Hi:
I am a high school junior and I am interested in applying to Emory. In general, I get more As than Bs in my classes. However, I have accumulated 3 Bs for semester grades over the past 3 years. Here is a little more information:
My school does not offer AP courses. Freshmen and Sophomores can take honors Math, Bio/Chem, and Spanish/French courses, but English and History/Social Science honors are not offered. Juniors and Seniors can take up to 5 IB HL courses. My school’s reported weighted GPA for me is currently a 4.33. My school does not report unweighted GPA. My school does not report A+s or A-s, only As, Bs, Cs, etc.
I took the maximum honors courses in freshman and sophomore year. This year, I am taking 5 IBHL courses (English HL, Spanish HL, Chemistry HL, Bio HL, History HL, and Math SL). I received a B for a trimester grade in Chemistry honors my sophomore year (final grade=A), and a B for a trimester grade in IB Chemistry HL my junior year. Currently I have a high B for the final trimester of IB Chemistry HL. It might go up as my teacher has a few test/homework grades to enter, but I’m not sure that it will.
I used this site to calculate my unweighted and weighted GPA: http://gpacalculator.net/college-gpa-calculator/
It said I have a 3.94 unweighted and 4.45 weighted GPA.
Are these grades strong enough to be possibly accepted into Emory? I have pretty strong extracurriculars and I am ranked in the top 10% of my class. I am one of three valedictorian candidates. My current ACT is a 34 and I am considering taking it again to get a 35 or 36.
Thank you!
I think Emory takes a wholistic approach… how are the rest of your stats? SAT, ECs, any hooks?
@spinmaster Your stats exceed several I know that have been admitted to Emory in ED rounds and RD rounds. Your ACT is strong and will assure them that you have the academic ability to do the work. That said, nothing is a sure thing. But I would not overly stress over your B’s.
@spinmaster : Maybe you should focus on further enhancing ECs or getting a national award instead of worrying about 3 Bs and raising your ACT to a 36 from a 34. I think most serious schools that have remotely ethical admissions standards would rather see your time used that way.
Enhance and sell your ECs and passions and continue to do well.
It is fairly clear that stats over a certain threshold don’t really matter but so much to Emory. After that point, they will consult other parts of the profile and try to gauge if the person is just an obedient performer who will do what they are told (including in the EC realm) or if they actually have some serious academic and other passions that are desired on campus. When one is at or even near the level of the OP, they should start thinking about that issue. How do they sell their passions and resume? Do they even have a passion (or can they pretend to?) or does their application literally look like: “I did this all just to get into college because I was told I needed to”. A place like Emory isn’t looking for absolute perfection (and nor are most selective colleges, though some do clearly place stats a bit too far over other things). I imagine it would strange for a person to have super high stats and no particularly “deep” ECs or co-curricular endeavors. However, if a person has high stats AND deep ECs (or a few rather pointy interests that sell), the person may have a shot at scholars.
thank you all for the replies!