Hello Everyone,
I am going to be a senior this coming school year, and I have a few questions about my chances for acceptance at top 25 level schools. I have gotten 6 B’s throughout my high school career, and one C. The C was in AP Biology and the B’s are either in AP Classes or high level math classes (I am 3 years ahead in math). I will be taking a total of 9 AP’s and the rest of my classes are all honors. My unweighted GPA is 3.8 and my weighted GPA is 4.2.
I have moved states every year of high school, from Idaho to California to Massachusetts. Obviously, this has caused some B’s. I have B’s in the following classes: Algebra 2/Trig, Precalculus, AP Biology, AP English, AP French, and Marketing Honors.
My EC’s are opera singing (I used to do this, had to drop it when I moved), volunteering at the local historical society, a science camp, and am doing an internship type thing with kids who have troubled home lives. I have a 2150 superscore SAT (2100 in one sitting). I am also in DECA, where I made it until state competition. I am also a DECA officer. I have taken the new SAT and the ACT, and am just waiting for results.
I got a 4 on the AP Biology exam, which I think overrides the C that I got the first semester.
What are my chances for the following schools?
Cal Tech
Princeton
Cornell
Urbana Champaign
UC Santa Barbara
Columbia
UT Austin
Upenn
UCLA
Brown University
Boston University
Washington St. Louis
UMASS Amherst
RPI
USC
Dartmouth
Georgetown
There are a few Ivy Leagues on here, and the rest are top tier schools. I am really nervous about this, so any help you can give would be great!
Colleges will see that you moved, but don’t use that as a cop-out for B grades. Bs aren’t terrible obviously, but they would be more difficult to sell to ivy league colleges or even Cal Tech or Georgetown. Also, I wouldn’t exactly say that the AP triumphs that C the first semester, because your grade truly represents who you are as a student to colleges, not a 4 hour exam you took.
Can you afford most of these schools?
I think your SAT score is on the low side for a lot of these schools on your list.
GPA is going to affect your admission.
I guess I see your point, @junior2017. However, I would like to mention that that particular AP Biology class was insane. The teacher was verbally abusive, to the point where I would try to find anyway to not go to class. He would give 110 multiple choice and 5 free response question tests for us to complete in 30 minutes, and often they weren’t even on what we were supposed to be studying. Therefore, I feel that a 4 is a big achievement, for me personally.
As for moving, it was really tough and mainly the reason I got B’s. I’m not trying to brag, but I am a good student and I work hard. However,moving from Idaho to the Bay Area (Palo Alto) was really difficult for me, because I moved from a farmer state to one of the most competitive schools in the country.
I’m going to give you an updated list of schools, please help me with these.
Cornell
Urbana Champaign
UC Santa Barbara
Columbia
UT Austin
Upenn
Boston University
UMASS Amherst
USC
I want to major in Applied Physics. I took the new SAT and ACT, and am just waiting for my scores. Hopefully, they will be higher than what I got before. I know that GPA is going to affect my admission, but I just want to know if I still have a shot at these schools.
Appreciate your help.
@enjolras1832 I see what you’re saying about the class and it does indeed sound really difficult. But, I’m not sure colleges will know the situation surrounding the class. And, I don’t think your counselor will write a letter about it because everyone has psycho teachers and classes like that. Still, it is only one class so I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Also, for your updates list, I would consider the location of the schools and the surrounding area. UMASS Amherst is very different from Columbia which is very different from Cornell. You are also very spread out around the country. Does this type of location not really matter much to you? If not, then I would say it looks good, but Columbia is nice because it’s in a city but still has a campus vibe.
I think that you will be…
Accepted at: UCSB, UT Austin, BU, Amherst, and USC
Waitlisted/ Deferred at: Urbana Champaign, UPenn
Rejected at: Cornell, Columbia
If you raise your SAT to 2200, those bottom 4 have a decent shot at moving up to accepted. Great work so far and good luck!! Could you do the same for me too?
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1899969-boston-u-lehigh-umd-college-park-purdue-bucknell-notre-dame.html#latest
Are you sure about Urbana Champaign? I looked up their average SAT and GPA, and I seem to fit right in the middle of the range. Does this make a difference? @junior2017, location matters a little bit, but these are all schools that I visited and liked the location of. Also, what do you guys think about chances for scholarships for schools where I can get accepted?
I have to wait and see my score for the new SAT, and then I’ll update my stuff.