College question! Please help!!!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
1

<p>I have been slacking off a bit in freshman and sophomore year, but junior year I worked VERY HARD. Due to my behavior in the past, my GPA was killed.
But I’m wondering about a couple of things;
• Would colleges look at my unweighted GPA or weighted GPA more?
• Do colleges specifically look at my Junior year grades? (Because it’s the only year I got straight A's)
• How much does my SAT matter?
• Are my clubs and awards really helping or do colleges not really care about them?
• How important is my college essay? Compared to GPA and SAT
• I will apply to Cornell, CAL Tech, Carnegie Mellon, UPenn, and some state safety schools. Which ones can I make it into? I would love to go to Cornell or Cal tech.</p>

<h2>Junior Year Courses:</h2>

<p>AP Physics
AP Chemistry
AP Calculus AB
AP US History
AP Lang
Spanish Honors</p>

<h2>Numeric Distinctions:</h2>

<p>3.75 (max 4) -- unweighted GPA
4.41 (max 5) -- Weighted GPA
2320 -- SAT score
800 - SAT Math IIC score
790- SAT Chemistry Score
790 - SAT Physics Score</p>

<h2>Clubs and Awards:</h2>

<p>District Science Fair winner for Physics Project
Science Olympiad Medal Winner
Secretary of Protein Research Club
National Honors Society
Vice President of Academic Decathlon Club
School Physics Team (4 people from entire school are selected)
State Science League Medal Winner for Physics
Volunteer 100+ hours</p>

2

<p>ok first of all, your gpa and work load junior year is weighed much more greatly than earlier years. in fact uc schools only look at your gpa’s from sophomore and junior years when judging you. the fact that you got straight A’s junior year will make your application very strong. the sat matters quite a bit but dont count on getting into a school because of your sat score. your sat score will only help you in the admissions process. the clubs and ec’s you have at the moment are a little bit insignficant. it seems like you have an area of interest in physics. try to get some more impressive ec’s in physics( like starting a club, getting an internship, summer acadamy, ect.) the college essay is one of the most important parts but it depends on the school on how much it is weighed. a good essay can really put you ahead of everybody else. You have good chances at penn and mellon. ok chances at cornell and cal tech, but there isnt really any such thing as a “good chance” at cal tech.
but you should be fine getting into college, you wont get accepted to all of them. but i dont see you getting rejected from a lot of them</p>