Crappy GPA. Can I get into these schools?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Please be as brutally honest as possible. I'd rather get realistic chances, not false hope. Thanks :D</p>

<p>My schools are:</p>

<p>UCLA
UC Berkeley
UMich
Carnegie Mellon
Vanderbilt
Cornell CALS
UVA
Georgetown
Rutgers
Boston University
Upenn (lmaooo...)
Princeton (just applying for the hell of it. maybe a miracle will happen...)</p>

<p>I'm planning on majoring in finance, econ, or math depending on the school. I'm Asian too btw</p>

<p>HS: Top 10 public in the state. Sends ~10 kids to Ivies every year and tons more to top schools. Oh yeah, also sends 20-30 kids to NYU every year.
GPA: ~3.3-3.4 UW (horrible I know T_T) 4.0 UC weighted capped, 4.09 UC weighted uncapped</p>

<p>Sophomore year: ~3.2
Junior year 1st semester: ~3.0
Junior year 2nd semester: 4.0
Junior year final: 3.52 (basically, I actually started really trying 2nd semester)</p>

<p>Rank: HS doesn't do rank
SAT: 2250/1510 single sitting, 2290/1540 superscore
SAT II: 800s on chem and math iic
AP: 5s on chem, calc ab, english lang&comp, bio, and music theory
College courses: A in Intro to Business during jr year
Senior sched: 4 APs (econ, stat, calc bc, lit)
Total APs: 8 including sr year</p>

<p>ECs/volunteer/other crap:
-Piano 9 years. I play competitively and I won a bunch of competitions (internationally too) and awards. I played in Carnegie Hall multiple times. I have also tutored kids since 9th grade, and I perform for a nearby senior center.
-Violin 7 years. Played in school orchestra since 4th grade and started playing in the HS's chamber orchestra since 10th grade
-Vice president of academic league 3 years. We have been undefeated for the past 6 years or so whoohoo
-Breakdance 2 years. Started at the end of sophomore year. I performed a couple of times at school events. Also did performances in China during the summer and got invited to several middle schools to perform and teach dance to the kids.
-Interned at Credit Suisse for several weeks summer before senior year. Traded stock on my own (made some moneyz yay), and learned a lot of stuff from my mentor, a proprietary trader.
-Did research in a Rutgers bio lab for 2 years, 4 weeks each
-50+ hours of volunteer at an environmental center
-~100 hours at Chinese school
-20 hours helping dem. candidates run for election for our township committee
Teacher recs: Should be excellent since my teachers really liked me and saw how much I changed. Also, my GC rec should be really great since I'm 99% sure he knows me better than any of the other ~100 kids he looks over.
Other notes:
-School has grade deflation, and that'll probably be addressed in the school profile and by my GC
-According to Naviance, Vandy and NYU seem to be easier to get into from my HS than usual, so my chances for those schools may be a little higher. Several kids with sub-3.5 GPAs got into Vandy with SAT scores around 2100-2200.</p>

2

<p>I hate saying this but…
Vanderbilt - NO
Cornell CALS - NO
Georgetown - NO
Upenn (lmaooo…) - NO
Princeton - NO</p>

3

<p>No for all the Ivies. Sorry dude but Asian and that GPA take away any chance you had at them. Vanderbilt, Georgetown and UVA (OOS) can probably also be crossed off the list because those are as hard as Cornell to get into. The only reason I won’t completely cross you off for the UCs is because your UC gpa isn’t awful compared to what your UW gpa is and you have grade deflation. I think that it might be possible with a 4.0 this semester although it will still be a significant reach. CMU is not likely but some people with questionable credentials have gotten in there so I won’t say no but it’s not likely either. Michigan is also probably a pretty significant reach because OOS has gotten harder and GPA is by far the most important thing for the school, maybe one more semester and impressive enough ECs and recs could get you in however. Rutgers and BU are probably safeties for you so yes, you’re good there. Despite the fact you have strong test scores, you only have one good semester and at most two when you apply, most ultracompetitive colleges will see that you are good enough for them but you just simply can’t compete with the other applicants. As an Asian, you will have to be better than almost all your peers because it is pretty well established that Asians generally need higher scores to get admitted into elite colleges. You might want some targets in between BU and Michigan, Texas may be a school worth looking into because Mccombs is pretty well regarded of UG Business.</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the honest replies. I have to disagree with both of you about Vandy though, since on Naviance, it shows several people from my school who got in with slightly higher GPAs than mine but lower SATs. I also know a kid who got in with almost no AP classes, average ECs, and C’s 1st semester of senior year. In all, no one with an SAT of above 2100 has been rejected from Vandy from my school (a couple of waitlists though), so it’s very likely that Vandy just likes my school. </p>

