Gpa 3.6 unweighted
3.83 junior year(upward trend)
I go to a very competitive high school and my gpa is low because i struggle in spanish( b’s and b-'s)
Sat- 1550, 800 math, 750 english
APUSH-5
AP Physics 2- 5
Extracurricular- Youth Program and Math Team, 9,10,11, and 12
50 Volunteer hours at Newton Wellesely Hospital
Harvard Summer School course
Should have good essay and recs
@lionking973 : Which summer course at H,and how many AP/IB courses will you take this? The 3.6 will hurt slightly, and if your offers tons of APs and you haven’t taken many or have a project or something to compensate and show high intellectual engagement/engagement with challenge. Right now based upon what you post, you would mainly have a shot ED and have a shot in general, but minus the high score, something that is sort of a dime a dozen in the applicant pool, nothing really stands out so you are certainly qualified, but the admissions readers I doubt would be super impressed. They would probably find more excitement from someone with a more interesting EC profile with lower scores. I recommend some serious thought about what you put in the e-mails and who you have write rec. letters. It is all about how you present this and yourself. As for math team, do you plan on majoring in math or taking advanced math at Emory (or wherever) if admitted?
@lionking973
Yes, @bernie12 is right. Emory is GPA/ class rigor sensitive, however a high class rank can counter a lower GPA. If Emory is your second choice, you can apply ED2. However since you are a splitter applicant (High SAT ,Low(er) GPA) with poor EC’s and maybe average essays; you are in a precarious position, and it would be wise to not waste ED on schools that are too much of a high reach like most Ivy’s and Stanford, MIT, Duke, etc.
@VANDEMORY1342 : This thesis writing is killing me, I meant essays! Depending on their state I would look at good public honors programs (and usually they are really good) if the class rank can save them. Usually said programs apply statistical cut-offs and autoadmit anyone meeting or above it. All this obsession over getting into these privates bothers me. This is an example of someone who is indeed academically qualified, but may have some problems, but could do well focusing on a decent range of schools that can deliver what they want academically (assuming they value that. I honestly cannot say that all high achieving students value that).
@bernie12
Well as we all know prestige matters, and to be honest most states don’t have great state colleges. So you are out of luck trying to find gainful employment outside of that particular state. It’s honestly getting worse as many state schools have prices that are close to privates especially for out of state students. Also prestige “whoring” is valid as it in a way solidifies a person’s hard work to gain admission, at least its supposed to lol.
@VANDEMORY1342 : Honors Programs? In states with a solid (or even decent) flagship school or set of schools, they are more than worth it and you don’t have to pay if selected in most cases. The success of graduates coming from such programs matches if not surpasses privates and in addition to that, at an honors college you are more likely to stand out and thus claim a top prize in the case that there is a limit on nominees for some international scholarship or fellowship. For example, UGA’s is excellent, Maryland excellent, Texas schools have awesome programs. Many schools that are not prestigious really know how to treat top talent (they pretty much get to hog the resources and mentoring simply because they are not in as much demand. If you are talented and show ambition in such programs, they will just pave the way instead making students compete or jump through tons of hoops. There isn’t a giant balancing act that occurs at “elite” privates. It should not come down to prestige so much as wanting big fish little pond environment (honors colleges at many state universities) vs. smaller or medium sized fish in a big pond or better yet a giant lake. In addition, I am REALLY big on academic quality. If the school that is less prestigious and has less name recognition offers me an opportunity to more easily access higher quality academics on average than a more prestigious institution, I would take it unless the prestigious school offered a solid chunk of money and I had an idea of what opportunities I wanted to exploit (as opposed to "hear I am at the top X school, guess I’ll just co-exist with the other people).
