<p>Hi!
Now that my school year has ended, and I'll be entering my senior year of high school soon, I figured it's time to REALLY look into colleges. I've been browsing around of course, and I have an idea of the major I want, but I don't know for sure.. chance me?</p>
<p>GPA:
3.4 unweighted
4.1 weighted (4.4 by the end of senior year)
10 AP classes by the end of Senior Year</p>
<p>ACT:
33 Composite
35 Math
30 English
32 Reading
35 Science</p>
<p>SAT:
Just took it for the first time today, hoping for 2200+</p>
<p>EC:
ELDA (Embracing Leadership through Diversity in Athletics) - 1 year
Student Council Member - 1 year
Track -State Champion Sophomore year, State Participant Junior (Hopefully state champion again Senior) - 4 years
Football - 1 year
Cross Country - 1 year</p>
<p>I think the biggest problem is I don't have nearly enough extra curricular. My friend was Salutorian and had tons of EC and a 2100 SAT, but Duke denied her. I know Duke is a very exclusive school, and not many people get in, but it makes me worry especially with my low GPA.</p>
<p>The schools i'm looking at include:
UC Berkeley (Reach)
Wake Forest
UNC- Chapel Hill
Boston University
Georgia Tech
UCLA
UCSD
NC State</p>
<p>I'm looking to go into engineering, and I'm a guy. I also don't know if this plays into college applications, but I will be graduating at 17 years old.</p>
<p>And also, if you could suggest any other schools I should look into, that would be awesome!</p>
<p>Home state? How much can you and your family afford for OOS schools? If you are looking at UC schools in California, you need to calculate your CSU/UC GPA see link: <a href=“Cal State Apply | CSU”>Cal State Apply | CSU;
For UCB/UCLA/UCSD, you would need at 4.0+ at least. If you are not in-state, you are looking at a price tag of $55K a year for those UC’s with little financial aid. Do you have any interest from Track coaches? Since that could change your chances greatly.</p>
<p>No, I moved out of California, so I am kinda worried about the high price tag, but I know it would be worth it.</p>
<p>Yes, Track coaches have shown interest, and my High School coaches tell me I do have potential for scholarships, but no schools from California. I haven’t contacted any of these schools either.</p>
<p>Senior year will also be my first year doing Football, but already Football coaches have started showing interest, even though we have only started summer practice. I didn’t plan on doing Football on College, but I’ll see how this year goes.</p>
<p>I live in North Carolina.</p>
<p>I would definitely contact some of the coaches if you are interested and it is definitely worth pursuing. My son’s graduating class this year had 4 athletes that got full rides unfortunately none in California. One student got into UNLV for basketball, 1 got into CSUCS for triathlon (chance for the 2020 Olympic team), 1 got in Univ of Texas for soccer (another Olympic hopeful) and another at Harding for Football. You need to talk with your parents what they are willing to pay, since you will only be able to borrow $5500 your freshman year and the rest will be up to them.
