<p>I am currently a junior in a private catholic HS in NC. I have a 3.9 GPA on a 5.0 scale (I had a bad sophmore year (3.7). I hope to get about a 4.2+ this year to bump my GPA into the 4.0 range.</p>
<p>If it means anything, my GPA might seem low but my school is considered relatively difficult. Also my school doesn't keep a class rank, but according to my counselor I'm at least in the top 20% of a class of about 350. The current valedictorian has a 4.4. I am currently taking 1 AP course, APUSH, and the rest Honors classes. I have taken Honors classes for a majority of my high schools courses. This was the first year my school offered APs and only APUSH or English was available and I didn't feel I was prepared enough to take an AP English class and be successful. Next year I will hopefully be taking 5 APs (Econ, Stats, Chem, Euro, and possibly English).</p>
<p>My ECs as of right now involve: 1. every weekend (depending on availability) volunteering at a pet rescue organization, 2. organizing an wiffle ball club after school on Fridays (not affiliated with school), 3. varsity Lincoln Douglas and soon to be officer of the Debate Club (This is my first year as Varsity, so I don't currently have any awards available for it, won some small awards at Novice), 4. soon-to-be NHS member and hopeful officer, 5. Treasurer of Investment Club, Founder and President of Investment Banking Club, 6. student leadership internship this upcoming summer with Bank of America, and 7. next fall I will be on the Student Board of a regional bank in my area. 8. Also I'm Hispanic and the first generation on my dads side born in America (That's pretty irrelevant, just grasping at straws now). Also a member of the Hispanic National Institute.</p>
<p>Lastly I also plan to take the SAT 2 for US History, Lit, and Math 1. If I do apply, it would be EA to both. Overall I think my biggest fault is my GPA. I think with the proper studying a 2000+ on the SAT will be no problem and same goes for a 30+ ACT. Also my school has on avg a ~ 52% acceptance rate every year from UNC and ~47% to Wake Forest. Thank you all</p>
<p>It would probably be easier of you to get into UNC just because you live in NC and it is a state school but both are reaches for you. I would definitely find some back up schools as your GPA is far under the averages for both of these schools. Also your schedule is not rigorous which will hurt your chances. But if you follow through with your SAT/ACT goals UNC should be within your reach, however I am not going to same the same about Wake b/c they are test optional and place little emphasis on test scores. </p>
<p>@DaDeacMan 1. GPA below average? This is without my junior GPA. With junior year I’ll be over a 4. 2. Schedule not rigorous? I strongly disagree. I can’t take anything you say seriously.</p>
<p>I missed the 5 APs you’ll be taking next year. My bad. Also I am assuming that your school is on a weighted 5.0 GPA scale. In which case 4.2 is a bit low for UNC and Wake. If your school is not on the 5.0 scale then that’s another story.</p>
<p>@DaDeacMan I apologize for the aggressive tone in my first reply. Caught me in the wrong moment. Anyway, yes my GPA is on a 5.0 scale but on Naviance the avg GPA accepted is a 4.1 and UNC is a 4.3. </p>
<p>I did further looking into and found out that my school is actually on an odd 5.0 GPA Scale which caused my initial reaction to your GPA. The highest possible GPA at my school, if you were to get all 100s in all AP classes is a 5.800. Your school does not seem to be on this system as your VD has a 4.4 and in my ignorance I assumed you were. With this recent knowledge I retract my previous claims. With a 30 on the ACT you should be good for UNC, especially since you are in state. Also if you apply to Wake you would definitely want to submit a 30 or 1300 or higher on the SAT as there midrange used to be about 1290-1400 (reading plus math) before they stopped requiring test scores. Also your hispanic ethnicity offers both schools diversity that they really want which will also work to your advantage and the volunteering will stick out to Wake as they are big on a sense of community so you should try talk about it in your interview with Wake if you do one. Best of Luck, I just got accepted into Wake Forest and I hope do too.</p>