Hi,
So I am currently a junior in high school and I made the mistake of taking four difficult AP classes this year. I go to a large competitive public high school in NJ and have a schedule with APUSH, AP Biology, AP English, and AP Calc AB. For both my freshman and sophomore years of high school, my gpa was around a 3.7/3.75 uw but by the end of this year its prob going to be a 3.55 or a 3.6 max. I have older siblings at Duke and Georgetown so my dreams for college admissions were pretty high, but after this year I don’t know how strong of an applicant I will be, especially as a girl who is Asian American.
At this point, next year I hope to get into UMD honors program or Rutgers honors college as I definitely want to be a science major and these schools have pretty good programs. Do you think I have a shot at these programs, or maybe even Tufts if I apply ED? Please respond here are my stats so far
SAT: 2100 (will retake but new format so hopefully higher)
Editor of School newspaper
Regional Choir for past two years and all of the years of middle school
Part of school’s most selective ensemble for all of the years of high school and one of the board members for the group
Learning Indian classical music for last 10 years and have passed 2 high level exams in this
Member of NHS and Spanish Honors Society, will do Mu Alpha Theta and maybe Tri-M next year (running for VP of Spanish Honors Society)
Member of school’s pre-med club (running for board position in that as well)
Have 90+ hours of volunteering at hospital
I’m contacting professors in schools within the area for research internships over the summer and some have responded so most probably doing research over the summer
Please let me know exactly how much this year has messed up my chances and if I have a chance at some of these schools! Thanks!
What would your weighted GPA be at the end of this year?
Regardless of how much or why you slipped up this year, definitely explain on your application why your grades slipped and how you plan to prevent that and do better for your senior year. Colleges like to hear you acknowlege your mistakes and how you will fix them.
Your ECs are extensive, which is great to have and interniships will be a big boost.
Everything you do, particularly in sophomore and junior year, affects your chances- but that isn’t to say that it ‘messed up’ your chances of getting into good programs. That said, if I were in your situation I would apply ED (binding) to my top school that I for-sure wanted to go to, and ED/EA (non-binding) to the schools that allowed me to, just to be safe. If FA is an issue, keep in mind that a binding application means that whatever money they give you is all you get- in that case I would not apply with a binding app.
Your SAT scores are fine for Rutgers and UMD. The GPA dip will be noted, but I’m sure if you write a compelling reason, they will certainly understand. So I think you’re fine.
But if you have ambitions of going to Duke or G’town then the GPA may become an issue.
The only problem is my reasoning is that I wasn’t wise about my schedule, and got unlucky in terms of teachers. I’m not sure how I can make that a compelling reason…any help?
I don’t think you can explain that away. Just focus on putting together a great app. Focus on 1st semester grades being all As. And raising your SAT. That will help more than trying to explain a few blips.