<p>Hello, I am a junior in high school and I plan on doing well on SAT's (2200+) however, I have a low GPA (91.89 or 3.6 on 4.0 scale). Also, my EC's suck. Anyways, I was wondering which really good colleges would take me if I do really well on SAT's (particularly in the northeast region). I don't plan on going to any IVY's obviously but a really good private university or state school would be nice. Any suggestions and past experience would be nice.</p>
<p>Bump…bump</p>
<p>I’ve noticed that these schools are a bit lenient about GPA. </p>
<p>So take a look at:
WUStL
UChicago
Stern
Vanderbilt
CMU
Southern California
Emory(?)
Johns Hopkins University</p>
<p>From the Naviance data for my S’s high school, the kids who were accepted by HYP had, on average, lower SAT & GPA than the kids who were accepted by UChicago & JHopkins. For the other schools on BoundforBoston’s list, the accepted kids from his schools had GPA on par w HYP, but considerably higher SAT than HYP (like a 100 pts higher for some schools!).</p>
<p>I suggest you study the Naviance data for your high school.</p>
<p>I’ve just noticed, while browsing results threads for various schools, some of the schools I listed may be more likely to overlook the occasional 3.5 or 3.6 GPA if the applicant has other exceptionally redeeming qualities (2300+, etc). Maybe UChicago has drawn away from this tendency in recent years as they’ve gotten more selective, but I’ve noticed that some of the other schools are a bit more lenient to ‘forgive’ a lower GPA if the applicant can make up for it somehow, usually with high SAT scores. </p>
<p>While I’ve noticed that schools like HYP have the highest level of applicants, they are able to be incredibly selective and almost mandate a 3.9+ GPA as a requirement for admission. </p>
<p>While many of the other schools I noted also use high GPA as something of a requirement in admission, I’ve noticed a few cases in which they’ve allowed for minor exceptions.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions boundforboston but I think even if those schools are lenient I wouldn’t get in with a 3.6
As for GMT I looked on Naviance and don’t want to look again for awhile…
My school isn’t that great and the chances of students getting into top colleges are lower than the average with the same exact scores. For example typical NYU GPA is around 93 but the average for acceptance from my school is a 96. I don’t even go to public school, I go to a Catholic High School.</p>
<p>…bump…</p>
<p>It’s been my experience that schools tend to weight what I call stat heavy or “everything else” heavy. As a GENERAL rule, state flagships and the tech schools (MIT/Caltech) are stat heavy, meaning they more heavily weigh SAT AND GPA more. Your high SAT would negate your low GPA, putting you around UCLA territory as an example. Everything else heavy schools tend to be the liberal arts colleges, overall they value extracurriculars, essays, recommendations, and the “soft” criterion with more emphasis. You need to check the schools you want to apply to. Ivies are definitively out of reach, but there are plenty of great schools that would love to have you.</p>
<p>Thanks neuromajor, I kind of figured that but I hope it works out and SAT can balance a lower gpa for the colleges I want to get into.</p>