Chances for Bryn Mawr, Mt Holyoke, other selective colleges?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi,
Can someone chance me for these colleges:

Bryn Mawr
Mt. Holyoke
Vassar
NYU
BU
BC
Smith
NorthWestern
North Eastern
UVirginia
Washington, St. Louis

Classes I’ve taken -

Freshman year:
Honors English - B+
Honors American Gov’t - B
Conceptual Physics - B
Geometry - B+
Spanish 3 - A

Sophomore year:
Honors Bio - B
Honors chem - B
Honors US History 2
Alg. 2 - C+
Hon. Spanish 4 - B+
Honors English - B

Junior year:

AP physics 1 - B-
Honors English - A
AP Spanish - A- or A
Honors global studies - A
Honors computer science Principles - A
Honors chamber orchestra - A
Adv. PreCalc - B

Senior year:
Probably AP Bio or AP Chem
AP English or College Composition (a rigorous AP weighted class designed to prepare students for writing on a college level)
Regular Calculus
AP European History
and I’m not sure what else I would take just yet…

Planned subject SATs:
Spanish (maybe)
English
Either Math II or Physics 1

Current GPA = 3.556 WEIGHTED
AHHHH IKR ITS AWFUL
Some things to note:
My school is (asian dominated) and CUTTHROAT competitive
I’ve taken pretty advanced classes, so maybe colleges will take that into consideration?
I had medical problems my sophomore year, when I skipped a lot of school - can I mention this as an extenuating circumstance? My GPA dropped as a result.

Does it have any chance of improving drastically (to… say, a 3.8? 3.7?) I’m predicting a B- in Physics, a B in PreCalc, and all As apart from that my Junior year.

ECs:
-volunteering at local hospital since freshman year
-didn’t make NHS bc of GPA, but am working towards Congressional Award which is pretty cool
-played cello since 3rd grade, played in pretty prestigious local youth orchestra (middle division) for sophomore and junior years, hope to make highest division senior year. Also made school’s competitive higher level orchestra for junior and senior years )
-learned classical indian dance since 3rd grade, hope to make debut solo performance after senior year, performed to fundraise some charity events
-pretty involved in Amnesty International club, hope to get leadership position senior yr.
-will begin working with and mediating underprivileged youth in state court coming jan.
-involved in school string quartets club junior and senior year
-played in school orchestra 4 years, elite chamber orchestra for junior and senior year

SAT Prediction:
Somewhere in the low 700s for math
High 700s in Writing
High 700s in RC

I took the (old) SAT once in Nov, I got a 2000 without really preparing. I’m taking it a second (and last) time this coming Jan, expecting between a 2100, 2200, or maybe above if I can pull my math up.

So… yeah thats pretty much it. In terms of college essays, I’m a pretty strong writer so that could be a bonus. Remember to be brutally honest please!!! I know my GPA sucks:(

2

Forgot to add:
not sure if this matters, but I’m Indian American (like, the India in Asia - American) and I come from a middle class / kind of upper middle class background.

3

Also I didn’t add a grade next to Honors Us History - I had a B final grade

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*** Last thing: I’m a junior

5

hiii so anyone feel like replying to this?

6

Bryn Mawr: High match
Mt. Holyoke: Match
Vassar: Reach
NYU: Reach
BU: High match
BC: Reach
Smith: Match
NorthWestern: Reach
North Eastern: High match/low reach
UVirginia: Reach
Washington, St. Louis: Reach

You might want to look at safeties…have you looked at Simmons or MCLA?

7

So the only ones I can really speak in depth for (because I did a lot of research there myself) are for Smith, Bryn Mawr, and Mount Holyoke, although because I’m from outside of Boston etc I know some general info about most of those other schools. It’s hard to give you much of a “chance” because a lot of your stats are your predictions aside from GPA and SAT. It is true that your weighted GPA is on the lower side for a good chunk of those schools, especially BC, Northwestern, Northeastern, Vassar… But your SAT is a little below average if not average for a few of those schools. But schools such as Smith, Bryn Mawr, and Mount Holyoke pride themselves in holistic viewing of applications, so they look at your EC commitments, work experience, essays, letters of rec (a good place for someone to explain potential issues in your transcript such as the death in the family and illness you endured), rigor of course load, etc along with test scores and GPAs. If everything else on your application is stellar, it could be enough to overlook the fact that your weighted GPA is much lower than their average accepted. They also like to see upward trends in grades, so if your grades, rigor, GPA, etc vastly improve junior and senior year, colleges view that positively!

