How to improve to get into UMich, Georgia Tech, Northeastern, UCSD and more??

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>Hey there!
Thanks for bothering to read this tediously long discussion post. I'm just starting my junior year, and as expected, I'm stressing out. My GPA isn't very high, unfortunately, I didn't care enough my freshman year.
If you guys could be BRUTALLY HONEST with what my chances are that'd be amazing (as in reach, match, safety). No sugar coating please please please</p>

<p>My list so far:
UMich
Northeastern
UConn
Georgia Tech
UC San Diego
Lehigh
University of Illinois Urbana Champaign
UMass Amherst
Boston University
University of Virginia
Suffolk University
Purdue University
Carnegie Mellon
University of Wisconsin Madison
Boston University</p>

<p>Yes I know there's a lot of schools, but I'm terrified I won't get in anywhere so might as well be safe.</p>

<p>I want to major in Biological Sciences, probably Biophysics</p>

<p>My Grades:</p>

<p>9th:
Java/ntwking (Reg): B
World Hist (H): A-
Alg II (H): B+
Geometry (H): B
Biology (H): A-
English (H): A-
Drawing&Painting (Reg): A-
Latin 2 (Reg): B</p>

<p>According to my school, my unweighted gpa that year was 3.54 and weighted was 3.84</p>

<p>10th:
CAD&Web Design (Reg): A
European History (AP):B
Pre Calculus (H):B
Chemistry (H):B-
Biology (AP):A-
English (H):A-
Latin 3 (H):B</p>

<p>My gpa dropped this year a bit because of chemistry mainly. It ended up being 3.41 unweighted and 3.83 weighted.</p>

<p>Junior Year course load and ESTIMATED grades:</p>

<p>Advanced CAD: A+
AP US Hist: B+ or A-
Honors Calculus: A- or A
Honors Physics: A- or A
Honors English:A
AP Studio Art: A-
Honors Latin 4: B+ or A-</p>

<p>Hopefully my unweighted gpa can get back up to a 3.5 at least</p>

<p>AP Exams I plan to take:
AP Bio: (a 3 or 4 I think, results havent come yet)
AP Euro: (4 I think, results havent come yet)
APUSH (jr yr)
AP Art (jr yr)
AP BC Calc (sr yr)
AP Literature (sr yr)
AP Gov (sr yr)
AP Latin (sr yr)</p>

<p>As a junior I am self studying AP English Lang, Psychology, Calc AB, and Physics B (my honors classes prepare for most of the calc ab and physics tests so it wont be much self study)</p>

<p>Standardized Testing
I'm taking the ACTs this December but from practice tests my estimated score is about a 31
SAT Math II: 780
SAT Bio E: 700
I'll also be taking the SAT Physics and US History tests this May/June</p>

<p>EC's (as of when I graduate)</p>

<p>Girls Varsity Basketball (2 yrs)
Latin Club (since 2009), 2nd Vice President (2013-2014), 1st Vice President (2014-2015), President (2015-2016) State Latin Club Treasurer (2014-2015),
Drama Crew (2013-2016)
ACYOA Youth Organization (since 2011)
I work as a Swim Instructor (2013-present)
I work at an Art Museum (2013-present)
I'll be going Women of Science and/or Science Olympiad and will do it for 2 years</p>

<p>Community Service:</p>

<p>at an Art Museum
I'm a math tutor
With my church
Will be volunteer lifeguard at a camp next summer</p>

<p>Will have ~150 hours by application time</p>

<p>Awards:
Magna Cum Laude on the National Latin Exam
After this year I'll hopefully be an AP Scholar with Distinction</p>

<p>Ethnicity: Middle Eastern-white
Gender: Female</p>

<p>Potential Essay Topics:
Being an immigrant to the US and having no family here. I'm really involved with my culture and it's very important to me so I'll be discussing that a lot.</p>

<p>Help me out! Thanks!!!!!!!!!</p>

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<p>oops just found an error. i copied part of this from an old thread of mine and at that time i hadnt gotten my ap scores yet. i got a 3 on bio and a 4 on euro.</p>

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<p>Your GPA is too low for UMich and they do care a lot about it. The admission average is 3.85 (uwGPA) and the 75th percentile is near 4.0.</p>

