How Much Does GPA Matter?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hispanic male (parents immigrated from Colombia)
Public school in Oklahoma, ~ 45/960
SATI: Taking on Nov. 4th. Expecting around 2200
ACT: 34
AP scores: USH: 4, Chem 3, Psych: 4, Eng. Lang: 3
GPA: 3.47 unweighted, 4.6 weighted</p>

<p>Freshman:
Honors Geometry - A, B
Oklahoma History - A, A
Pre-AP (Honors) Bio. - B, B
Pre-AP English - B, B
Spanish I - A, A
Comp. Applications II - A, A</p>

<p>Sophomore:
Honors Algebra 2 - B, B
Pre-AP English - A, B
Pre-AP Chemistry - B, B
AP US History - B, B
Spanish II - A, B
Jazz Band - A, A</p>

<p>Junior:
AP Eng. Lang - B, A
Honors Pre-Calculus - B, B
AP Chemistry - B, A
AP Psychology - B, A
Pre-AP World History - A, B
Jazz Band - A, A</p>

<p>Senior:
AP Calculus BC
AP English Lit.
AP Computer Science A
AP Physics B (C is not offered)
AP Music Theory
Adv. (Honors) Physiology</p>

<p>ECs: not great...
Ultimate Frisbee (9-12), co-captain junior and senior years
Play guitar in Jazz Band (2 years) and an out of school Jazz Combo
Volunteer at Hospital (just started..)
Drug Free Youth (9-12)
National Honors Society (9-12)
Tri-M (12)
Environmental Club (12)
Mu-Alpha Theta (12)</p>

<p>Awards: National Hispanic Honorable Mention (3.47 GPA doesn't round to 3.5, i guess), AP Scholar</p>

<p>Recs: Will be glowing, from physics and english teachers
Essay: My english teacher believes I'm one of the best writers of the class.</p>

<p>I really didn't care very much at the beginning of high school. I had no clue what I wanted to do after high school, but second semester of junior year I really matured a lot. This year I will have straight A's, easily.</p>

<p>so what are my chances at WUSTL and JHU? (Safeties: University of Oklahoma, University of Tulsa)
i'm going to major in biomedical engineering. where else should I apply that would be more of a match?</p>

2

<p>WUSL--Reach
JHU--Slight Reach to Reach
Oklahoma/Tulsa--Safe Match</p>

<p>Matches for you would be Georgia Tech, NYU, Boston University, Illinois, Washington, University of California (Santa Barbara, Davis, or Irvine campuses), Maryland, Penn State--University Park, and Case Western. </p>

<p>Also, Rensselaer Institute of Technology, Lehigh, Florida, and Wake Forest would be slight reaches.</p>

<p>For biomedical, I would look closely at Georgia Tech, Boston University, UC Davis, and Wake Forest. If you switch to Chemistry, look at UCSB and Illinois. </p>

<p>Maybe Ohio State as a safe match. (good pre-med program)</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

3

<p>Cal, I think you forgot to calculate the fact that he is a URM (Hispanic) so his chances get a big boost and his GPA isn't all that bad considering he's in top 5% of his graduating class still.</p>

<p>Washu = Slight Reach / Match
JHU = Slight Reach / Match</p>

<p>Out of the schools Cal listed they would all be matches or safe matches.</p>

4

<p>thanks so much to both of you.</p>

<p>anybody else have an opinion?</p>

5

<p>what about Northwestern? </p>

<p>i wish this board would let you edit your posts after 5 minutes...</p>

6

<p>ZKevin, Hispanic is not URM to my knowledge--so he gets no boost for that reason. (Heck, in California, where I live, I think there are more Hispanics than Caucasians, Asians, or Indians (and way more than Blacks or American natives). I know for a fact that there are more Hispanics than any other group (including Caucasians) in the city of Los Angeles. I'm not aware of Hispanics being treated as URM--but if you have stats to correct me, please do so, because I'm not sure about this at the schools in the midwest and northeast.</p>

<p>I didn't list Northwestern or the University of Chicago (both strong biomedical/bioengineering schools) since they are the equivalent of JHU--Slight Reach to Reach, and therefore I wouldn't want you to apply to them unless you are really sure they are one of your absolute favorites to attend. They might be slight reach, not reach, though--since, as ZKevin points out, you are top 5% of your class. Since only you know if you want to apply to one of them, I'll leave that choice to you.</p>