But again, that is also because I value actual academic quality and how I will be educated and mentored moreso than the degree/sticker or whatever you get at the in. Most people I guess can afford to take it for granted and just focus on grades and the brand of the degree. But many honors colleges set students up nicely with great opps (and I mean more students than say, what the Scholars program takes in) and educates them really well/in a meaningful way. Those students do fine (understatement really). I would stop over-estimating prestige outside of like maybe 5 or so schools and also stop under-estimating less prestigious places, especially when it comes to highly talented students in those cohorts. If I am in certain states…I am taking the state flagship honors or other special programs catering to top talent very seriously. I really question how much it is worth to go to any “elite” school and then give yourself, or even be forced (in the case you are pre-professional but not an ultra top performer) to give yourself a mediocre or fairly average but slightly more challenging than normal education (grading at many honors colleges and courses in such programs are known to be cushier if only because of the format, smaller classes, and perhaps higher graded workload as opposed to exams) and then not only that, you have to compete against all the other talented folks for various positions and resources. Seems like a waste of time and money if the financial aid or merit aid ain’t good.
A person with the OP’s talent or our talent is not likely to be limited to jobs or opps in their state if they pass up a private (especially if said private will incur lots of debt). Let us be real about that. The only reason I preferred Emory over some of the other choices I had is diversity and the fact that I am one of the ones that prefers small fish big pond environment because I love learning and working with similar and higher caliber peers (It makes me higher caliber), but it isn’t for everyone and nor is it the best financial choice for many. I was blessed to be an Emory Advantage (second cohort of the program) child as well as a part of the INSPIRE program upon matriculating so for me, Emory made sense but when I looked around, I wondered why some people came and did not do more to give themselves beyond an average experience (sadly, I think some believe it is above average and just do not know better, but I would say a solid chunk know that they are merely “getting by” and then some actually have the nerve to blame Emory for what are basically their own choices…those would definitely have been better off in a catered program elsewhere).
Yes I am strongly considering state flagship. However I never knew emory was this hard to get into. According to naviance, most people with the same stats as me from my high school have gotten in over the past 5 years.
@lionking973
Well Emory is more Holistic than its’ peers and is as I said GPA/Class rigor sensitive, which you don’t have tbh. Those students may have had hooks and a high GPA. But they probably had great EC’s which again you don’t have. So of the 3 things Emory values most you only have 1 of them … your SAT score. Navience isn’t a good indication as its unreliable, unless you apply ED1/ED2 I just don’t see it for you. Do you go to a Math and Science prep school that makes your GPA more understandable? What is your class rank? However, anything can happen so, Good luck.
Maybe ecs I guess; however most people with my gpa from my high school got accepted with a sample size of 20 kids.
And they had like no hooks to
@lionking973 : You need the ECs. Did those admitted folks only have a smattering of APs as well? Unless their whole profile is identical to yours all you can say is “Emory likes to pull from this school”. But Emory is more holistic, so I am willing to bet that the “most” you mention may have had a better EC or AP/IB profile. Do not boil this down to GPA and SAT/ACT. The fact is most people in that SAT/ACT range do have other rather exceptional attributes and even some of them may be turned down. Go look at the RD admissions thread and see the profile of high stats students that were turned down and also maybe find out what else those others who were admitted did in the AP/IB and EC category because that will tell where you stand because if your school has lots of success, they will expect you to look similar to or better than the previous admits so a high GPA and SAT may not cut it. If their AP/IB and EC engagement was on the dull side, then your school may be a favorite. In addition, I do not know how Naviance works. Does it also tell whether or not they applied ED vs. RD? You need to know this information.
Nah it doesnt day whether they applied ed or rd.
But I would assume most rd as it says only 2 actually attended. I have also taken the most ap possible 2 this year and 4 next year the most rigorous possible at our school. One the best in New England. Also, do you think a summer internship would improve my ecs.
@lionking973 Ok makes more sense if your school is one of the best in NE. Your EC’s are still poor so it’s still a Reach for RD.
@lionking973 : It depends on what the internship is and if it is worth writing about. Tons of folks going to elites (or non) do summer or other internships. If it is just another thing to slap on your resume, probably not. In fact if you talk about an opportunity in the generic way of “will this enhance my chances?” it makes me wonder why you are doing it. If you are doing it because you enjoy whatever or because it will actually enhance your readiness for something, then you can write about it. If jumping through some hoop to have something to present to adcoms, do not bother. Regardless, with any place of 20k applicants and a certain SAT average, RD is a reach. Even if folks in the past had success, you cannot assume you will as you do not know their background and what else they did. Be hopeful and not cocky when applying to these schools.