Hello! As I approach the very end of my junior year, I’m facing a dilemma. While my scores seem to give me a shot at top schools, my GPA is markedly lower than most successful applicants. I want to enter academia in the humanities or social sciences in the future, so I have constructed my list based on the percentage of alumni who go on to obtain Ph.D.s in these disciplines (adding Binghamton as a reliable safety). Predictably, this has created a very selective list (with some outliers). If anyone could suggest similar schools with a greater chance of accepting me, that would be greatly appreciated. Keep in mind I need as much financial aid as possible (FAFSA EFC of ~$3000) I will apply to Questbridge, but I am in the upper end of the income range, so I won’t count on being accepted.
Current List
[ul]
[]UChicago - EDI
[]Reed - EA
[]Bard - EA
[]St. John’s College - EA
[]Binghamton - EA
[]Swarthmore - EDII
[]Harvard - RD
[]Yale - RD
[]Amherst - RD
[]Carleton - RD[/ul]
Unweighted GPA: 92/3.61 (using unofficial conversion provided by school)
Weighted GPA: 4.14 (assuming 1 point boost for AP and .5 point boost for honors)
Course Rigor: 10 honors classes, 7 AP classes so far; will take dual enrollment Calc 3 and Linear Algebra next year as well as 4 more AP classes
SAT Score: 1570 (single-sitting)
Subject Test Scores
- []Literature - 800
[]World History - 800
[]Chemistry - 750
[]Biology-M - 710
AP Scores
- []World History - 5
[]European History - 5
[]Psychology - 5
[]US History - 5?
[]Art History - 4?
[]Calculus BC - 4, 5 on AB subscore?
[]Physics 1 - 4?
[]Literature - Next year
[]French - Next year
[]Biology - Next year
[]Microeconomics - Next year
[]Macroeconomics - Next year
ECs
[ul]
[]History Bowl - 9-12, president 11-12
[]Quizbowl - 9-12, president 11-12
[]Model UN - 9-12, co-president 11-12
[]Ultimate Frisbee - 10-12
[]School literary magazine - 10-12, editor
[]School Shakespeare production - 11-12
[li]Linguistics Club - 10-12[/li][/ul]
Honors/Awards
[ul]
[]Likely NMSF
[]National French Contest Gold Medal - 10-11
[li]GWU Book Award[/li][/ul]
Volunteering
- []Docent at local museum - 11-12, including summer
[]Volunteer at local hospital - summer before 11
Recommendations: My junior-year English teacher really likes my writing, and I think I could get very strong support from her. My sophomore-year AP Psych teacher has promised me a good recommendation. I also think I could get good support from my French teacher, though perhaps with less support for my work ethic.