Low GPA. Any hope?

Applying to College
1

<p>Yeah I know my GPA is crap and will severely hurt my chances at my top choice schools. Still, do you guys think I have any hope of getting into any of them? My uber reaches are Duke, UCLA/UCB, Vandy, Georgetown, Michigan, UVA, and Cornell. I already got into my safety so getting into college isn't a problem. Cost also won't be a problem for any of my choices.</p>

<p>Asian male (fml)
East Coast
Income bracket: 250k+
School: Very competitive, full of genius Asian kids, grade deflation galore, sends over a dozen kids to the Ivies every year
Rank: School doesn't report
GPA: 3.33 UW
3.7 UC GPA
3.8 W
Upward trend
SAT: 1540/2290
SAT II: 800 MATH II 790 CHEM
AP: 5s on chem, bio, calc ab, music theory, english lang&comp
Senior sched: AP Econ, AP stat, AP calc bc, AP english lit, rest are electives
ECs:
-Piano 9 years: Played in Carnegie Hall and other well-known halls multiple times, played frequently for local senior centers, did a bunch of recitals per year, tutored some local kids, got some awards (dunno how prestigious)
-Violin 7 years: School orchestra since 4th grade, played in outside ensemble which performed several times a year since 8th grade, also tutored local kids
-Academic league varsity team member
-Breakdance: Leader of school's unofficial "crew". We pretty much did a couple of performances (in and out of school)
-Scholastic Art and Writing competition Silver Key award (got it a couple of days ago, going to notify colleges about it)
-Helped organize a couple of festivals for local Chinese community
-Volunteering as a teacher's assistant in Chinese school
-Volunteering in an environmental center (sampling/identifying organisms and crap)
-Internship in Credit Suisse (proprietary trading)
-Internship in Rutgers University 2 summers
Essays: I know that 99% of people who make chance threads claim to have "amazing" essays, but I'm pretty damn proud of mine and I think they'll probably be the strongest part of my app. Plus, I won a silver key award in the Scholastic writing competition with a crappy version of my common app essay (had to add a lot of fluff to meet the minimum word limit. The one I sent to colleges is 100x better) so I'm certain it's at least above-average. I wrote my common app essay about breakdancing BTW</p>

<p>Anyway, thanks in advance</p>

2

<p>dude honestly if your essays are good, i think you have as much of a chance as anyone else with an eyebobbling 4.0 uw and 4.7 w or whatever. but i’d like to know, what is your major?</p>

3

<p>I’m planning on majoring in Econ</p>

4

<p>You should get in a lot of schools with that score, your school Naviance should give you indication of your level.
What is your ACT score? and class rank?</p>

<p>GPA means very little, you just have to compare it to your class.</p>

5

<p>If you are as smart as your test scores are you should already know that you’ll get into a school, it’s just a matter of getting the best deal…</p>

<p>and those skills are ones that appear on a test, it’s coomon sense, savvy and know how which are skill set that will serve you long after GPA/SAT & ACT scores</p>