<p>Now about everything else, will my stats really be that detrimental to my chances? I realize that I’ll probably be labeled as a “smart slacker” by admissions because my GPA is probably in most of my choices’ 25th percentiles while my SAT is probably near the 75th. Will my ECs/recs/essays be able to make up for my poor stats, or is admissions basically a numbers game? And about the essay, can an exceptional one be able to give a lower-stat kid an edge over people with higher stats but worse essays? Most of the teachers who I’ve showed my essays to said that mine are very unique (in a good way) compared to other essays that they’ve read (and those teachers have read tons of Ivy essays).</p>

5

<p>Rutgers.
Have you thought about any of the SUNY schools? Check those out, you’d probably have a better shot at those, and they’re good schools.</p>

6

<p>With 90% of freshman class with top 10% GPA, and at most schools 3.3-3.4 UW isn’t top 10%, Vandy seems to be a reach.
I go to a main feeder school for vandy and every person thats been accepted at my school has been top 10%. Anything lower has been rejected. Also since your asian with no super rich parents it’ll be even harder.</p>

<p>Just because your SAT is 75th percentile, it won’t cut it. Especially since you are planning on majoring in something business related which would mean you have to apply to NYU Stern…another weak point.</p>

<p>Overall I think you should look at schools like Penn State or your state flagship university and take the GMAT to transfer for Graduate school.</p>

<p>*The other 10% of Vandy’s not top 10% is recruited athletes, minority students, and legacy + connections.</p>

7

<p>how do y’all make new posts on here? just private message me…thanks</p>

8

<p>GPA sucks! sorry. thats a deal breaker for all of the tough schools you’re applying to :frowning: if you are NMSF you fave a full ride to ALABAMA though! yay!</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1231725-yale-scea-chance-will-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1231725-yale-scea-chance-will-chance-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

9

<p>Do you guys think my HS record will be detrimental even if I want to transfer to a top school after a semester or two in Rutgers or something? The reason I want to go to such prestigious schools is that I don’t really want to go to graduate school, at least at the moment. Another reason is to make my parents/relatives happy (I’m probably going to end up disgracing them by going to RU though T_T). </p>

<p>Is there no hope for me at all because of my GPA, or do I still stand a chance, however small, at my reach schools? For example, how much of a chance do I have of getting into at least ONE of my schools (forgot to add NYU btw) other than RU or BU? Also, how much will a 3.8-4.0 1st semester of senior year help?</p>

10

<p>pretty sure transfer students only get college classes looked at and their SAT/ACT scores…</p>

<p>And yeah GPA is quite low and SAT isn’t good enough to make up for it.</p>

<p>Just go to a state school, it isn’t that bad. I’m 100% sure that a Valedictorian at a State University is gonna make it better than a no namer at an Ivy.</p>

<p>I’m asian as well and I know how our parents are always “Go to ivy league or you work at mcdonalds.” If you’ve read around online and did some research, most Fortune 500 ceos are state university graduates. Only the lawyers/engineers/doctors come from the prestigious universities. As business students we need to learn how to COMMUNICATE, not talk about poetry and knitting. A state university education will allow us to interact with the people that we’ll be working with in the future, not professors and doctors.</p>

<p>Seriously, a Ivy league student that can’t effectively talk in front of an audience is worse off than a normal kid that has leadership skills and the drive to do something they enjoy, not reading and memorizing formulas and taking a test. I didn’t try to hard in high school, receiving basicly the same GPA as you. </p>

<p>Just remember that in the business world, as long as you get things done and have the capacity to succeed, what college you came from is not all important.</p>

