<p>hi! i'm applying to harvard, brown, duke, cornell, nyu, bu, usc, santa clara, ucb, ucla, ucsb, ucd, uci and ucsc</p>
<p>major: english (got straight A's in all my english classes in high school)</p>
<p>uw gpa (9-12): 3.58
w gpa (9-12): 3.77
uw gpa (10-12): 3.68
w gpa (10-12): 3.91
my gpa isn't that great but i've been improving since freshmen year! junior year i even got a uw 4.0! :)</p>
<p>EC:
8 years ballet (participate in many shows and competitions)
5 years jazz dance (performance team)
school dance team since freshmen year. captain senior year
4 years tennis team. jv captain sophomore year. varsity junior and senior year
100+ volunteer hours</p>
<p>essays: really good. my english teacher said it was one of the best she's ever read
recs: excellent
counselor rec: pretty good
hooks: single parent. have to take care of my younger siblings. </p>
<p>Have you checked the common data sets for these schools? Virtually no one with your SAT score is admitted to Harvard, Brown, Duke and Cornell. The few you may find can be counted on one hand and are impact recruited athletes.</p>
<p>I am shocked by all the kids here who have not done minimal research…there is not a realistic school on this list.</p>
<p>i know harvard, cornell, duke and brown are high reaches but what about the other schools? just because i do not have perfect SAT should not mean i have absolutely no chance at any of my listed schools.</p>
<p>^ No, your SAT score does not have to be perfect, but it can’t be 1660 with SAT IIs at 600. At best, you could try for UCSC, UCSB, and UCI, but I really don’t think it’s worth your time.</p>
<p>Again, read the common data sets. They will tell you how many with your sores are accepted. It’s a myth that colleges don’t care too much about scores. No one needs perfect scores for any school, but every school has a realistic range. For n ivy that range starts about 500 points above your SAT score. Maybe this will help you see virtually no one with your sores gets into Brown, much less Harvard, except the occasional super athlete:</p>
<p>i am a california resident. and like i said before i already know the ivies are reach schools. but what about the other schools like bu, santa clara, ucd, ucsb, uci and ucsc?</p>
<p>Your scores are well below average for every one of these school. GPA is below average at most. You are simply looking in the wrong range. A few of these might be worth a reach application: UCSC and BU I’d you do not need financial aid.</p>
<p>You really need to check the SAT ranges for these schools. The easiest way is the College Board’s College Search on their website. While you might not think the SAT is as important as it seems, when schools see a 1660 SAT and a disproportionately good GPA, they tend to think grade inflation or that you didn’t take rigorous courses. It sucks if that isn’t the case, but, that’s kind of how it is. You don’t have a realistic chance at any of the non-UC schools. UCB and UCLA are high reaches. I’m not particularly familiar with the greater UC system, but you seem to have decent chances at the rest.</p>
<p>if you look here the uc gpa is a 3.76 whereas mine is a 3.91. the average act for santa cruz is 26. mine is only one point below. and my act scores for english and reading are also well above average. with good essays, i do not see how ucsc is a reach school? true my sat scores are below average but i do not have to send them if i do not want to. i also thought i had good EC. i even forgot to mention that i am co-president of our school interact club.</p>
<p>having an increasing gpa is not a bad thing! it is a well known fact that improving your grades during high school is a good thing. it shows determination and care. i got a 4.0 junior year because i worked hard not because of grade inflation. i even took english ap lang junior year. i also took a summer writing class at the local community college and got an A there too.</p>
<p>^ Who said that an increasing GPA is a “bad” thing? Besides, for most of your schools listed, no one “increases” in GPA because all applicants are 3.9+ UW GPA throughout their entire high school career with the highest possible course rigor.</p>
<p>UCSC is a smaller reach for sure. It’s averages have been rapidly rising so it’s a bit hard to predict. It’s certainly worth taking the time to do an excellent application. My advice is to take the ivies and Duke off your list, replace them with more matches and safeties, and use your time to write fantastic essays and raise your scores a bit.</p>
<p>Your SAT will block you from all of these schools except maybe UCSC. Unfortunately you have virtually no chances at most of them. Retake it or look at lower-tier schools.</p>
<p>GPA cannot really be used to determine what schools to apply to, because GPA’s are so subjective to the difficulty of your high school and course load.</p>