Hi everyone,
I was wondering whether I have any chance whatsoever at being accepted into an I’ve league school.
I’m currently a junior at the #3 school in my state:
Gpa: 4.0 Gpa (w): 5.2
Act: 32 Act writing: 11
All honors classes (only classes my school offers)
8 AP’s by the time I graduate (4 senior year)
AP US History: 5
Extracurriculars:
Varsity baseball captain
Co-President of NHS chapter
President of Political Debate club
Treasurer of Investment Club
Member of Junior Economic club of Chicago and Key Club
Interned at elite University in their financial mathematics program over the summer
Interned at local community college for physics program
Currently building a charity application with a friend
Play on a nationally recognized travel baseball team
I’m a lower class, white male from a big midwestern city
Both of my parents went to college
I honestly just have no idea where I stand comparatively.
Thanks
@uhhscreenname - I’m not sure how you can have a weighted gpa that’s more than a point over your uw gpa. I thought the most you can have added to your grade is a point for honors/AP classes. Also, if the only classes your school offers are “honors” classes, then there is no such thing as unweighted gpa at your school, is there? Help me out here.
I’ll answer the unweighted GPA question. Yes, everyschool has UW. By default it is your pure GPA without any adjustments for course difficulty (4 points A, 3 points B, etc.)
@Sportsman88 - So a school can magically call all of their classes “honors” and boost every kid’s GPA that way? Sounds like a grade inflation trick to me.
Opposite. You asked about unweighted. An A is 4 points at the easiest HS in the country and the hardest for unweighted GPA. It’s mathematically impossible to have an UW GPA over 4.0 on a 4 point scale.
And weighted GPA is not straightforward like some think because colleges use their own formula. What the HS calls UW GPA is irrelevant to most colleges.
They don’t do it magically, some hs start with the higher level in teaching and expectations (as opposed to CP choices or lower.) Ivy adcoms will likely know those schools. Or see it in the School Report.
It doesn’t boost gpa ‘effectiveness’ because adcoms look at the transcript, see the grades. It would help kids to realize it’s not just gpa.
Plus most hs have their own ways of weighting, if any.
LIkewise, OP, your ACT subscores matter. And what’s interning for a summer program? Teacher help, wrassling students, or actually learning program mgt?
Instead of forming a charity, are you involved now, working with the needy? Committed?
Some of this is the perspective you need to acquire.
Love the auto-correct…
OP, from what you have posted you are what other posters on CC have called ‘an average excellent’ applicant. That is, you have good marks, good test scores, some leadership ECs. What that does is get you over the first hurdle. The second, crucial, hurdle is impossible to know, because it is about you: who you are, what makes you tick, what you have done with the opportunities and challenges you have faced along the way, where you think you are going, etc.
Spend the summer thinking hard about those things, about what you want your college experience to be, about how you want college to prepare you for the direction you think you are heading. Do some serious research about the schools: imo, anybody who just says “Ivy” (or I’ve ;-)) is simply looking for prestige, b/c they are very different colleges, and unlikely to be genuinely equally interesting to anybody.
Usual advice is to build your list from the bottom up- it is easy to fancy a household name, but as >10% of applicants will be accepted to those, and most of those rejected are also ‘average excellent’ candidates.
Your ACT score is a little low. If you bring it up to a 34 than you’ll be definitely competitive in terms of stats. I see you have an interest in sports and economics - I’d say try to do more things relating to business this summer. Start a company, get an office job, start a DECA club in your school (if your school don’t have one already). Write essays about your interests and ED somewhere and you’ll have a decent shot
Don’t start a company, find a way to work with adults, what they can teach you and the expectations they set for you. Rather than start a club, find existing activities outside the hs box. Responsibilities can trump more in-hs same old.
Do you do anything with responsibilities and impact with the Jr Economic Club or mainly listen to speakers and discuss? I don’t mean titles. but action.
Thanks for the responses. I am working on my ACT to get it up. In terms of the Jr Econ Club I write articles for the newsletter.