CHANCES FOR STUDENT WITH GOOD SCORES AND EC's BUT BAD GRADES?!?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I want to apply as an English/Creative Writing major at these schools:
Stanford
Brown
Yale
Dartmouth
Sarah Lawrence
Kenyon College
USC
UCLA
UC Berkeley
NYU</p>

<p>What are my chances???</p>

<p>Here are my stats:
I attend a large (3,000 students) public high school in Los Angeles.
I have a 3.6 unweighted and a 3.8 weighted,
I scored 226 (80 Cr, 68 M, 78 W) on my PSAT
I scored 2320 on my SAT (800 CR, 720 M, 800 W)
I'm planning to take the ACT and expect a score of 35 or 36.
I'm also planning to take the SAT II's for literature, math 2, and US History, and expect something along the lines of an 800, a 750, and a 770, respectively.
I've taken 5 APs so far (4s scored on both Bio and World, and though I don't know my scores yet for AP Calc, AP Lang, or APUSH, I expect 5's on all three), and by the end of high school I'll have a total of 9.
I've been in 3 HS productions and got the lead role in the fall production of Our Town.
I am in a highly selective award winning jazz choir at my school, and I'm an active member of drama clubs, and am an officer on the board of my school's vocal department, (and next year I plan to join science bowl and journalism).
I have over 400 volunteer hours, and I have worked as a summer camp counselor.
I've taken 3 years of French, and, by the time I graduate, 4 of math, 4 of science (2 science labs), 4 of english, 4 history, 2 fine arts, and 6 performing arts.
I've won Best Actress 2014 at my school, helped start a club to raise thousands of dollars for various charities (I was treasurer, co-founder, secretary, and advertiser), I'm not positive yet (I won't know until September) but I believe I qualify as a national merit scholarship semifinalist, I won second place in an LAUSD spelling bee, got a science fair award from CSUN and had an abstract published in a national science journal, participated in Model United Nations, was on the Superlative Picture Team for yearbook, had a poem published in a collection of poetry, and won a presidential award and a certificate of special congressional recognition.</p>

<p>The thing is, I don't even know if any of this matters because my grades aren't stellar.
Do I have a shot at any of the schools on my list??
Thanks in advance!</p>

2

<p>Can’t comment on the UCs but I think you’re ok for Sarah Lawrence and Kenyon. 50/50 for NYU. No shot at Stanford/Brown/Yale/Dartmouth.</p>

3

<p>Soze, no shot, really? They had a 2320 on their SAT and took a challenging curriculum. </p>

4

<p>Those scores will impress everyone, but Berkeley and UCLA are known for placing more emphasis on GPA. I think you’ll probably get in, especially since you’re applying to the regular liberal arts colleges, but they are not sure things. Stanford admission is brutal for everyone. Otherwise, I think you’re chances are fair to good everywhere else. I might replace Stanford with Vanderbilt or Washington U. - both are known for showing love to applicants with scores over 2300.</p>

5

<p>Thanks so much, these were really helpful replies.
What do you think about Brown? That is my first choice</p>

6

<p>Stanford, Brown, Yale, Dartmouth = high reach
USC, UCLA, UC Berkeley = mid reach
NYU is a low reach.
I don’t know about Sarah Lawrence or Kenyon. </p>

<p>And if you think your GPA is “bad”, then chance me back: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1662008-2-8-gpa-2000-first-time-sat-urm-umass-amherst-others-ea.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1662008-2-8-gpa-2000-first-time-sat-urm-umass-amherst-others-ea.html#latest&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Best of luck! :)</p>

7

<p>If I apply early descision to Stanford, will it help me?</p>

8

<p>I also want to major in creative writing :)</p>

<p>Your scores are very impressive! I don’t think they would stand out in the Stanford and Yale admissions, but a score over 2300 will definitely impress them in those other schools.
Your ECs are also very good.
I think you have a good chance at Brown, Sarah Lawrence, Kenyon College and UCLA
With all the others you have a fair shot at getting in.</p>

<p>Please help me with mine</p>

<p><a href=“What are my chances of getting into Princeton University? (International student) - Princeton University - College Confidential Forums”>What are my chances of getting into Princeton University? (International student) - Princeton University - College Confidential Forums;

9

<p>Stanford early decision admissions acceptance rates tend to be significantly higher than regular decision, but if you don’t believe you have that good a shot at regular decision your chances won’t change in early decision. The early decision applicant pool there is notoriously very competitive.</p>

10

<p>I’m bumping this because I just calculated my GPA to include this past semester and I now have a 3.8 unweighted and a 4.3 weighted.
I also got 5’s on the three ap’s I took this year.
Does this help me/change anything?!</p>

11

<p>You have a good chance, but Ivys are always unpredictable so I’d say reach for those. </p>

12

<p>There have been many applicants admitted to schools you mentioned with similar GPAs- it’s just uncommon. You have good ECs pertinent to your intended major, and if you do well on the Lit SAT II like you mentioned, that would be advantageous. </p>

<p>I say Stanford, Brown, Dartmouth, and Brown are all reaches- as they are for most people. The UCs are probably a high match, and I think you would get into NYU- probably a low match. I’m not sure about the other two. You might want to look into schools like Northwestern. Good luck, I’m sure you’ll get into a lot of these schools! You may also want to look into more LACs. </p>

<p>One more thing: I think a lot of this depends on the distribution of your GPA. If you were worse your freshman year, and increased- that would be very good because the UCs don’t count freshman GPA into the cumulative GPA. Colleges also like to see an upward trend in GPA. </p>

13

<p>My GPA was a 3.4 in freshman year, and it’s gone up every year. Last semester I had a 4.0 and my weighted GPA was a 4.6
Does this help?</p>

14

<p>Definitely. I am in the same situation- my freshman year GPA was a 3.44, and it has increased each year afterwards. I wouldn’t worry about your GPA as much as you seem to be, you will get into great schools. </p>