Good chance your weakest link Is not gpa. Rather, these assumptions you seem to be making. That includes your terror about a 97.9 W gpa and rank. And it’s too vague and trusting to go with “IF” your ECs are up to par.
Look at the Common App and supplements. You have a whole self presentation to make. Focus on the right things. Figure your UW gpa.
There is no rule you need to be top 10%. You have to deal with the gpa as it is, keep it up, and learn what the rest is that matters. But lean back and fret and you may miss the chance to better self assess. The competition from around the country may have better ECs, a better understanding of what the essay is supposed to convey, what LoRs, and more. Focus on this rest.
Then you can be more realistic.
Why UCs? Can your family afford them?
Depends on class rank. At our highly ranked Cal public HS, an unhooked 3.7 would not be Ivy material, or even be good enuf for the instate public flagship(s), as a 3.7 would not be top decile.
I understand that grades are just a threshold and extra curricular activities and essays are more important for the application but I was just wondering if this is a low bar for ivies. I have taken 4 AP classes in school and 16 honor classes for the past 3 years.
@bluebayou our school doesn’t do ranking but we do use percentiles, so I’m top 20%, which would be top 30 out of a group of 150
Did you look at Naviance for your school? Usually top 20% not good enough without some strong hook. But some schools’ ranks are not treated that way or even reported to colleges.
@cptofthehouse our rank isn’t reported but i heard that colleges can still figure it out from the school report. I did check Naviance and I’m in the range but more so to the left ( almost out of the range) so that’s why I’m worried
Again. Figure your unweighted.
You said you’re 2 points off the best. You think adcoms will fall apart?
By now, I kinda expected an ok, that you’d agree to calc the true gpa. Navuance is a tool forstats. Not a predictor.
You’re in NJ, so lots of peers may apply to Penn. And Penn doesnt pick top down.
Do talk to your GC about this. S/he’ll know. But the Naviance seems to be the indicator. Great school for high achievers so gray area of acceptance from highly selective schools is more at the top 20% than 10%
For now, it’s just as pretty much anyone here would say anyways: you have chanced getting into the most selective schools, but very small. Like lottery ticket small, so include some schools that show strong accepts in the Naviance range along with the reaches.Those are your matches. Just make sure you have a couple of affordable schools that will definitely take you. Those will be the hardest to pick because you haven’t been focusing on them.
@lookingforward i did post a comment with my unweighted but it was deleted. It’s a 3.7.
@cptofthehouse thank you ! the counselors at my school aren’t the best and they tend not to know a lot of things and just tell us it’s going to be fine either way but I do have a list of match and safeties but I definitely would like to try for Ivies.
Do you and your parents meet with the counselor this fall? Or just you? Can you specifically ask what students with your test scores and gpa/class rank get into single digit accept schools? The GCs will certainly have some idea. At a school as college focused as yours, one of best in state, all those kids getting into highly ranked schools, there is no way they would not know.
@cptofthehouse we actually had a meeting in April and we asked her this question. It’s really a toss up because there’s been kids with my scores and higher that got into the competitive schools but there have been people that haven’t. My school also has a lot of “surprise” acceptances where someone ranked top 50% would get into an ivy or UChicago, JHop, etc. so there’s no set way to tell, and honestly I think the only thing I can do is wait. But thank you for your replies, they were very helpful 
Do you think I should just leave my GPA as it is without an explanation ?
Yes. The schools will have your highschool profile which is included with the transcript. There is nothing to explain.
thank you so much ! your comments have been super helpful and gave me a lot of insight
Ok. So with a uw 3.7, for the most competitive colleges, it matters what got less than an A (or A-) grade. As I said, they’ll look at the transcript. It’s rougher if a sub A grade is in a core or a course related to your hoped-for major. Or if your 97.9 comes from a string of easier classes and/or you chose to avoid some obviously rigorous, expected classes.
When they look, they care less about electives, gym, etc.
No explanation from you is needed. If there’s something unusual, you let the GC handle it.
At a competitive hs, the gpas are often clustered high. Being top 20% says little. For all we know, you’re top 10.5%. But you may benefit from sharing your ECs, getting a read on them from experienced posters.
What about AP scores? Was there a 3 in one?
@lookingforward hello! Yes, I did receive a 3 freshman year but I retook it this year and I’m hopeful about the score. Thank you for your insight