<p>School just started and I'm now a Junior in High School. My first two years of high school didn't go very well grade-wise because I really didn't have any study skills, but I plan on working a lot harder this year. Hopefully I can manage to get straight A's. These are my stats right now.
GPA: W-3.714
UW-3.43
Freshman Classes:
1st semester:</p>
<p>Honors LA: B
Honors Bio: B
Honors US History: B
Personal Fitness: A
Spanish II: B
WG Honors Algebra II: C+
WG Intro. to Engineering Design: A-</p>
<p>2nd semester</p>
<p>Honors LA: B
Honors Bio: A-
Honors US History B
Spanish II:B-
Beginning Weight Training: A
WG Honors Algebra II: B-
WG intro. to Engineering Design: A-</p>
<p>Sophmore Classes:
1st semester:
Honors LA: B+
Algebra III: A-
Honors Chemistry: B+
WG AP World: A-
WG Principles of Engineering:C+ (terrible teacher)
Intro. to Java: A-
Art Fundamentals: A-</p>
<p>2nd semester:
Honors LA: A-
Triginometry: A
Honors Chemistry: B-
WG AP World: B+
WG Principles of Engineering: A-
Photography: A-
Health: A-</p>
<p>Junior Classes:
WG AP Chemistry
WG AP Physics I
WG Pre-Calculus
11 Language Arts
WG AP Government
WG Digital Electronics
Study Hall</p>
<p>ACT: Haven't taken but plan on getting at least a 32, 27 on PLAN
EC: Robotics Team Captain
Varsity Tennis
Star Scout
200+ volunteer hours at local hospital
(Plan on joining HOSA and Key Club)</p>
<p>Summer Activities:
National Student Leadership Confrence-Biotechnology
Missouri S&T engineering camp</p>
<p>I'm really going to try hard this year to get my grades up and get more involved. I also plan on volunteering at the St.Louis Science center and get a research internship this summer. However, Im kind of worried about whether or not I can get into the schools that I want to as a Biomedical Engineering major.</p>
<p>Schools I want to go to:
-Duke
-Wash. U
-Georgia Tech
-Johns Hopkins
-University of Michigan
-Boston University
-Case Western Reserve University
-University of Texas(austin)
-UC Berkley
-University of Washington
-Purdue University</p>
<p>Do I have a chance of getting into these schools? Any Advice on building a better application? Any other schools that you know of that have really good Biomedical Engineering program?</p>
<p>If you beat the odds and crack the ACT despite your PLAN of 27, your chances increase. If you don’t press above 32 then UCB, UTAustin, CW, BU, UM, GaTech, JHU, Wash U and Duke are near impossibilities. Purdue might take a chance with you with a 27 and improving GPA.</p>
<p>As far as building a better application, I would shed every single EC on you list except what you absolutely can’t do without – and take the time to get as many As these remaining 3 semesters and prep time for the ACT. You don’t need more ECs or vol hours. You need CPR for your GPA and somehow to buck the predicted 27 ACT that you have.</p>
<p>Well a PLAN test is out of 31, so a 27 is a projected 29-33. But I think your right about my GPA. I think im gonna still try to do extracurriculars, but if my grades drop ill definitely start dropping some. Thanks for your response!!!</p>
<p>My advice as someone who’s been through a stressful and grade lowering junior year is not too stack too much on your plate at school, and I don’t mean for this to be taken lightly. Take challenging classes, sure, but don’t necessarily try to take the MOST rigorous classes (especially when there’s little benefit to it). It’s better to get straight As in 3 ap classss than a couple BS in 5 ap classes (for ex).
@T26E4 I agree with most of what you said, grades should come first. I just think your description of calling his gpa needing CPR is a bit harsh, 3.43 might seem low by CC standards but is way higher than the actual average gpa of high schoolers. OP clearly has some work ethic.</p>
<p>T26E4 is right. Your GPA is far too low for these top engineering schools. Although it may be above average at your High School, but you are looking at the schools that often accept top 10-15% of students in class rank. For example, the CoE at UMich has an admission average GPA of 3.9. Even if you get 4.0 in junior, your GPA would not be higher than 3.65 that is significantly below the 25 percentile. The good thing is you have been taking very rigor courses and your EC may help too. So you just need to work hard to bring up your GPA and test scores and then look at these schools again. For at least half of the schools on your list, aim for 33+ in ACT.</p>
<p>I agree that the “CPR” wording wasn’t appropo. However in the context of the very select list of schools, reality was required. OP will have good choices next year – I think that’s plain to see.</p>
<p>Well these are my reach/match schools, my safety is probably SLU which im positive I can get into. Thanks for everyones responses, they mean alot!</p>