Do I still have chances for top schools despite my low GPA?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi guys! I am a rising senior and will be applying to college this fall. I’m so scared rn cuz i am not sure what kind of schools i can get into.

My dream schools are Emory, Cornell, Barnard, UCB, UCLA, and Middlebury. Some counsellors told me these schools are really hard to get into based on my GPA and SAT scores.

I have unweighted 3.79 and a weighted 4.05, and my sat score is 2020 (2200+ is my goal). I got 760 on SAT Math ii and 580 on world history (did not study at all cuz i though the material is similar to ap world…)
I know my GPA is really low for top schools but here is the reason why: I moved to USA three years ago from a foreign country and technically speaking I’m still an English learner.

I took some of the most rigorous courses at my school. Here’s my junior year and senior year schedule:
Junior year:
Honors European Literature
Honors Pre-Calculus
AP World History
AP Environmental Science
CP Chemistry
Chorus

Senior:
AP English
AP Government/ Honors Econ
AP Calculus
AP Art History
AP Physics
Chorus
PE

Those classes are really hard for me and no matter how hard I study I can only get B+ in some of the courses. I don’t know if colleges will understand I worked really hard for that 4.05, but since my school is really competitive and everyone has good grade, I’m afraid I will be compared with other students from my school.

I want to major in psychology/ East Asian studies in college and did some related extra curriculars such as:

volunteering at discovery science center
tutoring at language school
publishing stories on newspaper
holding fundraisers for an orphanage in rural China.

These things I did might not seem big but I learned a lot from them and I’m pretty sure I will turn these stories into good essays. I also took intro to Psych and intro to Sociology at a local community college. I am currently attending Psychology summer program at Cornell Uiversity.

To be honest I think worked really hard in the past three years, but it really depresses me that I can’t be as good as others in my school due to language problems. What kind of schools can I get into?
Do you guys think I can still get into my dream schools?

2

What an eclectic mix of schools. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone include both Middlebury and UCLA as their dream schools. Emory,UCB, Barnard, and UCLA are urban. Cornell and Middlebury are relatively rural. Middlebury, Barnard, and Emory are relatively small, while the others are fairly large. What made you select this mix of schools?

3

Just wanted to say that 3.79 is an amazing GPA!! You should not be deterred to apply to any of those schools. Best of luck. I would like to comment on your choice of schools as the above commenter said- all of these schools are very different from each other. I would try and figure out what type of school fits your needs because attending Middlebury will be very different from attending UCB.