<p>Your GPA is the biggest factor in your application, but there’s no absolute cutoff. How your GPA will be viewed depends on several factors, including whether you’ve pursued the strongest academic program your high school offers, and whether your high school practices grade inflation or deflation (that’s why top colleges like to see either class rank or a grade range for each decile of the senior class, and it’s also why they like to see high AP scores, not just AP classes). No one can evaluate your 3.89 in a vacuum.</p>
<p>^On that note, I have taken THE HARDEST load possible. On top of that, I’m also self-studying for 3 more AP exams: AP psychology, APES, and AP chemistry. How would that look on applications?</p>
<p>We still don’t know how you’re doing relative to the people around you. If you are 7/100 at an elite prep school, you have an excellent GPA. On the other hand, if you are 17/500 at a regular public school, you’re in trouble.</p>
<p>Some public schools are far from “regular.” But cs raises a good point. If your high school, whether public or private, is extremely strong and well-known to admissions offices, you may be competitive for Yale with a lower GPA than a student with a higher GPA from a weaker or unknown school. What you want to figure out, OP, is what kinds of stats it has taken to get into Yale from your high school in the past. Have kids with stats similar to yours been accepted? If your school uses Naviance, consult the scattergrams. They’ll give you a rough idea of your own chances. (Obviously, the grid doesn’t take the intangibles into account.)</p>
<p>Also, my public high school is not very famous but we send three kids to one of the HYPS every 4 years and at least two go to Upenn and Cornell every two years.</p>
<p>What’s to be said, fresh101? You’re in the ballpark. But so are most applicants. Nobody’s chances are good. What can anyone, short of Jeff Brenzel, say in an internet thread that you should take in account in a profound way? Nothing. </p>
<p>If Yale really interests you, then go forward. The accept rate for people who don’t apply is still zero.</p>