Is It Worth It For Me To Apply To Ivies?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I am a junior at a very good public school in the suburbs of Chicago. My GPA is 3.556 unwtd, 4.054 wtd, with a very full load of AP and honors courses. I got mostly b's, c's, and withdrawls soph. year, with straight a's in freshman and junior years. This is due to drug addiction and rehab soph. year, but I have really pulled myself together. My class rank is 135 out of about 700/800 (I think).</p>

<p>This year I took AP's in English Lit, English Lang., German, and Statistics. Next year I am taking Calc AB, Macro and Micro Econ, and Psychology.</p>

<p>I got a 240 on the PSAT, 35 on the ACT, and a 2360 on the SAT, but I might retake the ACT because I felt sick on the test day.</p>

<p>My extracurriculars are pretty slim. I did debate freshman year, winning second place speaker in a tournament as well as another award. Since then, I haven't done any activities in school, but I started working a part time job in sophomore year and now work every day after school (15 hrs a week) and full time in the summer. I have also done about 55 hours of community service (compulsory but I won't mention that on applications). This summer, in addition to working, I am doing a 9 day program for entrepreneurship and business at NYU. My current job of about 6 months is as an assistant in an insurance agency, which gives me valuable business experience working in an office. I also play guitar and have entered a few writing contests.</p>

<p>Will colleges be understanding of my less than ideal class rank and gpa? Is it worth it for me to spend my time and money applying to such schools and Yale, Columbia, Penn (Wharton), Brown, and Princeton?</p>

<p>Thanks in advance for your help.</p>

2

<p>Wrong forum. This would be better suited for the “What are my Chances?” forum. </p>

<p>You have a decent shot and you could explain in your application about the drug addiction. I must tell you that GPA is the best predictor of college grades and adcoms do tend to focus more on this than on your SAT/ACT scores.</p>

3

<p>Can anyone else help me? Specifically, I’d like to know if elite colleges will view my GPA differently since I have straight A’s for fresh. and jun. yrs, and can provide an explanation for soph. year</p>

4

<p>I really don’t know but I would think they’d look past your grades sophomore year… They definitely put the emphasis on Junior year. You have awesome SATs and ACTs, and your if your GPA stays high then I’d say you should give it a shot.</p>

<p>I’m interested in hearing other replies too. I’m in a scenario too where my grades suffered too and I can give an explanation.</p>

5

<p>bump, any help is appreciated</p>

6

<p>I think you school apply to the “lower ivies”, and include a kick arse essay about you overcoming addiction. Good luck!</p>

7

<p>Thanks for the help. I’m really confused about the way admissions officers really make decisions, and I’d appreciate any more help from knowledgable people. Also, which are the “lower” ivies besides Cornell?</p>