleaning, or caring for siblings) while your mom recuperated, they will take that into consideration.

A 1440 SAT is not awful if schools will forgive your GPA. Are you in-state for GA tech? That would give you another little edge. You need more matches and safeties though; I see no sure bets on that list.

4

If you are instate for GTech that will help. All the other schools are high reaches. I noticed you only list your AP grades, Your entire transcript will matter. Be careful blaming the C on your mother’s accident. Sometimes that helps in explaining a dip in grades overall but if you were able to maintain all your other grades I am not sure if it looks like you are making excuses.

5

I’m In-State for Georgia Tech, so hopefully that helps. I’m planning on applying to UGA and GSU as some of my fit/backup schools. However, my first choice would be Georgia Tech. I was thinking of retaking the ACT (already have a 32, I hope to improve it to 34) and applying regular decision to GT. Does applying RD improve my chances?

6

Update?