Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1540
ACT (breakdown): 34
SAT II: Chem 780, Physics 780, Literature 750, Math 2 760
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.64
Weighted GPA: 3.75
Upward trend since freshman year
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top quarter
AP (place score in parenthesis): Took one AP Junior year
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: Gym, Lunch, Ap Bio, Ap chem or environmental, Ap psych, calc h or ab calc, Ap lit, Stat H
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): none at the moment, will update for biology league
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses):
Pre med (9-12, 11-12 president)
Founder and president of school science journal (11-12)
President of school news paper (10-12, 12 president)
Biology league
Summer internship in doctor’s office
Raised 1,500$ to build a water well in nigeria
Raised $1000 for child cancer research through pre med club
Essays (I am a junior so i didnt write them yet, I will write down ideas so please give me feedback):
I was a victim of religious hate crime as a child (for more than 6 years) and I used my experience to lecture on religious and culture tolerance at my local mosque. started of with 5 people attending to more than 50, and a lot of them are from different faiths and come to learn more about each other’s faith and be open minded.
Why I raised money for the water well in Nigeria, my favorite scientist is from Africa and he talks about how he suffered in his childhood due to no food or water and low education. he is an inspiration for me and my biggest goal in life is to make a charter school in Ethiopia, Nigeria, and other poverty countries because everyone deserves high quality education
I moved 3 times in my childhood, and being the new kid all I was worried about was fitting in and being cool. I had no general direction in life and didn’t care about anything but my reputation. I decided to change my ways sophomore year and it paid off because I was being myself and people liked that better than when I tried too hard. (personal improvement essay).
What I want to do in the future: Become a doctor, start schools and hospitals in poverty countries providing people with free health care and education because coming from a low income family I believe those things are privileges not rights
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: Biology teacher because she absolutely loves me and knows me as a person and not as just another student in her class 10/10
Teacher Rec #2: Chemistry Teacher 10/10 Same reason as my biology teacher
Extra recs jic: English teacher- she knows how hard I work, what my goals are, and my personality in general 8.5/10
Psychology teacher- I had her for history and psych and she knows my general work ethic and personality
9/10
Counselor Rec: I’m guessing very well written! I had to fill out this 9 page rec letter form for her so she could write an amazing letter 9-10/10
Additional Rec: None
Interview: None
Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Biochemistry
State (if domestic applicant): New Jersey
Country (if international applicant): United States
School Type: Public ~1400-1600 students
Ethnicity: South Asian (Pakistan)
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: <49,000$
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none
Schools I am applying to:
JHU
CMU
MSU
Rutgers- Newark
BU
BC
NYU
Cornell
TCNJ
Tufts
Columbia
Northeastern
Princeton
Brown
Lehigh
MIT
Stevens Institute of Tech
UMass Amherst
What happened with your GPA? Your test scores are great, way above average, but your GPA is below for many of these schools. Maybe include why your GPA suffered, as it will really hurt your application with a 3.6 UW.
Your GPA will almost certainly keep you from getting into these schools:
Harvard (average unweighted GPA - 3.97)
Columbia (average unweighted GPA - 3.95)
MIT (average unweighted GPA - 3.95)
BU (average unweighted GPA - 3.93)
Princeton (average unweighted GPA - 3.93)
Brown (average unweighted GPA - 3.93)
JHU (average unweighted GPA - 3.92)
Tufts (average unweighted GPA - 3.90)
Cornell (average unweighted GPA - 3.90)
Northeastern (average unweighted GPA - 3.90)
Stevens Institute of Tech (average unweighted GPA - 3.85)
Lehigh (average unweighted GPA - 3.83)
UMass Amherst (average unweighted GPA - 3.83)
CMU (average unweighted GPA - 3.76)
Schools you have a chance of getting into:
NYU
MSU
Rutgers
TCNJ
BU
While you’ve got seemingly good essays, extracurriculars, and recommendation letters, without a strong GPA, you will not get into any of the schools with an average unweighted GPA above 3.75. Most students who get into those schools have gotten A’s in at least four AP classes before their senior year, and therefore have a much higher weighted and unweighted GPA. GPA and difficulty of course schedule are near the top of things that colleges consider when accepting students, and you do not have either.
