Low GPA, high test scores... what should my college list look like?

College Search & Selection
1

Hi, I’m currently a junior so I hope it’s okay that I’m posting here, but I was hoping to get some insight on colleges that I should apply to next year. These are my stats:

Gender: Female
Race/Ethnicity: Hispanic (US citizen, born in Peru)
State: CA
Intended major: double major in business and political science (then, hopefully, law school!!!)

GPA: 3.3UW, 3.55W (moderate upward trend)
SAT: 2280 (770CR, 760M, 750W)
PSAT: 1490/1520
APs: World History (5), Spanish Literature (5), US History, English Language, Spanish Language, English Literature, Statistics, Calculus AB, US Gov’t., Macroeconomics

Extracurriculars:
DECA, 2 years (officer 12)
Mock Trial attorney, 3 years (officer 12, 2 regional awards)
Journalism, 3 years (editor-in-chief 10, 11, 1 national award)
Black belt, 1st degree since 2011 (3rd place in sparring in West Coast Open)
Chess Club secretary (11)
Ethics Club co-founder (10,11)

Awards:
National Hispanic Scholar (most likely – I’ve been invited to apply and I have the required stats)
National Merit Scholar (I’m hoping, but nothing’s set in stone yet and CA is really competitive)
JEA National Write-Off: Honorable Mention
Outstanding Courtroom Journalist: 1st (county)
Outstanding Pretrial Attorney: Honorable Mention
DECA Northern California: 1st place, Principles of Business Administration
DECA California: 5th place, Business Services Operations Research
West Coast Open Tournament: 3rd place in sparring

Income bracket: >$100,000
Hooks: URM, trilingual (if that counts for anything)

These are the colleges I’m considering: Penn (extra high reach), Emory, ASU, CMU, BostonU, Babson, and that’s all I can think of right now.

Honestly, I’m hoping to find a moderately reputable college (hopefully in or near a big city) that doesn’t regard GPAs too highly, but I know that must be easier said than done.

What do you all think? Where should I be applying to? Any input is appreciated!

2

Your SAT is excellent but your GPA hurts you for very selective colleges. What happened? Obviously you have the smarts but did something happen that your GPA is not comparable?

3

Aww shucks, what happened to your GPA? Everything else is great! Great ECs, awards, and test scores!

4

What were your AP grades like?

5

What is your rank? Does your school give out your rank?

6

My school does not rank! Will this hurt/help me?

7

Well, I’ve only taken one AP class so far, MaroonDaddy, and I got a C+ (World History wasn’t kind to me), but I’m expecting two Bs and an A for this semester.

8

neoking and goingnutsmom (sorry if I’m not replying right!), there’s honestly a lot of factors that contributed (some mental health issues, frequent family problems, and whatnot), but I really have to say that the standards I set for myself weren’t high enough in freshman and sophomore year – I wasn’t thinking about how those Cs would affect me in the long run.

9

bump

10

@goingnutsmom @MaroonDaddy @neoking I figured out the tagging system, haha! Sorry about that.

11

So you took one AP class World Hist. got a C+ in the class, and a 5 on the AP exam? And are you taking 3 AP classes now and a couple other classes? And you are going to take more AP senior year?

Ok first things first. Your grades are not too bad. But to get into some nice programs, which I think you need, you need to finish this semester/year with the best grades you can. You may have to miss some things like clubs, sports, parties, trips to make sure you do the best you can. Make academics number one for the rest of the year. Not ECs. You need to give the colleges a reason to believe that you are on an upward trend, ready for college level work. With the scores that you have you need to go to a college or program. that will challenge you a little, with you can find people just as smart as you are.

Have you ever been thoroughly tested by a Gifted Education specialist? It can be helpful to identify your learning style and strengths and weaknesses. You may be a genius with a specialized learning style.

Take it easy on the sparring. You need to protect that wonderful brain of yours. Also pay attention to your sleep and healthy diet.

12

ASU is a good choice for the NHRP/NMSF scholarship and the honors college.

13

Beside Babson, two other excellent business colleges are Bentley and Bryant. Both very well-known on the East Coast.
Your trilingualism and test scores would be appealing to Dickinson (major in international management- request info) if your grades can be excellent for the end of the year.
American University is a possibility.
All the NMF universities with honors colleges - UAlabama, Oklahoma, etc.
In CA, try for uci chp but don’t forget to apply to a wide range of universities since GPA trumps scores at most CA publics.
Scripps, Occidental, Pitzer, for reaches (check for fit and fill out the request info form) ; sdsu, uredlands, Chapman for matches.
Outside of ASU your current list is all reaches. Most are quite unlikely due to your GPA.

14

Consider Lehigh University, which may be more forgiving in gpa when other factors show strong potentials. If Lehigh’s business programs look interesting to you, be sure to show interest to the school by visiting (if possible ). Lehigh also meets full financial need.

15

@MYOS1634 Sorry, I’m kind of new at all of this, but why does it matter if I fill out the request information form? Do colleges take that into account?

16

Yes they do. Private colleges hate ‘stealth applicants’ and, if you have good stats, they worry you just threw them into your Commonapp list as a safety but don’t intend to go. If you request info, they know you’re at least a bit serious. UC 's and csu 's don’t care. :slight_smile: in your case, you’ll want every bit to help .

17

I’d like to recommend UNC Wilmington. The Cameron School of Business here is excellent and has a great executive network. UNCW also is pretty forgiving to applicants with low GPAs if they show great promise elsewhere, as you clearly have done. The fact that you’re from far away OOS might help, as the university is looking to increase the number of OOSers from non-Northern states. Plus, who wouldn’t want to be five miles from some of the most beautiful beaches on the east coast?

18

@LBad96 Thank you so much! What do you mean by “executive network”?

19

http://www.csb.uncw.edu/cen/

20

^ seconding UNC-Wilmington for a high scores/low GPA kid. EXCELLENT Honors college, too (you have a shot if you polish your essays and continue with course rigor throughout senior year - work very hard Fall senior year to get as many grades in the B+ to A range as you can , BTW).