Hello, I am incredibly nervous for college. I’m a junior, and I just want to know if I have a decent chance at getting into one of these schools. I have toured all of them and like all of them very much. I also have safety schools, but they are not included
Cornell
Dartmouth
Duke
UC Berkeley
UCLA
Williams
Bowdoin
GPA: 93.3/100
SAT II: Math 2 770 English Lit: 790
SAT: 1540
Will have 7 APs by the end of Senior Year
Extracurriculars:
- President of Yearbook Committee
- President of Student Ambassador Program
- President of Impact Club (social justice club(student of color at a predominantly white school))
- President + Founder of Poetry Society
- Nationally ranked squash player (not too incredibly high). Play in gold level tournaments around the country, coach younger players
- Piano player for 10 years, numerous solo performances. Not ranked and do not compete though
- Selected by my City Hall to serve on the Youth Council
- I am an English tutor fo peers at school
- I have over 100 hours of service at a club tutoring elementary schoolers from lower socioeconomic backgrounds
- I have published numerous works in a well known newspaper in India (The Hindu)
- I have had an internship with a local radio station (one of the highest rated NPRs in the nation), and had a chance to air my story
Awards:
-National Merit Commended Scholar (most likely) (PSAT 1440)
-AP Scholar
Is my GPA as much of a dealbreaker as my parents have told me it is?
well 93.3 would equal about 3.73 on a 4.0 scale, which is within range but on the low side for these schools.
That will especially hurt at the UCs, which weigh GPA more than most other schools in the admissions decision.
But that 1540 is nice. Obviously, write great essays and turn in solid rec letters.
Cornell’s difficulty will depend somewhat on which school you apply to.
I think the highly selective universities are a little harder to get into than the elite LACs because they receive more international applications for each available spot. The LACs lack the international prestige – probably mainly due to low research output, the lack of prestigious graduate programs, and lack of big awards like Nobels – which is part of what some international students crave.
But if you want small classes all four years and greater interaction with professors, and you don’t care about D1 sports or being in a big city or access to pre-professional and specialized majors, LACs are outstanding options.
So:
Cornell - Reach
Dartmouth - Reach
Duke - Reach
Berkeley - Reach/low reach
UCLA - Reach/low reach
Williams - Low reach
Bowdoin - Low reach
I think you may actually get a bit of a bump for being an international applicant at Williams and Bowdoin. Even they, top-of-the-pile LACs, have to work harder – than similar and even lower-ranked U’s – to create the diversity they crave. So they may well want you more.
It depends what your class rank is. If you are in the top 10% of your class and you have taken the most difficult curriculum available, than your GPA is fine.
I would focus on narrowing down your ECs. You have great leadership positions, but none of them seem very related to each other. You seem to have an interest in English and writing. I recommend that you pursue this skill more. Get more works published, do more creative writing, apply for essay contests, and look for online literary magazines that you could either be an editor for (polyphony h.s. is a well-known one) or be published in. Having a “spike” in your application, meaning that you show passion and skill in a specific academic or extracurricular field, usually helps your profile stand out more to admissions officers. Your stats are great! Just focus on getting good grades this year and getting amazing grades first semester senior year. Also, make sure you work on essays this summer. You do not want to be caught in a scramble and have to write a bunch of essays if you don’t get into the school you apply ED to. You are a very competitive applicant, just look on some past Ivy league or top 10 schools results pages to see the kind of applicants that get accepted.
Thanks @prezbucky , however, I’m not an international applicant. I live in Washington. Should have made that more clear.
Oh, well, then your chances are slightly better at Cornell/Dartmouth/Duke, about the same at UCB and UCLA, and maybe a hair worse at the LACs (or about the same…). So – not too huge of a difference, probably. They’re all excellent schools and difficult to get into.
Actually I just checked my family connection / naviance, which reports that I have a 3.88. I think I may have reported the wrong gpa (93.3/100) lol oops my bad
What is the breakdown of your SAT? What are your AP scores? Can you tell us a little bit about “your story?” You mentioned it there at the end. If it’s spectacular then that might put things in perspective.
My Breakdown is 780 reading 760 math. I took one AP sophomore year, which is the most anyone takes sophomore year at my school. it was CompSci, and I got a 5. I am currently taking 2 APs, which is a medium course load, and they are AP English Lang and AP Spanish Lang. Most likely will get 5s on both (multiple practice tests and in class writes suggest I will do very well.) Will be taking AP Bio, AP Calc AB, AP Spanish Lit, and AP English Lit senior year, totaling 7 APs, which is on the higher end of rigor for my school, but not the ABSOLUTE most rigorous as I think the most I’ve seen is 8 or 9 by the end of senior year. I don’t really have a story. What I meant at the end is that I have a sister who goes to Yale and parents who went to MIT and Stanford, so needless to say I have academic pressure at home and my parents don’t think I’m up to snuff. However, thats about the end of my “story” lol.
You have good chances! I know a lot of people with much lower scores! Just tell your story