Chances for UPenn, Columbia, UC Berkeley, Brown, others, low 9th and 10th grade grades?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey, all!

I’m currently at a very selective NE prep school (top 5? Definitely top 10). The thing is, my grades from freshman and sophomore years are very lackluster.
Junior year/senior year GPA: 4.0 UW, 4.4 weighted
Rank: top 10-15 of 230, again this is a top prep school

SAT: first try 800 reading; 800 math; 750 writing; total: 2350
SATII: 800 Math II, Chemistry 730, bio 750, lit 750
PSAT: last year 214, this year 230 (will be NMSQT semifinalist)
AP scores: 5 on BC calc sophomore year, macro, micro, stat all 5
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): qualified for USAJMO (USAMO but for 10th grade and under), will try to make USAMO in a few weeks. Ranked in top 300 nationally for both swimming and water polo.

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses):
Water polo- varsity all years, captain
swimming- varsity all years, captain
math team- varsity all years, captain
these three are mainly it; I have participated in other clubs (debate, equity, human rights club) for ~ 3/4 years each, but no leadership in them. I will probably write briefly about them in the app, but probably not more than just a note of my participation.

Volunteer/Community Service: 80 hours over the summer working with kids at a summer camp, 20 hours teaching disabled kids to swim

Attended M&TSI this summer (management and technology at Penn). Earned good grades.

Am a prefect (Dorm leader?)

Recs and essays should be good. My teachers tend to like me.

Applied for Financial Aid? No
Projected Concentration: Econ/Business/maybe engineering
State (if domestic applicant): NE
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: NE Prep
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: $200,000 +
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None

Here’s the killer: While I’ve maintained a pristine GPA for junior year and senior year, my freshman and sophomore GPA’s come out to 3.2 UW. I slacked off for those two years, and I know they’ll be on my transcript. How much does this hurt me, considering my test scores and current GPA, keeping in mind the difficulty of my school?

Applying to ivies, Berkeley, U chicago, Wash U, etc.

2

9th and 10th grade are 67% of your transcript. That doesn’t bode well. I’d think, “If they can get a 4.0 now, why didn’t they try then?”

Good luck though, scores are phenomenal.

3

I know the grades are low. However, there is a very steep upwards trend to junior year. Also, I am a boarder so maybe the colleges may believe some of it was the adjustment phase (9th grader living away from home, almost like college). I know they hurt, but does it harm me a lot?

4

A lot. Your cumulative GPA is just at most scholarshhip range so even those may be hard. Going to a boarding school isn’t an excuse for two years of abysmal grades nor will a single Saturday’s test score completely make up for it although it will definitely help. As I’m sure you know, the colleges normally look at, or at least say they look at, GPA/Courserigor, personal qualities and then test scores. It is pretty obvious that most people with a 29 ACT/2000 SAT aren’t getting in to MIT, but once you’re in the middle 50, I doubt the SAT makes a huge difference. Schools of the caliber you’re looking at have no reason to compromise.

Your ECs are pretty good but most people dont think of water polo or math team as all consuming although swim might be. I’m sure you see it but your ECs are basically just those.

How does someone rank in the top 15 with a GPA around 3.5? Either the school has no competition(you even mention slacking off tons, yet you’re still top 15? Does everyone slack off tons?) or something is up.

P.S. the highest ranked HS in Nebraska is ranked around 900 nationally… not exactly ultra competitive.

5

^^ I believe OP means Northeast and not Nebraska. I was wondering the same thing about how they could be top 10-15 with a 3.5 gpa. Perhaps the school is super difficult?

6

@Falcon1‌ I think he mean Nebraska because he lists his state as NE(NE is Nebraska’s abbreviation). Although I really have no idea.

7

I think you stand a very good chance. Junior and Senior year are by far the most important years. I know people personally who have taken little honors/ap classes freshmen and sophomore year and have still gotten into top colleges. Dont listen to people saying “Freshmen and Sophomore year are the majority of your transcript”. Everyone needs time to grow up and realize that they want to try. Your upward trend is also impressive, and your SAT scores are basically perfect. Very good shot, at all those schools, but since ivies are crapshoots, you never know.

Chance back:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1749271-chances-for-nyu-stern-ed.html#latest

8

@YoungShoppah, NE= New england, not nebraska. Sorry for any confusion there. As for the rank, my school ranks/gives cum laude based solely on junior and senior GPA, hence I am able to be ranked well even with low freshman and sophomore GPA.

9

That makes it a bit better and obviously helps your class rank but they will still see the GPA and it is worrying to say the least. I won’t put down SternBusiness’s opinion but they wouldn’t ask for the grades if they didn’t matter. They don’t see your final grades from senior year so they have… freshman, sophomore, and junior. if 2 of the 3 are bad you’re not in a good situation. Most places care the most about your cumulative GPA (e.g. all HS and college/AP classes).

Not to say that you did but with a 200k+ income, high end test prep and college counseling is very common and they may or may not expect you to have used them. To attend most nice BSs you need good money so they may expect more because of the opportunities you have had financialy.

Chance me back if you like.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1750154-sophomore-chances-early-grad.html

10

I’m not sure. A lot of people say that the first two years hardly matter, and that my school only calculates the junior year GPA’s into the “cumulative” GPA. Also, colleges will have 1.5 trimesters of senior year grades as well. I’m really not sure though; that’s why I posted here.

11

They matter. They will see your transcript, and if your school doesn’t add them in, they are likely to. No college would base a decision on a year and a third when they can easily look at three and third. Although the most recent represents the current you better, the older stuff still relevant. A year or so of school is much different than maintaining that GPA for three or four years, one year just means you decided to focus for a little bit, three or four means you decided to focus and you kept at it. It is similar to being a volunteer for around a year vs volunteering for four years, you get a lot better view from the four than the one and four shows commitment.

Source: Two brothers at ivies, one only got into lower ivies(Cornell) because of weak fresh/soph GPA.

12

bump. Any other people with insight?

13

You’re fine, an upward trend of that caliber is phenomenal, colleges like to see that. Especially with your test scores, colleges will know you refocused and applied yourself.

14

The Ivies and UChicago will be tough with bad underclassman grades, but you get into the others I think.

15

UC Berkeley weighs HS GPA more than they do standardized tests.
Last year, UC Berkeley’s admit rate was a measly 14.1%. And only 9% in the College of Engineering.
The bright side was it was about 20% for OOS applicants, which you are, but that admit rate also includes Spring admits, which I doubt it’s something you’d like to expect.
I’d say your chances with those grades are 50%.
I’d apply if I were you, since the admissions at Cal are holistic in nature.
Good luck!

16

bump