<p>I was wondering what you thought of my chances at:</p>
<p>Harvard
Stanford
Swarthmore
Wesleyan
Columbia
Princeton
Pomona
Oberlin
UCHicago</p>
<p>I plan to major in political science.</p>
<p>I go to one of the 15 best schools (public and private) in the nation. </p>
<p>I am a Hispanic immigrant with a permanent resident status. I am fluent in Spanish and English.</p>
<p>My GPA is about 3.3-3.4, my school does not keep track for me. I also have one of the hardest courseloads of my graduating class.</p>
<p>SAT 1: 2300, 2: CHem 73, US history 790, Math 2 800, French w/ listening 700, Physics 800</p>
<p>AP: Physics 5, US History 5, Eng Lit 4, French 5</p>
<p>200+ hours of community service
Latin American society 10-12 President (to be) 12
Attended National Diversity Leadership Conference
Participated in selective Japan summer studies program in Tokyo
Essay was published in the Concord REview</p>
<p>Yeah, my ECs are very, very weak. Considering my school doesn't rank, maybe the following info would help.</p>
<p>the Wall Street Journal, which ranked my school i think 12th in the nation, says that 25% of our graduates get accepted at:
HArvard
Yale
Princeton
Dartmouth
Cornell
Pomona
MIT
UPenn
Brown
Uchicago</p>
<p>Eh, I don't know how much weight his GPA will carry.</p>
<p>His GPA places him in the top fifteen percent of his class. According to his last post, twenty-five percent of the graduating class is accepted at the ivies + ponoma, mit, chicago. This means that a good amount of students with a lower GPAs get into the top schools.</p>
<p>If you goto one of the top 15 private schools in the nation your hook of being hispanic goes.....
...............
........................
Down the tube. </p>
<p>Though you do need to work on your EC's. I would say do more community service work. For example work with first gen immigrants from Latin Americans countires. Harvard loves that stuff ;)</p>
<p>Ok, look this guy stands a really good chance. He's trilingual(French, Spanish, English), and is SAT scores are top notch. His GPA maybe holding him back, but when, like someone already said, his school sends 25% to fabulous schools, he's in great shape. The only limiting factor in his application is his permanent resident status. I was a early applying junior, and despite getting into two top ten schools, I was Rejected/Waitlisted elsewhere, obviously with my citizenship status being influential.</p>
<p>GPA is a killer. GPAs that low are reserved for hard-luck cases, but considering he is going to one of the top highschools in the country, he's probably rich, which takes away that angle. I don't know, I guess I'd say just get better grades if you want to go to Harvard</p>
<p>"the Wall Street Journal, which ranked my school i think 12th in the nation, says that 25% of our graduates get accepted at: HArvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Cornell, Pomona, MIT, UPenn, Brown, Uchicago"</p>
<p>In the midst of all this GPA bashing, this information is significant. If 25% of the kids in this school's class are accepted to this school, it is reasonable to say that someone in the to top 15% would MOST LIKELY get into at least one of these schools.</p>
<p>Am I wrong? If I am please correct me & let me know why.</p>
<p>PS How do you put something that someone said in quotes?</p>
<p>At a competitive high school, with a tough courseload, a 3.3 is not bad at all. </p>
<p>You have to remember that at some schools, like mine and like the original poster's, a B is equal to an A- or thereabouts at a public school. The whole idea of college prep is not to just shuffle you through with a 4.0, but to actually make you work for it.</p>
<p>Kids from my school get into places like WashU, Georgetown, Emory, NYU and USC with GPA's below 3.0. And people get into Harvard with 3.7-3.9 weighted.</p>
<p>I'm assuming this poster is in the same situation.</p>
<p>Yea, what some people are saying is kind of right. In my area, we have some of the best counties (public school wise) in the nation and students who come from top-notch public schools with straight As usually start of with low Bs at my school. I have known people with 2.7s who got into Boston College, Georgetown and one guy with a 3 who got into Wesleyan and Brown.</p>
<p>Also, I am not that rich, unfortunately. I only pay 20% of my tuition. Is that a good or bad thing?</p>
<p>Leezy, do not panic dude. I know exactly what you mean. I was a 3.5 student (barely) and I got into a bunch of schools. Obviously, H,P,Y,M and S are going to be reaches, they are to most everyone. And since you aren't perfect, you HAVE to apply to a couple of backups, like Wisconsin, UT-Austin, UCSD etc... But as a URM and with excellent SATs and AP scores, you have a good shot at getting into some of the top programs.</p>