Low GPA/High SAT/Top Schools; Can I do it?

<p>Chance me for Vanderbilt, Emory, Northwestern, Dartmouth, Stanford, UPenn, Rice, Duke? I have safeties, but these schools reallly interest me.</p>

<p>I have a very erratic application. Wonderful scores/ECs, pretty good service, semi-hook, poor GPA. This is gonna make for some interesting college app decisions..</p>

<p>I don't want to waste anyone's time with a 7 page long list of achievements or something. But here are the most important parts of my App. I left out a lot of less important stuff where I didn't have leadership positions and whatnot.</p>

<p>My application is based a lot around my interest/activities in the environment, my scores, and my achievements outside of school in various activities. </p>

<p>Everything I XX is stuff I will particularly try to highlight somewhere in my app.</p>

<p>XX SAT: 800M, 800CR, 750W
SAT IIs: 740 Math I, 720 Math II, 750 Literature, 700 biology</p>

<p>GPA: 3.48 Unweighted/4.17 Weighted (Top 8% in class) In magnet school. But yes my GPA is bad for top schools.
But my first senior semester GPA was a 3.85 :)</p>

<p>Leadership:
XX Tennis team captain/3 year MVP (Top rank of 17th individual in my State)</p>

<p>XX Environmental Action Team President/founder</p>

<p>Founder of Ultimate Frisbee Club at School</p>

<p>XXX Leader of several service projects at school including one called Food Wars, which won a National award for creativity and success. Other projects included sending hundreds of letters overseas for troops, collecting books for soldiers, and planning/doing special olympics.</p>

<p>XX Youth Activities Organizer in my Apartment Complex (plan festivals, fairs, etc.)</p>

<p>Head Tutor at where I tutor (1st-8th grade students)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars</p>

<p>XX Tennis Team (Captain)</p>

<p>Ultimate Team (Co-captain)</p>

<p>Math Team (State Champion team)</p>

<p>XX Environmental Action Team (President)</p>

<p>Envirothon team (7th place at State competition)</p>

<p>XX Top 10 ranked high school chess player in my state, top 100 player among all players in my state.</p>

<p>Academic Achievement</p>

<p>XXX Winner of State Spelling Bee in 2008, Attended Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington D.c., PLaced 60th out of 273.</p>

<p>XX Accepted to Keystone National Youth Policy Summit, debated/drafted Environmental policy there. Chosen as one of 6 students to propose final policies to local officials.</p>

<p>AP Scholar with Distinction (Becoming National AP scholar this year) Average of 4.2 on exams.</p>

<p>National Merit Commended Student</p>

<p>1st Place at Regional Science Fair and other county awards</p>

<p>Winner of Presentation contest for Research Symposium</p>

<p>School-wide Essay contest winner "Why 9/11 should be remembered"</p>

<p>Mu Alpha Theta/National Honor Society (Not really important)</p>

<p>Community Service</p>

<p>XX Community Tennis Coach for underprivileged (60 hours)
Community Tutor (40 hrs.)
XX Youth Activities Organizer (40 hrs.)
XX Goodwill Emporium volunteer (25 hrs.)
Elementary School Fundraiser volunteer (20 hrs.)
adopt-a highway participant (20 hrs.)</p>

<p>And a bunch of other smaller stuff. About 250 hrs. total.</p>

<p>My essays are great. And my recommendations were very nice.</p>

<p>So what do you guys think?</p>

<p>If you’re top 8% in class with that GPA, that mostly just indicates that your school has grade deflation and that you shouldn’t worry about it. Also, does your school keep records of past acceptees’ stats? Mine had the Naviance data plots of GPA vs. SAT accept/reject at certain schools. (Scrubbed of all names, and it was big enough that that kept it mostly anonymous.) Or your counselor might be able to give you an informal ballpark. It’s out of your hands now, but good luck!</p>