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<p>If you are a Junior, in Early Oct. you should be taking the PSAT’s. STUDY Hard for it!!! My son is a finalist and Northeastern gives you an incredible scholarship, and you would be a shoe in there if you can do academically what you are hoping to do. I think you could also get into tech from what I see. Along with needing all A’s this year, you need to add to your volunteer time, and another leadership role would be helpful too. </p>

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<p>@ZBD5421‌ my school requires us to take the PSATs starting freshman year. I’ve been studying for a couple weeks now and hopefully I can be at least a semifinalist. Thanks for the advice!</p>

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<p>Lol I guess I should bump this in the hopes for more replies.</p>

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<p>Also, how much would people recommend self studying APs? Is it worth it or do colleges not really care</p>

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<p>Definitely self study for AP exams, they are worth it. </p>

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<p>Self study AP would not be shown on transcript but you will get more AP credit and higher honor in AP scholar if you do score well. As AP scores do not need to be submitted (and may not even be received by the admission office but registrar office), it may not carry much weight if at all for admission unless the school uses AP/SAT2 scores for admission evaluation in place of SAT1/ACT.</p>

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<p>bumping this in the hope of more replies</p>

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<p>hey any chance more people could reply?</p>

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<p>Been on vacation… Self study for ACTS!!! If you do 4 or above, as you get more, you get awards, which the colleges will see under your award section. For example, if you take 4 AP exams and score 4 or above, you are an AP scholar with Honor, for which you recieve a certificate for. The more exams you take, the more “prestigious” the award. Of course you need to be scoring 4 and 5’s on your tests. IF you study that should be do-able. Get the books for each exam(just one) and study ALL year. Perfect example… my daughter got a 2 on her AP art history exam and she ended up getting a masters in Art History. My son took the class last year, and got the book, read it along with his class and got a 5 on the exam. It works. </p>

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<p>oops, meant to say study for AP’s.</p>

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<p>I was looking over your post again, you definitely need to bump up volunteer hours. If you could spearhead an organization at your church maybe. IE: every year there is a “Jeans for Teens” campaign nation wide. Why don’t you try to organize one at your church? Something that you could say you started, then hand it over to another teen after you graduate. I also brings in “leadership” role.</p>

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<p>As far as GPA goes, UMich and Lehigh at least might have a problem with you. However, I would say that your ECs are strong. I would also really work on improving my math grades if I were you. Majoring in Biophysics does involve a lot of math, and they will be looking at that.</p>

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<p>@ZBD5421 thanks for the tips! I am actually self studying a bunch of APs so that I can take the exams without hurting my gpa. I’m self studying AP English Language, AP Psychology, and AP Environmental Science this year.
@Falium I totally agree. My gpa is definitely weakening my application, but hopefully I can get it up this year. I’m hoping to manage at least a 3.5 unweighted this year, and above a 4.0 weighted would be nice.</p>

<p>do you think i should already cross off any schools from my list that i have no shot at and it’d be a waste to apply to? I’d really love to cut my list down to about 10 or 11 schools but I’m struggling with that.
Also, any schools I should look at that I haven’t listed here? thanks!</p>

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<p>You can cross off the UC’s because they will be expensive for you if you are not a resident of California. There is no financial aid for OOS students. Plus the UC’s look at sophomore and junior years and your GPA is not high enough.</p>

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<p>^ If financial aid is a concern, OP can cross off most, if not all, OOS publics. The CoA of UMich is $55k and UIUC is $50k. UIUC offer no financial aid for OOS and UMich only offer some aids to in state students and oos students from very low income family. </p>

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<p>@aunt bea and @billscho financial aid is really important to my family. we make about 110k a year and so they cant really afford to pay 50k a year for college. however, i think i forgot to list uc berkeley on my list. if i get into berkeley (it’d be a miracle but still), then i’m a part of an organization type thing that would pay for half my college fees and tuition upon acceptance to berkeley or another school from their list. it’s because im armenian and this organization does this for the top 10 schools worldwide. other than that, im really depending on scholarships and financial aid</p>

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<p>@frogdragon118 Then you can pretty much forget about UIUC and UMich. You are not likely to get any aid (need or merit based) from these 2 schools.</p>