I’m just going to jump into this, I wasn’t great at high school and will be going to my community college for 2 years. My college GPA is going to be predicted so pretend it is what I will graduate with please. However the clubs I list are real since I’m already in them. I also have not taken the SATs or ACTs but will probably take them next year so I’m going to low ball those estimates. I know I will also have a great essay, my aunt is an admissions councilor at a university.
High School:
GPA: 3.1
ECs:
Captain of my school’s Mini-Thon
Yearbook Editor
Community College
GPA: 3.6
ECs:
Founder and President of my college’s Lemon Club (Alex’s Lemonade Stand)
Student Council Secretary
Member of my chapters Lion’s Club
ACT: 27
So if I get these stats would Vanderbilt, Lehigh, Colgate, University of Miami, NYU, Penn State, University of Pittsburg, or UC Berkeley be an option for me? My dream school is Dartmouth but I’m not even going to ask that, I’m trying to be reasonable. Thank you guys so much in advance this really means a lot to me (as it should).
Forgot to mention that I want to transfer to those colleges at the bottom after 2 years at my CC!
If you’re predicting a 3.6 GPA at a community college and a 27 ACT, I predict you have a 0% chance of getting into Vandy. Save yourself the application fee.
Though the above advice is harsh, it is true to an extent. Why do you want to go to Vanderbilt specifically? I think often people get attracted to the name of schools (including the names of several of those you listed as potentials, though Vanderbilt seems the best among them). Vanderbilt is a challenging place to go to school. Not to be pandering or dismissive, but the fact is that the people here are naturally very smart and SO driven such that they would never have had a 3.1 GPA in high school. Nor would they accept a 3.6 at CC. Were there extenuating circumstances, or did you simply not do well because you didn’t work hard? I fear that if the latter is true, a less rigorous school might be better for you. Perhaps you could transfer to a less competitive liberal arts college with exceptional undergraduate instruction rather than seeking to unrealistically tackle a top research university with people who have had themselves totally together for a while academically, most probably since their schooling began.
From reading your profile, I quite honestly don’t think you have a good chance I’m afraid, but MORE importantly, you would not be happy at Vanderbilt I don’t believe based on what you’ve said. It is hard to do well here even for the tippy top students with 4.0s and 36s. I too would save myself the application fee if I were you.
You still can set your goal at Vandy’s graduate school than the undergraduate school then. Stick with your GPA target in your community and transfer to a good state school, pull up the last two years of GPA and have good recommendations. I was in your shoes many years ago, went to community college, state adult college, and graduate with honor (top 10%), passed professional license test at first try, and got in JHU business school few years later. The graduate school only cares about what you do the last couple years of your college performance, and your trajectory of improvement in your life. By the time you apply graduate schools, the high school states and ACT score are no longer important to them. Some people are born late boomers, and schools know that.
What amNotabrobot says. Play your long game. Do not dwell on high school. Focus also on what you can afford and try not to borrow for undergrad school much. Transferring into a more selective school is tough but admirable! Keep your eyes on the long term prize. While you are looking at where it is realistic to transfer, please know that you can type in “Common Data Set” into most edu websites and see who got in last year and what their applicant pool of Admittees vs Yielded students who put down deposits looked like. You can also read blogs that most admissions teams at each specific college keep during the application season. Rote learning long term practice and high test scores are absolute musts for Vanderbilt admission now and the Vanderbilt waitlist looks just like the admit list regarding stats. This phenom happens at Vandy and similar schools because admission is the open door to paying what your parents are determined to afford with NO loans in financial need packages. Not really that many institutions can afford to do this. Thus the 30 thousand applicants and low admission rates. This is not personal at all. So get in the game and get that transfer done and do well there, too. best wishes…most of the parents posting here attended college during a much less stressful time for admissions and we wish all of you the best.