Good Luck.</p>
<p>Thankyou! Do you have any idea about my chances at the other schools, the ones not in California?</p>
<p>I feel like with the price, those schools might be a lost dream. I don’t mind, because there are plenty of other great schools elsewhere</p>
<p>I am a California Mom with both my sons staying in-state, so I have more experience with the UC’s and the Cal States. I am sure there are other CC posters whom would be more help. You can always check the rest of the schools “common data set” to see where you stand. It breaks out the % of students accepted at each level of GPA/SAT/ACT and the average GPA for in-coming freshman. Just do a google search for each school. Also the GPA listed is unweighed for the majority of the schools and all schools will recalculate your GPA based on their criteria.</p>
<p>I really wish I could chance you back, but my answers wouldn’t be very accurate as this is my first time on the forums! I wouldn’t wanna give you a bad answer that wouldn’t benefit you.</p>
<p>I can say that your stats are very impressive (much more so than mine), so from pure speculation I would say that most of your schools are matches.</p>
<p>Question about your chances for me: Would having more EC improve my chances or is it just my GPA that’s hurting my chances?</p>
<p>I was in a very similar situation. My GPA was identical, but my test scores were a tiny bit higher and I had much stronger ECs. I was able to get into several good schools with merit money in many cases, and even landed on an Ivy waitlist (crazy high reach for my GPA), but be sure to have plenty of safeties you can afford. College admissions is a crapshoot in many many cases.</p>
<p>You have a very competitive test score, but if you can get it up it really can make a difference. Did you do any prep for the ACT before taking it? I never did and it’s something I regret. If you haven’t, spend the summer working on practice tests and take it again in the fall. </p>
<p>You really need to improve your ECs. When you have a major weak spot in your app (GPA in our cases), it’s imperative to make sure every other component is spot on. Dive into something and get involved ASAP.</p>
<p>Also, don’t underestimate the influence of your essays. Start working on them well in advance and perfect them.</p>
<p>I can’t be sure whether or not our results will be similar. I had a good amount of extenuating circumstances that severely impacted my GPA, and I had one bad year with a Junior and Senior year of close to all A’s in as many APs as my school offered. Your grades tell a story about you, and a large deal of your results will depend on how that story comes off. Did you have such circumstances, or not really?</p>
<p>I did not prep for the ACT whatsoever - I feel like I can probably get a 35 if I do though
I’ll look into doing as much extra curricular as I can next year, but my year is already pretty cramped. My freshman and Sophomore years, I was unable to take any AP classes, so I’ve had to cram all 10 into 2 years. All of my classes but 1 were AP this year, and all of them will be AP next year. </p>
<p>I’ll work on improving on the ACT and see how I do on the SAT. Thanks for the advice.</p>
<p>My school also runs off a 7-point scale, and I don’t know if they readjust for colleges, but I know some of my B’s (maybe 2 or 3) would be A’s if they converted them into 10-point scale.</p>
<p>Your friend might have gotten rejected because she had tons of ECs. When you have a lot, they tend to look superficial and colleges begin to question your commitment to them. Less is more when it comes to ECs. You have a lot of sports, which is fine. Just make sure that you continue 2 of them into next year and try to get recruited. Also when it comes to test scores, once you pass 33 on the ACT, it all looks the same to schools. Just like with the SAT. Once you pass 2250, it all looks the same.</p>
<p>So should I not sweat trying to improve my ACT, and just focus more on my GPA?</p>
<p>I’m in the same boat, I have a 3.6 unweighted, and 2300 sat. I go to a really competitive school though, nobody has a 4.0 unweighted at our school, so I don’t know if that would make a difference. I also take one of the hardest courseloads offered, if that matters. The problem is, I’m Asian, and I know admissions officers hold Asians to a higher degree. However, I plan on majoring in political science, which is somewhat uncommon for Asians (at least the ones at my school), so I don’t know if that would make a difference. I have solid EC’s though, but I’m scared they won’t even look at my extracurriculars because of my gpa. </p>
<p>OP, if money is an issue, take every OOS public off your list. You are fortunate to be in NC with so many good instate options. Also, no surprise that your friend was rejected at Duke with a 2100.</p>
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<p>I feel really bad for you. Your combination of stats will really hurt you for the UCs. I have very similar stats and I can only attend UCSB.</p>
<p>3.66 UWGPA
4.29 WGPA
4.00 UCGPA
2300 SAT
IB classes: 3 HLs (including HL math) and 3 SLs
Decent ECs.
Rejected by: UCB, UCLA, UCSD, Cal Poly SLO
Waitlisted by: UCD, UCI</p>
<p>Hopefully, you will have better luck.</p>
<p>In the past two years, I have also taken the hardest classes possible. I took Calculus BC and Physics this year, as well as others, and this year I will be taking AP Bio and APES, as well as 3 other AP classes.</p>
<p>I’m also 1/4 asian, but I’m 1/4 white and 1/2 unknown. How can they judge based on race, if they dont really know who I am? When I go to apply, should I check ‘Would rather not answer’ for race?</p>