Low GPA, good everything else? WILL CHANCE BACK!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey all! I'm an Asian American male that goes to a magnet program for science and engineering in Maryland that accepts ~20 students per year out of 2000+ students in the district and is recognized by most/all good universities nationwide (about half make it to ivy league schools every year). Because I'm in this program, my courses are guaranteed to be the most difficult (All AP sciences, 9 AP courses in total, everything else Honors, and taking Multivariable Calc senior year). I will be applying for financial aid and am Undecided for my major.</p>

<p>GPA: 3.3 UW (2 C+s freshman year and a lot of Bs...on the bright side, there is a significant upward trend)
Rank: 44/550 (Top 10%)
SAT (taken once): 2320 (800 M, 760 R, 760 W and 8 essay)
SAT 2: 800 Math II, 770 Chemistry, and waiting for Physics, which I took in Oct
AP scores: I've taken 7 so far (one 3, three 4s, and three 5s) and will be taking 2 more this year.</p>

<p>Awards/honors:
-Honor Roll (9, 10, 11, 12)
-AP Scholar (10) with Distinction (11)
-National Merit Commended (11)
-A math award for high scorers on the AMC in the school district (11)
-NHS</p>

<p>Leadership:
-Chess team captain (have been on the team since 10th...our team is consistently in the top 4 in the state, top 3 in the league, and always the top of our division)
-Founded/organized a free chess camp for kids 4-14 years old (ran it twice...22 kids each time)</p>

<p>Other activities:
-Volunteered at the local hospital (500+ hours)
-Internship with a Civil Engineering professor (6 weeks during the summer)
-Science team (11, 12)
-Math team (11, 12)
-Bboy/breakdance team (11, 12)</p>

<p>More chess stuffs:
-Tied for 2nd in my section at a national chess tournament...which also hosted a few international players, so maybe international? (won $4k)
-Top board prize in the state (basically I did the best at the state championships for my board)
-3rd place board prize in league championships (got this award two years in a row)
-Won multiple local USCF tournaments
-A lot of team awards/accomplishments...not sure if these count though (although I am directly related to our success at these tournaments? I've gone undefeated at most of them...suffered maybe 3 losses total in my high school career compared to like 40 wins?)</p>

<p>Can you guys chance me for the following?
-ED: Cornell (CAS)--I have a sister that attends currently if that helps?
-Johns Hopkins (CAS)
-Carnegie Mellon (Carnegie School of Sciences)
-Duke (Trinity Arts and Sciences)
I'm applying to other schools (safeties and matches), but these are the ones that I'm worried about most because of my terrible GPA.</p>

2

<p>I didn’t think there was any school in the Country sending 50% to ivies. The top prep schools seem to top out in the low 30s. Are you sure this number is correct?</p>

3

<p>Oh sorry for the misunderstanding xP
Our program is a small part of a larger public school (20/550 in my class, about 90/2300 in the entire school). Within our program, about half go to ivy leagues or equivalent schools (e.g. Caltech, Stanford, MIT).</p>

<p>Edit: colleges DO recognize the difference between us and the regular students in our school. The guidance counselors make a mention of it when they send our transcripts…also, we have a few courses that are specific to the program.</p>

4

<p>Haa you have a better chance than me :P. You’ve got the volunteer hours and the AP classes to go with it!</p>

<p>ED Cornell sounds very viable. From my school, we have about 10 out of 500 that go to Cornell RD alone and none their stats aren’t as good as yours (okay, well, better GPA but ECs are far off from yours).</p>

<p>I mean, taking your course load and upward trend into consideration, I’m sure colleges would see that you’re clearly very bright and hardworking. </p>

<p>I would say shaky at Duke, shaky at JHU, and better chance than most for Cornell but not completely “in.”</p>

5

<p>you’re whining with a top 10% in class?!
anyways…</p>

<p>Cornell (CAS)-ED - having a sister helps… i dont know how much but it still does… i’m sure you’ll get in
Johns Hopkins (CAS) - high match
Carnegie Mellon (Carnegie School of Sciences) - high match
Duke (Trinity Arts and Sciences) - low reach~reach (it’s duke come on)</p>

<p>you can chance me too! <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/792948-chance-me-priority-nyu.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/792948-chance-me-priority-nyu.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

6

<p>Thanks guys. I was sort of expecting people to plaster “HIGH REACH HIGH REACH” all over the place…positive responses are nice too though (at least better than I was thinking). But it seems like you both think I have a better chance at Cornell than the other schools? Definitely wasn’t expecting that one.
Any more opinions?</p>

7

<p>john hopkins and duke will be difficult for you. but also you haven’t posted ur sat i scores? makes this difficult to see. if ur sat scores are over 2100 then u have a higher chance</p>

8

<p>I think you have very clear interests that are shown throughout your ECs. Although your GPA is a bit low, your testing is great, but doesn’t necessarily make up for it. These are my opinions:</p>

<p>ED Cornell: high match/ low reach
Johns Hopkins: low reach
Carnegie Mellon: match/high match
Duke: low reach</p>

9

<p>I’m in the same situation…lowish GPA but great SAT scores. You should definitely get into CM, and Duke and JH are moderate reaches.</p>

10

<p>college kid92: Heh you must have missed it in the sea of information up there. Sorry it was so long ><
But it is there, right underneath rank:
“SAT (taken once): 2320 (800 M, 760 R, 760 W and 8 essay)”</p>

<p>Thanks hilary and alex!</p>