Does my GPA destroy hope for acceptance to a highly selective school?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>All of the colleges I'm looking at are extremely selective (Brown, Vassar, Cornell, Amherst, Duke, Dartmouth) and I'm worried that despite my impressive test scores and EC's (at I least I think/hope they're impressive), my relatively low GPA might ruin things for me.</p>

<p>I like to think it's relatively low primarily because my freshman and sophomore year, I didn't have the accommodations plan I have now--because of my ADHD and anxiety disorder, I get extra time on tests and quizzes when I need it. I was given the accommodation plan at the start of my junior year, and my grades skyrocketed.</p>

<p>My progression is something like this:
freshman: 3.44uw, 3.6w
sophomore: 3.45uw, 3.6uw
junior: 3.75uw, 4.31w
I'm not sure if I should mention this somewhere in my application or not.</p>

<p>Anyway, here are my stats:</p>

<p>-GPA: 3.56uw
-SAT: M 720, CR 740, W 740, Total: 2200
-PSAT: National Merit
-Subject tests: Lit-660, USH-720
-Taking as many AP's and honors as my school will allow me to take (11 honors, 5 AP)
-AP Lang: 5
-APUSH: 4</p>

<p>-White male from Arizona, family makes <60k
-Prestigious college preparatory
-School does not rank, but I'm in the 'Summa Cum Laude' program- the most regarded, most competitive diploma, which is typically a good indicator of top 10%
-Prospective major is philosophy/neuroscience</p>

<p>-Founder and president of Philosophy Club
-Vice president of Politics Club
-Diversity/International Club board member; went with the club on a three-day 'cultural exchange' trip to our sister school in Kingston, Ontario, Canada
-"Friends of the Orphans" Club President; went on an 8-day volunteer trip to an orphanage in Mexico in March; went back for another 8 days in July
-Over 100 hours community service</p>

<p>-3 years varsity track for school
-Scholar-Athlete Award
-Club track during the summer and off season (Track Athlete Year Round)
-Qualified for and placed 27th overall in the USATF Junior Olympics National Championship for 110m hurdles (basically nationals for club track) (regionals came before this)
-Very good recommendations
-Past employment as a lifeguard</p>

2

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<p>You need to have your guidance counselor make a note of this in their reccommendation letter and it would be wise to also mention this in a supplemental essay as well. I’m not saying mentioning it will make you automatically accepted, but for many schools, it will reasonably explain the grade issue.</p>

<p>The same thing happened to my little sister, so I do sympathize with you. She wasn’t as lucky as you to pinpoint it so early (she found out second semester junior year) and it did adversely affect her college choices.</p>

<p>Otherwise, you have a good SAT score and several strong ECs. I do think you need to reconsider your list though and add in some more reasonable reaches and a few strong safeties.</p>

<p>Brown - rejection (SAT is a bit low for them, being a white male doesn’t help)
Vassar - possible rejection
Cornell - I’m on the fence, I can see you getting in, but I can’t say for sure
Amherst - See above
Duke - possible rejection
Dartmouth - rejection (same reasons as Brown)</p>

<p>What about considering these schools?:</p>

<p>NYU
Carnegie Mellon
USC
UCLA
UT Austin
Vanderbilt
Georgetown
UVA
Michigan
Boston College</p>

3

<p>It will be a hinderance, but you have shown growth in your grades. If you keep your academics strong senior year and get superb grades, you will have a chance. Maybe not at Amherst or Dartmouth, they seem the most difficult. I would say brown, but I’ve heard they don’t care about grades as much as other schools, but more on the characteristics and qualities of the person.</p>

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<p>*because, not but</p>

5

<p>Try looking at the 20s and 30s instead of the single digit rankers. You can get into a highly selective school, but not <em>that</em> highly selective. You have nothing but reaches listed there. You have to accept the fact that you’re most likely not getting into an Ivy, so sit down and make a realistic list that includes safeties (academic and financial), matches, and then just a few of the reaches you have there.</p>

6

<p>Zelda- yeah, I would agree with most of your assessments. But my SAT- low for Brown? It’s around 50 points above their average, isn’t it? And Vassar, likely rejection? I should note that I’ve been recruited at Vassar and Amherst for track (but I don’t know how much that’ll help in the admissions process, since they’re D3). Also, my dad went to Duke, so that may help. Most of the schools you listed are massive, and I really would prefer a small school (~5000). Why would you consider Georgetown and Vanderbilt more likely to accept than say Vassar or Cornell?
Also, would it not weigh heavily that my SATI is 120 points above Cornell’s average?</p>

<p>Kudryavka- Yeah, I understand that I should look at some slightly less selective schools.</p>

<p>For realistic safeties/high targets, what do you guys think about
Vassar
Boston College
Wake Forest
Tulane
George Washington
Emory
Occidental</p>

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<p>I can see you in @ Cornell. Look at the decisions thread, they’ve accepted people with similar and worst stats</p>

8

<ol>
<li><p>I said I was on the fence about Cornell. I can see you being accepted but I didn’t want to say one way or another.</p></li>
<li><p>You should have noted your track recruitment and legacy status initially; that changes things.</p></li>
<li><p>The schools I listed are just one I think you’d have a more reasonable chance of having admissions understand your unique situation. I honestly don’t see Brown overlooking the GPA, ADD or not – but I’d think somewhere like Georgetown or Vandy would. I also just suggested those schools because of their admit stats and other qualities, but I’m sorry for offending you with “massive schools.” You didn’t state otherwise, so how could I have known? (FYI large schools =/= bad education. If you think that, I guess I’m a failure and had a lousy college education for attending a “massive” school.)</p></li>
<li><p>I think your restructured list is better – although Wake Forest doesn’t look at SATs, so that might be tougher to sell yourself to.</p></li>
</ol>

9

<p>I honestly didn’t mean to sound hostile or critical. I really appreciate your input. You did not “offend” me in the least bit. I have no problem with large schools, I just feel like a smaller school would better suit me personally, for my own reasons. That’s not to say that larger schools don’t offer phenomenal educations and fits to their students.
Again, I didn’t mean to come off critical, and I do appreciate your input.</p>