Current List (minus safeties):
JHU, CMU, Notre Dame, Boston college, BU, cornell, stanford (ive heard they dont factor in freshman gpa in the recalculation), princeton, duke, NYU
GPA as of the end of junior year: 3.64 UW // W 3.75
— Freshman year of high school my dad’s business was very slow and we could not afford a baby sitter and tutor for my siblings anymore. Everyday after school I would have to watch my siblings and tutor both of them before i got to any of my work. My grandfather became a heart patient and because of that and our financial problems my mom’s stress levels played a role in her bad health (she already has diabetes and thyroid and it made it worse for her). Because of that my freshman grades dropped and my freshman gpa was 3.14 UW (no honors no ap) and because of that I got into no ap classes for sophomore year (3.79 UW no ap no honors).
Current Schedule:
Biology Honors
Gym CP (Everyone has CP gym)
Algebra 2 CP
AP Art History
USH II honors
English 11 honors
spanish 3 cp
Planned Senior year schedule:
AP Bio
Gym
Calc H
Ap English
AP Psychology
AP Chem
AP Physics
Standardized tests:
Sat: 1540
SAT Subject Tests:
Math II (780), us history (780), chem (800) physics (800)
ACT: 34
Extracurricular Activities:
o 200 Hours volunteering
o Founder of school science journal, art club, and science Olympiad
o Pre-med president
-Under my leadership pre med raised 2000$ for cancer research and hosted secret santa for local children hospital
o Went to Pakistan to shadow a neurosurgeon
o Created a donation drive to give books to a poor elementary school in a nearby town
o Biology league (Just joined; will update on awards)
o chemistry league (Just joined; will update on awards)
o Published research with professor
o science blog
Please do not give a sappy pep talk be as honest as possible (I will not get offended but please give feedback and tell me how I can improve)
Your test scores are near the 75th percentile of these schools (1 point lower for some), but your GPA is far too low for top schools. An upward trend is good, however, it is not enough to cover the deficit for these schools.
Thank you for the responses! Can more people comment so I can get a more general idea and please be as blunt as possible, I would really appreciate it.
Honestly i think this is a complete toss up. I am goung through the same thing. It doesnt matter how good your ecs are and your scores, if youre gpa is low its usually an automatic no
Honestly i think this is a complete toss up. I am goung through the same thing. It doesnt matter how good your ecs are and your scores, if your gpa is low its usually an automatic no
@fivesages yes but I also want to go into research. These universities I want to apply to have the professors that I want to research / work with because I really like their past work. Im just not sure i stand a chance because my low gpa
As others have said it, it is hard to get over a low GPA (unweighted, weighted) hurdle at the top schools like JHU, CMU, Cornell, Stanford, Princeton and Duke. Just there are a lot strong applicants, academic and extracurriculars. Unfortunately, in this country (and the world) a lot of people face hardships. If I were you, given your interest in medicine and research, I would seriously consider adding a few liberal arts colleges. They place very well into both MD and PhD programs. Good luck!
Perhaps you could apply to some very holistic top colleges, like UChicago, Brown, Tufts that are heavily essay/personality reliant rather than test score/GPA reliant like other colleges. My friend this year got into UChicago with a 3.65 GPA and similar test scores ED I because of her awesome essays while every 3.9+er from our school was waitlisted/denied. If UChicago sounds overwhelming, definitely look into Tufts (Academically Cornell/Brown level only with less prestige), which has an ivy level pre med program with lots of research opportunities in Boston; you would stand a very good chance EDing there if you write good essays.
As I am reading the responses, im wondering do colleges care about your senior schedule at all? Because his senior courses seem rigorous but maybe colleges dont focus on it idk
@TN034154 With respect to senior courses, I don’t think senior course load will materially strengthen once profile. It’s more of a let’s not develop senioritis:)
@fivesages@TN034154 Senior schedule is taken into account for course rigor which is one of the important factors for admission. Nevertheless, one would still need to have strengths in the other aspects of the application. If one change the senior schedule after submitting the application, one has to contact the adcom of the school or the admission may be revoked.
Guys, is there any way I can improve my application? I am very open to constructive criticism as long as it is productive. I know what my low points are and I am totally fine with with people addressing them to me but please also give me advice on how I can become a stronger applicant in other areas. Thank you so much for your time, I really appreciate it!!!
My advise to you is try to bring up your GPA with first semester senior grades then apply to those top schools by RD. More important, you should look for more match schools. If you lower the target a bit, you are a strong applicant.
The only match school on your list is BU. Most of the others are not even reachable, a few might be considered “reach” for you. You really need to come up with a more solid list. I’m not sure there is much more you can do at this point, your scores are great. You can’t magically increase a GPA in one semester. So, my advice to you is redo your list. Schools you might consider that are similar to your list now include Wesleyan, UVA, Georgetown, William and Mary, Vassar, Smith (if female), maybe keep Cornell as a reach and add Brown?
^ Particularly for schools that do not count freshmen grade, the first semester senior grade would have a major impact in GPA. It is possible to bring it to above 3.7.