Do I have a Chance??

I have a 3.9 Unweighted GPA-- I have gotten a few B’s
I have a 4.95 weighted GPA. I am in the top 10 in my class.
1600 On SAT
35 on Act
Good EC’s
IB diploma(35+score) and 5+ AP classes
My dream universities are Duke University, UPenn, and UC Berkeley. Do I have a chance for any of these? I was told that I don’t because I have a few B’s.

Yes, you will have a chance. Making a “B” or two won’t significantly impact admission. You are fully qualified for these schools. Just understand that most fully qualified applicants are not accepted at these schools. It’s just a matter of supply and demand. Mostly demand, demand, demand.

So also find some safety and match schools. There are many, many excellent universities . . . probably several that would fit you just as well, and provide just as strong of academics as at your excellent dream schools. Try to find some safeties/matches where you’d be happy to attend and you can afford. I’d suggest University of Rochester and Holy Cross as schools with absolutely top-notch academics and very competitive–but not hyper-competitive–admissions.

Are you in-state for Berkeley? Obviously a great school, and it’s expensive OOS and classes are very large, and sometimes hard to get.

Good luck!

I think that @TTG pretty much nailed it. You do have a chance at all of these three schools. If you want to attend you should run the NPC on each, and if you are okay with the results it is IMHO worth applying.

However, you definitely need to add safety schools. Unless you are thrilled by your safety schools then you also need to add match schools.

Also, you will need to take the cost of attendance into consideration unless your parents are VERY wealthy.

Yes i’m in-state for berkeley. Any More suggestions for safety schools? I was looking at Cal Poly Pomona.

What are you thinking about studying? How much financial assistance will you need? The latter question is especially important.

Very competitive.

I assume with your numbers you’ll have a strong UC option, so I’m not going to include some safeties that I might because I figure you would go to one of those UCs.

If you like Penn, what about Rice? I really consider that one of the finest universities in the country. Rice is a reach for everyone.

Matches* similar to:

Penn (very urban national university): Case Western Reserve (STEM school with a STEM vibe; great pre-med,Cleveland is actually a pretty nice city, though cold), Rochester, Holy Cross (much smaller), and Boston University. Wellesley if you are female (stunning campus in a nice suburban campus outside Boston).

Duke (national university): Wake Forest, University of Richmond (beautiful suburban campus a few miles from a very “hot” city, Richmond (RVA); southern preppy vibe), Tulane. Wellesley might also be something of a similar type academic environment.

*One could call some of these reaches for everyone. CWRU (“Crew”) puts a lot of emphasis on numbers, so that is good for you. Wake put a lot of emphasis on “interest,” especially visiting and interviewing. It would be more reach-y without that. Very affluent vibe there, with strong academics. Tulane is very “hot” as is Richmond, so both much more competitive than in recent years. I’d think you would be a strong candidate at all these schools, but I would not assume admission at any of them (i.e. consider them safeties). They are all excellent schools.

@TTG I am looking to study biochemistry and become a doctor. However, I was planning to apply to Wharton. My parents don’t really make that much, and I’m a Questbridge College Prep Scholar. Not relying on matching with a university through Questbridge, because I heard they favor super low income families(around 15k). Yeah, I always get emails from Case Western and I was planning to apply to there and Boston University. Man, I hope I get accepted to Wharton, I should stand out a little bit-- I started my own company of flipping phones and I have made $5k in 2 months. If I get more capital, I can easily make $5k/month. Thanks everybody for your response, I really appreciate it!