Does This Transcript Alone Remove Me from Tier I Schools?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Little experiment. Heres my transcript. Does it automatically remove me from the top colleges (ivys+)?</p>

<p>A few bits of info</p>

<p>-my school doesnt rank but its competitive/difficult- I'd say I'm around the top 10-15% out of class of 450, but colleges wont really see that
-hardest courseload available in all subjects every year, including most # of APs allowed
-school doesn't weight GPA
-I'm not giving SAT scores or anything else- I just want to see if my transcript ALONE will take me out of the applicant pool.</p>

<p>Sophomore
English________________________<strong><em>A
Spanish</em></strong>_______________________<strong><em>A-
History</em></strong>__________________<strong><em>A-
Physics</em></strong>__________________<strong><em>A-
Math</em></strong>__________________<strong><em>B+
History Elective</em></strong>________________________A+</p>

<p>gpa for this year: 3.82/4
(3.7 without the elective)</p>

<p>Junior
English________________________<strong><em>A
Spanish</em></strong>__________________<strong><em>A-
History</em></strong>__________________<strong><em>A
Bio</em></strong>__________________<strong><em>B+
Math</em></strong>__________________<strong><em>A-
History Elective</em></strong>________________________A+</p>

<p>gpa for this year: 3.86/4
(3.8 without the elective)</p>

<p>Senior (predicted- I figure if I work my @$$ off first half of the year I can get these grades. Also its only a few quarters, not the whole year)</p>

<p>English________________________<strong><em>A
Spanish</em></strong>__________________<strong><em>A
History</em></strong>__________________<strong><em>A
Science (unknown right now)</em></strong>__________________<strong><em>A-
Math</em></strong>________________________B+/A-</p>

<p>estimated gpa for this year:
3.79/4</p>

<h2>now here's the bugger.</h2>

<p>Freshman
Math________________________<strong><em>C+
Chem</em></strong>__________________<strong><em>B-
English</em></strong>__________________<strong><em>A-
History</em></strong>__________________<strong><em>A
Spanish</em></strong>__________________<strong><em>B
Indep Study</em></strong>________________________A</p>

<p>total (without the indep study) 3.44</p>

<p>High school cumulative 9-12: Approx 3.67/3.7
High school 10-12: 3.8</p>

<p>I think the transcript is just scattered with too many -'s and +'s. the No rank will probably hurt me because adcoms might not realize the difficulty of my classes.</p>

<p>So. Does this transcript immediately put me off the map of the top ivy's?
Responses are nice.</p>

2

<p>also that C+ stands out like a sore thumb</p>

3

<p>No - it really shouldn't.</p>

4

<p>lol r u saying the rest of it is that bad that a C+ doesnt stick out?</p>

5

<p>I wouldn't say so....as long as your ECs are pretty good and your SAT/ACT scores are high. It also depends on which "Tier 1" school you're looking at.</p>

6

<p>yea....ur probably gonna wind up at Arizona State.....sorry :(</p>

7

<p>ok it says Mets responded but I can't see his response...??</p>

8

<p>You should be fine from the middle of the top tier down.</p>

9

<p>thanks for all da responses- heavenwood, im sorta aiming for like brownish/columbia level. Is taht what you meant, or lower?</p>

10

<p>I had the same GPA and the about the same actual grades as you. Don't stress out. You'll get into a top 50 school. I don't know how you define "tier 1", top 25 maybe? I don't think you're getting into a top 25 school, but you should get into a good school. Test scores and class rank play just as important as a role at most schools as GPA. I got into Wisconsin (which is a pretty competitive school, ranked 34 in US News) with those grades, so it's definitely possible.</p>

11

<p>I had a similar GPA, with a similarly weak freshman year. I did well at schools that ignore freshman year and poorly at schools that include it. Keep in mind that the other parts of my application were pretty strong (2330 SAT; organized 4 fundraiser events that raised $15,000; econ research). But here goes. Maybe it'll give you a good idea</p>

<p>9-12 GPA: 3.63 UW, 4.03 W, ranked 60/702
10-12 GPA: 3.80 UW, 4.43 W, ranked 19/702</p>

<p>Schools that ignore freshman grades:
*Accepted: Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, UCI
*Rejected: Princeton</p>

<p>Schools that include freshman grades:
*Accepted: UChicago
*Waitlisted: Amherst
*Rejected: HYP, Brown, Dartmouth, Penn, Duke, Williams, Northwestern</p>

12

<p>It depends on how you define "1st tier."</p>

<p>How low can you go?</p>

13

<p>Congrats on your acceptances stambliark!!! Where did you decide to attend?</p>

14

<p>THis is going to sound pretentious, but as low as Uchicago...? </p>

<p>I'm fairly confident I'd get in there based off the kids from my school who have been accepted and others' anecdotal. For other various reasons, I sort of consider that my last option. My dad is a faculty member at an ivy league school if that matters at all...as of right now I'm really liking Brown so I may apply early, but I guess I sort of define Tier I to include the lower ivies and then the few others, like Uchi, Duke, Amherst, etc.</p>

<p>Stambliark: nice job. I'm wondering if you made any sort of note about fresh year- did you address it in any way on the app itself, or in a supplemental type of thing?</p>

15

<p>the general consensus does seem to be that these grades have taken me out of the pool for the top ivies. Like, our school doesnt rank or weight, and the whole "gpa reweighting" system for individual colleges is pretty hazy so I'm not exactly sure about how they will interpret my grades.</p>

16

<p>Amherst...so basically, UCLA and up?</p>

<p>Yeah, you can get into a top-25.</p>

17

<p>My friend had an UW 3.7 and went ivy....the transcript alone wont take you out of contention...but your gonna need a good hook.</p>

18

<p>haha, i havent quite put the US NEWS list to memorization, but I guess in that area.</p>

<p>also, what exactly constitutes a "hook"? Like, to what extent does one have to be accomplished for it to count as a hook? To be more specific, does being a (semi) published author (as in..like a real, adult book, not a HS anthology) count? I'm pretty passionate about a few specific subjects in the humanities, so idk how that may offset the GPA.</p>

19

<p>world<em>cup</em>fever,</p>

<p>Was the book published on demand or was it one of those self-publishing dealies where you pay to publish it? As I'm sure you understand, the former is much better than the latter.</p>

<p>Have you invented anything, saved any Latin American villages from floods, or saved a family of dying puppies (cute puppies, mind you) from starvation?</p>

<p>Y'know, things like that. :p</p>

20

<p>hahah, no, it was a real book. I've worked on several- mostly editing and rewriting as well as proofreading, so my name is in the book, and Ive personally written a few things which have been published here and there.</p>

<p>I've always found HS student writing outlet things kind of silly so I figured why not go for teh big time. Hopefully I can get published in a few more places (op-eds, etc.) and my ECs in and out of school really reflect my passions.</p>