Chances for another low-GPA high-SAT student

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm sure everybody is tired of this type of student, but I'd like to know my chances at some CS schools.</p>

<p>Profile:</p>

<p>Area: California
School: Large, Public
Ethnicity: Asian Indian
Gender: M
Projected major: Engineering/Computer Science
(OK right about here everything becomes a Reach, lol)</p>

<p>PSAT: 229
SAT I: 2310 (790 Math, 800 Writing, 720 Reading)
SAT Subjects: Chem-800, Math2c-800, Physics-800...yeah, I was proud of that
GPA:
Fresh: 3.8 W/UW
Soph: 4.0 UW/4.4 W
Jun: 3.25 UW/4.1 W (I got a C in AP Language)
Total: 3.7 UW/4.1 W</p>

<p>APs: Language:4, US History:5, Chem:5, Comp Sci:5, Phys C (M+E&M): Both 5, Calc BC: 5</p>

<p>Extracurriculars/Awards:
Too lazy to list them out, but let's just say that they're 'ok'; no major awards, not much leadership, a bit of volunteering, but a lot of comittment. </p>

<p>Colleges I plan on applying to: Purdue, MIT (yeah, I know), Cornell, Columbia, UIllinois@ Urbana-Champaign, Caltech, CMU, UCB, UCLA, Dartmouth, Stanford, UMich, Harvey-Mudd...Hopefully you guys can help me narrow it down.</p>

2

<p>Well, your GPA isn't exactly what I would call low (3.7 UW low?), although I can see where you would worry about that 3.25 UW junior year--since that won't cut it at MIT, Dartmouth, Columbia, Harvey-Mudd, Caltech, and Stanford (also Stanford will throw out your freshman year grades, so your overall GPA will be much lower there). Lastly, the trend really hurts your chances at UC Berkeley and UCLA, too. A shame, too since the SAT Is and IIs are almost the highest I've ever seen.</p>

<p>Here's the thing--you are pretty much a match to safe match at Purdue, Michigan, Illinois, and CMU. You would have a good shot at UC San Diego or UCSB. Cornell's a slight reach, but I'd apply there anyway and just try to convince them it was a tough year for you which you are going to improve on(maybe even apply to Dartmouth or Brown, since they tend to be somewhat forgiving if the student shows top-notch promise) . Get great grades the first semester of senior year, and don't apply ED or EA, but instead make sure they decide on you after seeing the senior year grades.</p>

<p>I'd go ahead and apply to UCLA and UC Berkeley along with the other two UCs I mentioned above. They might look at the SATs and just figure you flaked out junior year because of some personal problems. Definitely get some leadership on your application, even if it's leading some volunteer efforts (beach clean-up, starting a tutoring program for neighborhood kids, etc.--something).</p>

<p>One final thing--if you don't get into one of the top-name colleges (Cornell, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Dartmouth or Brown), consider doing two years and getting a 4.0 GPA at one of the other schools--and if you like it, stay there--but if you still want to try and transfer to the "big name" places, do it after the two years.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>