Low GPA, but a pretty good story. Help!!! (Please?)

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>Hey, College Confidential! Normally I wouldn't go on here, because it causes me immense amounts of anxiety, but I guess I've caved in after UChicago sent me even more mail... I was wondering if I have a shot of getting into schools like Stanford, UCLA, Brown, UChicago...etc. You know. Those really good schools that nearly everyone on CC is aiming towards. I am a white female and a junior in a decently vigorous California high school. </p>

<p>Hooks: 1st generation American (Bi-Lingual), and I had cancer my freshman year of high school. Am involved with the Make-A-Wish foundation as well.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars: </p>

<p>Clubs: President of my school's cancer fund-raising club as well as poetry club, member of the book club, as well as a club that collects books to make a libraries in various 3rd world countries, and member of the Disney club. (Because why not...)</p>

<p>-Attorney and witness for Mock Trial. (2 Years, have received an award, as well as perfect scores in every competition.)
-Member of debate team.
-I've done a public speaking and writing gig for the Make-A-Wish foundation.
-Have volunteered 200+ hours doing various work with clubs, and with my local aquarium.
-Have an internship at my local aquarium, as well as a volunteer position there.
-Do open-mic nights for spoken-word poetry.
-Dabble in theatre, but I may as well include it.
-In orchestra since 4th grade, hollaaah. </p>

<p>Don't really have any awards other than a minor mock trial award. Entering a few STEM/writing competitions to see where that gets me.</p>

<p>SAT/ACT/SAT II: I haven't taken the real thing for any of them, but I've gotten high scores on the P-SAT and a mock ACT. I plan on having a 35 on the ACT, and a 2200+ on the SAT. And I'll probably take 3 SAT II tests.</p>

<p>GPA: I've taken 4 AP courses so far, and plan on taking 5 or 6 my senior year. (Next year.) I was homeschooled my freshman year of high school, due to the whole having-cancer thing, so there's that. I had a 4.0 freshman year, and a 3.9 first semester of sophomore year. (Unweighted.) Second semester I went through a bunch of mental issues stemming from having cancer, so I had a huuugeee dip in my grades. I got a C in Algebra II (honors), B in AP World, B in Spanish II (regular), and a B in Chemistry (honors). If you exclude that one semester, I have a pretty high GPA, but unfortunately, with that included, I will most likely graduate my senior year with a 3.5-3.7 unweighted. (More likely to be a 3.7, though.) So yeah, my GPA is probably going to bring me down, considering the schools I want to apply to. However, it is very clear that my actual capabilities are not reflected by that dip, considering that they went right back up this semester.</p>

<p>I know I'm going to have good SAT/ACT scores, as well as good essays. (Cancer, FTW.) I want to go into research ecology (So I'll major in Bio or Ecology/Evolutionary Sciences) which is something I am very passionate about, so I'll focus on talking about that as well.</p>

<p>But yeah. Do I even have a shot with that big hole in my GPA, or will admissions overlook it with my explanation? Unfortunately, I'm not one of those kids who is curing cancer with a 4.0 GPA, so I guess that's why I'm freaking out. </p>

<p>Thanks! >:D< </p>

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<p>You aren’t one of those kids curing cancer, but your one of the few who have survived it. </p>

<p>Your GPA may seem like a hindrance, but if you can get past the hurdle of GPA/ACT/SAT limits (look up averages for the places you want to go), you have a decent chance. It’ll be much easier if you tell us what colleges are you interested in applying to as well. </p>

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<p>Woops, here are a list of schools I am thinking about applying to. (I won’t apply to all of them, obviously, but I am keeping them in mind.)</p>

<p>The more competitive schools: UCLA, UC Berkeley, Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Cornell, NYU, Uchicago, Columbia, Brown, Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, CalTech, University Of Pennsylvania,</p>

<p>Others: UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, USC, CalState, University of Connecticut, Washington University, University of Pittsburgh. </p>

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<p>I’d say if you do well on your essays and SATs, keep your grades up and get good recs then you will definitely into a handful of the competitive ones and most if not all of the others on your list. You have an amazing story and your ECs are great. Best of luck! </p>

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<p>Thank you!!!</p>

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<p>The fact that you have a major reason as to why your grades dropped that one semester makes you a very competitive applicant and this is something you probably should explain in the extra writing supplement most scools have, or to have you college counselor explain in her recommendation. You have great ECs and that combined with some good SAT/ACT scores should balance out a sub-par, for top schools, GPA (3.7 is still very good though :D). You would most likely get into at least one of you reach-schools, but in order to be as sure as possible I would suggest applying to quite a few of them, at least 6. More schools applied to => Higher chance of getting into one of them ;)</p>

<p>Would you consider chancing me as well? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1717934-chance-an-international-for-top-engineering-will-chance-back.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1717934-chance-an-international-for-top-engineering-will-chance-back.html#latest&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Wow, thank you so much, that definitely lifted a lot of my worries. Thanks. I think just about all of my letters of rec will mention it somewhere, as well as my own. Thanks again!</p>

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<p>Why are you passionate about biology?</p>

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<p>I think you have a good shot with all of these schools. You have an amazing story and it explains a lot. You are still a solid student despite all you have gone through. Good luck with everything but I think you have a very good chances at least at a majority of those schools!</p>

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<p>@creativegcho: I have always been interested in the study of living things, even since I was little. I started learning everything about the human body and cells when I was in the third grade, and eventually I started expanding into more ecological type information. When I was in the hospital, I had a lot of free time to decide where I wanted my life to go, you know, if I were to live or not. And I guess I decided on eventually becoming a research ecologist. After meeting a professor who encouraged it, as well as lots of scientists (through my Make-A-Wish, which I will not disclose) it kind of motivated me even more to pursue it. (:</p>

<p>@Bell315: Thank you!!!</p>