What is your unweighted GPA and class rank? And how rigorous is your course load compared to what is offered at your school?

Edited: I don’t agree with some of metraux’s ratings and think that schools such as Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Smith, and BU would low to mid reaches and wouldn’t be matches… Definitely agree that you should look at safeties. If you like the Boston/MA area, there are tons of great schools that are less selective, Simmons and MCLA being great options.

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@19171998biology @Metraux

Hi! Thanks for replying!
I understand my GPA is quite low. I had a 3.7 freshman year, which is pretty decent, but it dropped around 0.2 points because I had a crazy sophomore year. Taking two honors science courses (back to back) at once was a big mistake, and I had some serious health problems that hindered me from performing well in school.
I took a practice SAT just yesterday and I scored somewhere between a 2290 and a 2315 (it gave me a range of values). If I am able to maintain this same score in the Jan SAT, will this increase my chances at any of the schools above? Mainly Bryn Mawr, Holyoke, and NYU my three dream schools.
I’m a fairly ambitious and hardworking student, but there were a lot of factors that didn’t allow me to get the grades I want. I transferred from a ridiculously small humanities-focused all girls Catholic private school my freshman year to this giant Indian/Asian-dominated public school where everyone dreams of going to Princeton (but ends up at Rutgers) and takes 3-5 APs at once, so it was a pretty big transition. OK I’ll stop making excuses for myself, sorry!!!
How much time do I really have to improve my GPA? I have the rest of this year, and maybe first quarter of senior year? Which isnt that much time on the grand scale…
I’m not sure how to find my unweighted GPA, but I’ve taken a lot of weighted classes so it would be significantly lower. My class rank would be pretty low, as my school’s average weighted GPA is around a 3.5.
My schools offers ridiculously hard courses to cater towards the STEM orientated crowd. Some people I know are taking AP Physics C, AP Calc BC, DECA, MCLA, and a lot of other scary sounding acronyms. We also offer AP English (lang and lit), AP world languages, AP Comp Sci, and a lot of AP social sciences (Psychology, Euro History, US History, Comp Gov). I am confident / certain I will take much better classes next year (AP Bio, English and Euro to name a few). But right now, I only take 2 APs - Spanish and Physics 1. I’m getting As in most of my classes, I’m pulling a B in math, and I’m struggling with Physics but I’m improving vastly and I’m confident I can pull a B in it as well. Based on practice, I’m expecting 4-5s on both AP exams.

My ECs are decent, but not extraordinary. Will they be able to override my dismal grades to some extent? Will a good SAT score along with an upward GPA trend the next two years plus good ECs help me get into some of these amazing schools? Also, are there any Liberal Arts schools with good music performance programs? I’m considering pursuing cello performance as a minor.
My safeties are Rutgers and Drexel I guess.

@Metraux When I first read your matches I knew it was too good to be true! Maybe you thought 3.5 was my unweighted GPA? But thanks for replying, anyways!

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Okay, knowing all of that background information helps a lot!! And I think colleges will see that too. They’ll see your big transition, especially if it’s explained on you application somehow, and they will see how hard you’re working to succeed.
And yes, upward GPA trends will definitely help!! When I went to some workshops, your, interviews, etc, the amount of times I heard them say that they love upward trends makes me a lot more confident in you. Colleges love to see you improving and challenging yourself with a tough course load too (I know MHC LOVES to see high rigor in course load) so you’ve got that going for you as well.
And with an SAT score like that which is well above their (MHC, BMC, unknown for NYU oops) average, you’re making yourself out to be a much more solid candidate.
As for ECs, as long as you show some strong leadership and dedication, you’ll be set even if you haven’t done insane, prestigious sounding list of activities like “deworming orphans in Somalia” (legally blonde reference haha) or creating wildly successful fundraisers and organizations.

Knowing the information I know now and working under the assumption that you’re an ambitious, hard working, devoted, and talented student, I think your chances at being admitted will be considerably better. Just keep plugging away this year, stay focused and not too stressed! No matter what, you’ll end up somewhere where you’ll get a wonderful education, meet great people, and make amazing memories (even if it isn’t your top choice).

Feel free to PM me about any more questions! I have done a good chunk of research about this kind of thing and would love to discuss BMC or MHC (amongst others, I just know those two the best) with you!