7

<p>Pre-AP? What the heck is that? Anyway I only count 3 AP classes for first 3 years and that means that no way is the weighted GPA 4.6. You don't have scores so it's hard to say. I'm pretty sure hispanics count as URM. Anyway, I agree with calcruzer.</p>

8

<p>As vicissitudes points out, no way the W GPA is 4.6. In the first place a W GPA can never be more than 1.0 above the UW GPA--which Tickitata says is 3.47. And since you are not taking 100% honors courses, you are more likely somewhere around a 3.8 to 3.9 W GPA. I used this number for my calculation of your chances above.</p>

9

<p>in my school, Pre-AP/Advanced classes are the equivalent of honors. they are weighted on a 5.0 scale, with AP classes on a 6.0 (i know, it's weird..)</p>

<p>no AP classes were offered freshman year (only honors), and the only AP course offered as a sophomore is USH (which i took). Then, junior year, all of them are available (I took 3: chem, psych, eng. lang). So, that means a total of 9</p>

<p>and i'm pretty much certain that being hispanic counts as URM. probably not in california, though. i believe that at WashU, only 5% are Hispanic</p>

10

<p>I was under the impression Hispanic counts as URM after reading <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=246420%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=246420&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>And I agree with Cal on Northwestern/U of Chicago. Although at U of Chicago you need to make sure your essays are really good</p>

11

<p>hispanic does count as a URM</p>

<p>and northwestern is kind of a reach but try hard on your essays make them shine and i say you have a decent shot</p>

12

<p>I believe that hispanics DO count as a URM, but yeah Calcruzer down here in south texas, hispanics are the majority.</p>

13

<p>would the fact that my physics teacher went to Northwestern (masters in chemistry) change my chances significantly? she'll be writing a glowing recommendation.</p>

14

<p>sorry..bump</p>

15

<p>Hispanic definitely counts as URM. It will help you going into BME as there are few Hispanics in engineering. However, I would be particularly careful with JHU as it is the #1 ranked BME school in the nation and limits the number of BME acceptances at about 100 (see the JHU board for discussions). You have to declair BME as your first choice major and there is the possibility you will be accepted to JHU but not BME. BME applicants tend to be in the upper percentiles of those applying to JHU, so you can't just use the 25:75 guidelines for BME. Here is the US News & WR list of top BME schools, several would be excellent matches between JHU/WUSTL and your safeties.</p>

<ol>
<li>Johns Hopkins University (MD) </li>
<li>Duke University (NC) </li>
<li>Univ. of California–San Diego * </li>
<li>Georgia Institute of Technology *
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology<br></li>
<li>University of Pennsylvania<br></li>
<li>Case Western Reserve Univ. (OH) </li>
<li>University of Michigan–Ann Arbor * </li>
<li>Boston University<br></li>
<li>University of Washington * </li>
<li>Rice University (TX) </li>
<li>Northwestern University (IL)
University of California–Berkeley * </li>
<li>Stanford University (CA) </li>
<li>Vanderbilt University (TN) </li>
<li>Washington University in St. Louis<br></li>
<li>Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison *
University of Virginia * </li>
<li>U. of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign *
University of Texas–Austin * </li>
<li>University of California–Davis *
Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst. (NY) </li>
<li>Tulane University (LA)</li>
</ol>

16

<p>One more concern w/JHU (and possibly other selective schools), you show only 2 years of a foreign language (your native tongue?), is this all you have taken? If so, you may have problems with schools that recommend/require 3 or even 4 years of a language. This is from JHU's website:</p>

<p>Recommended courses for admission:
Four years of English
Four years of mathematics
Four years of a foreign language
Four years of science with laboratory
Four years of history and social sciences</p>

17

<p>I've basically got your stats, and am Colombian. But Im majoring in languages.</p>

18

<p>bump. </p>

<p>any suggestions for what I can do to increase my chances for WashU/Northwestern? Take the SAT/ACT again? Become more involved in jazz combo? (playing real shows, etc)</p>

<p>also, strongly looking at UIUC.</p>