Hello,
I am an incoming senior in Illinois with some questions about applying to schools that are good for CS and Aerospace. My GPA across all three years is 3.67 (weighted is 4.63) and my junior year GPA was a 4.95. Our school’s grading scale for AP classes gives a 5.6 for an A+, 5.33 for an A, and so on. For Honors courses, our school gives a 5.33 for an A+, 5.0 for an A, and so on. I have a 35 on the ACT. I consider my extracurriculars to be strong as I have many activities that relate to computer science and the STEM field. I have other activities such as band and sports that I do very well at and I will list them if you guys want me to. I will also start a computer science club at my school my senior year.
I have some questions that I can’t really find the answer to. How important is junior year gpa compared to overall gpa and how do colleges assess weighted gpa? My gpa freshman and sophomore years wasn’t that great compared to junior year and I am afraid it completely ruins my chances for applying to some of the harder schools. I can share photos of my courses for each year if you guys want to see. I have heard that colleges look at unweighted gpa, but that makes me think that students who take harder classes fall at a disadvantage if they aren’t able to earn incredibly good grades for those classes.
I know some reach (and some impossible) schools that I could apply to for CS including:
-UC Berkeley
-UC San Diego
-UC Santa Barbara
-UC Irvine
-UT Austin
-UMichigan Ann Arbor
-UWashington
-UIUC
-Duke
-Georgia Tech
-Harvard
-Lehigh (Computer Science & Business Integrated Program)
-Northwestern
-Stanford
-Purdue
-UPenn (another Comp Sci and Business Integrated Program).
-UCLA
For Aerospace:
-Georgia Tech
-UMichigan Ann arbor
-UIUC
-Colorado Boulder
Some safety schools I have found for CS:
-Cal Poly Pomono
-Minnesota
-Arizona
-UTK?
I understand that getting into some of the harder schools is unlikely, but I want to understand exactly how unlikely given my stats. I haven’t listed my specific extracurricular activities and achievements, but I can if you guys want to see. I also want to know some good safety schools that I can apply to.
For other colleges, calculate an unweighted GPA on a 4.0 scale (it is common for colleges to drop +/- when calculating high school GPA) to get a better idea of where you stand.
I know you did not ask about affordability, but being an OOS applicant for the California UC’s and Cal States, can your college budget cover full fees at these schools that range from $40K/year (Cal States) to $65K/year (UC’s) for you to attend? These schools offer little to no financial aid for OOS students. Run the Net Price calculator on all schools of interest since your college list is large and no point in applying if they are not affordable.
Colleges look at course rigor along with UW GPA. They will see all your AP courses.
Purdue is very solid for AE as well as CS.
Build your list around your budget first and foremost.
Some of the schools on your list cap OOS applicants so even though their admissions stats don’t look too daunting, they are if you are OOS., i.e. UT Austin.
Have a close look at Arizona State U for both CS and Aero. Be sure to investigate their Barrett Honors College, which you would likely qualify for.
Other great Aero programs in addition to those you’ve already identified include:
U Maryland - College Park, Western Washington U, RPI, New Mexico State U, and Oregon State.
Cal Poly Pomona for CS is not a safety and compared to some of your other targeted schools, may not be worth the out-of-state fees.
Thanks for the reply. I will make sure to look at my budget and evaluate colleges based on it. My unweighted GPA is a 3.67. I am still confused about how important junior year grades are compared to sophomore and freshman year grades. I improved significantly from previous years, so will colleges care that I did much better junior year?