<p>Go to Ohio State :p</p>

<p><em>Applies only if Finance + Econ is business in your view</em></p>

11

<p>^You got some good points right there, but isn’t it better to go to a top school (maybe transfer) if I have the chance? And it’s just that I feel like I’m going to fail and disgrace my family if I don’t get into a top school, which is very likely since I was lazy for most of HS. If I go to a top school, either by getting lucky this year or transferring next year, it takes a lot of pressure off of my shoulders, and I’m not going to feel obligated to redeem myself somehow for the rest of my college career or even after college. Know what I mean?</p>

12

<p>Common (Asian) misconception: you can be very successful in life without attending a top school or well-known one. Unfortunately, I’m going to agree with OhioMom2 here and say you have a very small chance of getting in to many of your choices, simply due to your GPA. It shows a lack of effort in school, and colleges do frown upon that.</p>

13

<p>^But can my teacher recs/upward trend help get rid of the assumption that I’m a slacker (from junior year on at least)? I talked to the teachers I’m asking recs from (both from junior year), and they said that they’ll emphasize my growth and how hard I worked in their classes. Plus, my GC, who knows me very well, will also do the same. How much will these help? Hell, will my essays/recs be read at all? Because I heard that most top schools have GPA/SAT cutoffs and that they automatically reject anyone below the cutoff.</p>

14

<p>Buuump???</p>

15

<p>There are no cutoffs for admissions, if the top schools’ claims are to be believed. However, you must demonstrate growth, which I think you do. With good recs and a well-written essays, you <em>do</em> have a chance, albeit not as good as it could have been, unfortunately. You have a good selection of targets. You should be fine, but I’m going to hazard a guess and say Penn, Princeton, Berkeley, and Cornell are definite no’s. Good luck, though!</p>

16

<p>I wouldn’t count you out just yet. 14% of AEM was under 3.5. While a lot of those are legacies and athletes, not all are.</p>

17

<p>Will I have a better chance at the UCs because I’m OOS and my UC GPA is a lot better than my UW? </p>

<p>One more thing, have any of you heard of stories where unhooked people got into the schools I mentioned or other top schools with sub-3.5 GPAs? I personally have heard of a couple, and they MIGHT have gotten in because of godlike essays. Can an AMAZING essay help a lot for my case? I know that amazing essays can heal the sick but they can’t raise the dead, but would I be considered “dead” at most of my schools (I’m definitely dead for Princeton and Penn)?</p>

18

<p>First don’t listen to OSUXiong and go to OSU. Anywhere else is better, jk. You can see my obvious bias. But from my experience with at least Michigan, essentially no one from my school got in with a sub 3.5 GPA. My school has on average about 150 kids who get accepted to Michigan and probably about 250-300 kids apply every year, out of a class of 720. Basically every single kid that is not a minority, athlete or has some other hook had to have at least a 3.7 to get in. My school is the biggest feeder school into Michigan and is one of the best high schools in the state as well and even then you have to have an excellent GPA. The only people I know who got in without having to get at least that 3.7 are athletes and minorities. Of course I didn’t know every single person who applied at my school and their specific situation but I had a pretty good picture of what was going on. You’re right about the amazing essays part but for most of your top schools, you’re either dead or have at least a terminal illness. That GPA really kills you because as much as other people talk about how GPA isn’t everything, it still is by far the most important thing. If it accounts for half of the what is considered, it’s not everything but it is still absolutely huge. Your best chance is to transfer.</p>

19

<p>Thanks everyone for the responses. I just looked up my choices on Naviance, and here are my conclusions:</p>

<p>NYU - Match (a bunch of people got in with similar stats. IDK if its Stern tho)
UCLA - not enough info, probably reach
Berkeley - Reach
Princeton - Uber reach (I’d feel honored to be waitlisted)
Penn - Uber reach
Cornell - High reach
UVA - High reach
Georgetown - High reach
Vanderbilt - Match (again, a bunch of people with similar stats as me got in)
Michigan - Guaranteed waitlist
CMU - Match or low reach (IDK about Tepper, but some kids got in with similar stats)
Rutgers & BU - In</p>

<p>Anyone wanna offer opinions on whether my predictions are right or not based on general knowledge on admissions and stuff?</p>