EA/RD

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I know that I am for sure applying EA for my top schools, but I was wondering wether or not I should with schools that are not my tops. I would apply EA to all, because I know that it shows interest and I would really just like to finally have this process over with. However, my GPA is very low due to my freshman and sophomore year (death in close family freshman year). My freshman year really, really hurt my academic career because not only does it pull down my cumulative, I am also not eligible for more than one AP and programs such as Natl honors society etc. My ACT is a 34 and my GPA is a 3.0
Frosh: 2.3, 2.2
Soph: 3.0, 3.0
Junior: 3.7, 4.3
Senior (first sem so far): 4.6
I am taking all honors senior year. If I wait to send my application for RD, my senior grades will be added into my GPA and I will have a 3.3.
My ECs, recs, and essays are very strong and I explain my low freshman year in the extra info section on the common app. I am also applying to not so popular major (linguistics) and have a lot of research experience.

Tops:
USC
NYU
UMich

UCLA
UCSB
Santa Clara
UW Madison

2

Well, for one, correct me if I’m wrong but I believe none of the UC’s do any type of early admission, be it ED or EA. With that being said, if you have your applications ready, it wouldn’t hurt your chance of admission to apply EA to a school, especially if you have high test scores, explain your low gpa, and can show that you have an upward trend for gpa (from frosh–>junior year).