Emory 2023 Chance Me RD

UW GPA: 3.917
SAT:1330
Male, African American
Captain of the Lacrosse team, National Math Honor Society, Founded an NGO, Officer of several clubs. Did Medical Internship in the summer. Over 100 hours of community service. Took several AP classes with a rigorous schedule that got harder senior year. Made 4’s and 5’s on exams. Good Recommendations. Top 30% in class of 400 students. Classes have a focus on history and I want to major in African Studies.
Thank you!

Are you angling to play for Emory’s team as a recruited athlete? If there’s mutual interest, that might help your chances.

Note that at Emory, Lacrosse is currently considered a club sport that competes intercollegiately. I don’t know whether they recruit but it might be worth inquiring if this is an interest of yours.
https://emorymenslax.com/

What is your class rank?

Any SAT II scores?

In general, applying Early Decision I will enhance your chances of admission.

Your GPA is above average for an Emory admittee but your SAT would be below average.
https://apply.emory.edu/discover/fastfacts.php

I am ranked 109, and I would like to apply Early Decision 1 but I do not know if they will provide all the financial aid that I need since its binding.

This web page has Emory’s net price calculator for estimating financial aid:
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/how-us-news-calculated-the-rankings

@KingCook
Why are you ranked so low with a 3.9? Also a 3.9 is avg for Emory.

@KingCook : 109 out of?

@emorynavy : Grade inflation and compression is so common it makes no sense. Let us not deny that aspect of HS. The inflation in HS is even worse than that at most of the highest inflating elite colleges

@KingCook

The net price calculator is on this page (not the other I posted earlier):
http://www.emory.edu/home/admission/financial-aid/index.html

109 out of 400. And high GPA’s are normal at my school, because of how competitive it is with the majority of students having averages over 3.5

@BiffBrown ^

@bernie12 ^

@KingCook : Yeah, so there is a lot of grade inflation/most of the students at the schools find the courses easy to earn a high grade in (the courses may not be “easy” content or test wise, but may just be designed to be very forgiving with grades).

For comparison: At Emory, a high 3.8(like 3.88 or so) by senior year would land you PBK, because only 10% or so will qualify for PBK as a senior. Meanwhile, the top quartile at your school starts at 3.92ish. Your situation is typical for someone in HS. I wouldn’t worry about it. Worry about your APs and course rigor, apply and then cross your fingers. May not have the best chances for RD (simply because of volume and amount of applicants including other URMs, who may have similar or better profiles…who may also not make the cut), but probably alright. I imagine It would go to the "we’ll think about it " pile for sure. Just don’t expect anything IMHO. You never really should with RD or even ED at places like Emory. Lots of talent applying and lots of competition and randomness in the admissions process, especially if you are not squarely in or close to the middle for each academic stats. Other things will have to shine through which is very possible.

@bernie12
It makes me think he skipped the AP classes.

@KingCook
You have a decent chance Low Reach, due to having a large hook. However there’s a lot to be desired in your application thus far.

Huh??? Please…that is just how high schools work. That is an unweighted GPA. Some schools do have a lot of inflation, even in AP. AP exams can be tough, but usually the syllabi/work during the year/semester do not look like equivalent introductory college courses which are usually large so contain a comparatively small non-exam/quiz graded component. Homework and other types of non-standard assessments can count for over 50% of the grade in AP and other HS courses. This provides a nice cushion against imperfect exam performances and would result in lots of very high GPAs among even those taking AP.

@emorynavy @bernie12 actually I did take AP classes, I even increased my workload for my senior year and I have never gotten under an A- in any of the AP’s I have taken and I’ve only scored 4’s and 5’s my weighted is far from my UW at a 4.1 and I took honors science classes. Would this make me look better?

@emorynavy normally I would apply RD, but I want to try and get a full scholarship and I don’t know how much they would give me if they accepted me ED

@KingCook : I know you did. I didn’t say you didn’t. I don’t where that poster came up with that idea from. It was weird. I was just trying to explain to them that what they said made no sense. I suppose they thought that AP should help the GPA? But that is only weighted averages because APs receive weights at many schools. I have no idea what they were talking about. I wouldn’t worry about it. Your course rigor is fine. Your school just has an inflation or syllabi that result in huge shares of very high grades and this is common. Your grades coupled with the scores proves that your performance in the APs was productive and sustained. They aren’t gonna care about UW because they will unweight and reweight through their own systems.

@KingCook
How many AP’s did you take? Rank is usually done using weighted GPA. So your rank with a 4.1 makes sense. If the NGO EC is legitimate, then I can certainly see youEmory being more of a high match, as they like creative EC’s. But a 1330 won’t get you much merit, if any at all if you are lucky enough to get in. Did you do the EFC? You minus well apply ED if Emory is your first choice.

@emorynavy
In total my APs will be 7 and at our school they do rank with your unweighted for some reason. My family EFC won’t be very much, but my NGO is legitimate and we’re just working on getting it registered officially with the government but we’re partnered with a help center, giving us the title.

@emorynavy
I will be applying using Questbridge so I think that counts as ED, because if I am a finalist my application will go straight to Emory and if I do not I think I’m going to apply RD, because I don’t want to be inundated with loans if I can get the same high-level education at a better price.

@KingCook

Did you attend a private high school? Your background in lacrosse makes me think you might have.

Would you qualify for Questbridge?