Now, it’s totally and completely fine not to go to those schools. After reading your post, you will almost certainly prosper at any accredited school in the nation and get accepted at any school with an average unweighted GPA below 3.6. But you probably need to slightly readjust your expectations and the list of schools that you will spend time applying to. Your essay topics seem excellent, so I would work during your senior year to raise your GPA as much as you can and get yourself involved in internships/win awards.
@Get00F3D I had no direction in freshman year; I did not know what I wanted in life. My family is not rich, so after school I would baby sit everyday for 5 hours to make money, which I used to get tutored for sat and books. I got too busy caring about my reputation because I did not know how to be myself and I was embarrassed of being a bookworm.
@LonghornGirl21 Would it help if I were to explain my bad gpa (only in freshman year) in the extra info box? I know going to these schools does not gaurentee success, but that is not why I want to go there. I am planning on researching and being published as an undergrad and there are some professors that I have been looking up to since 8th grade and I really want to take their class. And when colleges ask “why us” I don’t know what to write bc I dont want to be like “yes I want to be here because I love blahblah subject and this professor and I want to research with them” bc it seems like im using them when I dont mean to or plan to. But that is not the point, is there anyway at all that I can improve my chances there? My mom has an acquaintance who teaches at brown, should I get in touch with her?
It is great that you decided to take control after freshman year and work hard on those test scores. Honestly a 36 ACT non-superscored would greatly increase your chances and help a little with the GPA.
Hopefully you had an upward trend, and took rigorous classes.
Don’t expect much or else you will be really disappointed with the schools with a 3.9+ as the gap from 3.6 and 3.9 is pretty major, basically if you got a 3.0 freshman year you get screwed.
Maybe in your essays talk about your economic situation and how it motivated you to work from a low GPA to these great test scores and a better GPA.
@swampdraggin this are the things I strongly consider (the schools must have at least 3 of the things for me to like them): professors who’s classes I want to take, research opportunities, campus and life styles (I have visited all but 5), north east, has the major I want, internship opportunities, rigorous academics, not a crazy greek life (i.e Rutgers new Brunswick vs BU), theres more but these are the most important to me
If your grades junior and senior year are really strong and you write a compelling essay about all the baby-sitting to help family financially freshman year, you will have a chance at any of those schools. Best of luck!
It depends on how you frame it - but you might be right that they dont like pity stories or stories about scoring the winning touchdown
but this topic could work
I was a victim of religious hate crime as a child (for more than 6 years) and I used my experience to lecture on religious and culture tolerance at my local mosque. started of with 5 people attending to more than 50, and a lot of them are from different faiths and come to learn more about each other’s faith and be open minded. - because this doesnt have to be a pity story
Hello everyone, would love some input from anyone on what you think on where I stand. I am a transfer student from MCC, I applied with 12 credits completed with a 4.0 GPA. I am registered for 16 credits for spring semester and an additional 4 credits in summer. I will have WRA101 completed and MTH will be in the summer. Will they give me admission for fall? My major would be business. Also my high school GPA was a 2.0 but I do meet 28 credits so I don’t need to include that in the app.
I think you will get into U-Mass. I followed a student like you a while back and she applied to 20 schools, and got to choose between Rice and Brandise. I would agree that you should apply to a lot of schools, as your GPA will hurt at most, but you can only go to one, so you only have to get into one. Some like geographical diversity, so applying to schools where no one else from your high school applies may help. Maybe Colgate, Brandise, University of Rochester. University of Rochester in particular needs more Females. Smith and Wellelsley are top all Woman’s colleges and should not be overlooked, even if thats not your preference, having options wont hurt.