Low rank and gap year

Applying to College
1

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I am a gap year student (class of 2017) who is planning on applying to college this coming admissions cycle. Last time, I was accepted to a few good colleges (CMU, William and Mary, UCLA), and waitlisted at almost all of the other colleges I applied to. Two of those colleges include Uchicago and Columbia (which I was extended waitlisted into). </p>

<p>Although my top choice is Berkeley (indicated by the name) I know that my Achilles heel last time was my low high school rank. My rank was a 60/500 at a competitive public high school (top 100) with a 4.21 gpa. The reason why my gpa was so low is because I took a lot of middle school classes that counted for high school credit and got B's on all of them. I also had a hard time junior year due to some personal problems which resulted in 3 B's in hard ap classes (bio,chem,bc). </p>

<p>My guidance counselor (who I'm still very close with) wrote me an amazing recommendation that explains the situation, in addition to an amazing rec by my bc calculus teacher and a good rec by one of my social science teachers. </p>

<p>I have a 2350 SAT (perfect 1600) and 780/750 on Lit and Math2 sat2's.</p>

<p>I am planning to take college classes at a competitive institution (probably Upenn or Georgetown) over the summer in order to prove that I can handle a rigorous courseload.</p>

<p>My extracurriculars are very good and I have only seen a handful of people on CC who I feel have a more competitive extracurricular base than I do (not to be cocky).</p>

<p>During my gap year, I've also traveled to a lot of different countries and volunteered (probably not the most strategic thing to do when reapplying to college) and I've gotten really into computer science, which is what I've decided to major in (have done a few projects, learned a few languages, nothing special).</p>

<p>My question is whether or not I have a shot at competitive schools that I haven't applied to (Harvard, Dartmouth Duke) and if the progress I've made on my gap year is good enough to make colleges that rejected or waitlisted me reconsider their decision (Uchicago, Columbia, Berkeley). I assume that I have a pretty good shot at my safety schools (UIUC, Georgia Tech) but will be sure to add more on as I get closer to the application deadline.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Just to be clear, I retook my SAT’S recently to get those scores, I applied my senior year with a 2250 and 720/730.</p>

3

<p>So 2013-2014 is your post-HS-graduation gap year? If you just now got some acceptances, why not just go to one of those schools this fall instead of taking another gap year for 2014-2015? Or are they all too expensive? In your senior year of 2012-2013, did you get shut out, or financially shut out?</p>

4

<p>By taking classes over the summer you risk making yourself a transfer student. Check the websites of the schools in which you are interested to see where the breakpoint is. For some it is ANY college credits.</p>

5

<p>I graduated in 2017 and also got into said schools the same year. However, I did not feel ready to attend college, which is why I’m on a gap year (technically two gap years). I’m applying again this fall. I am aware that taking classes would make me a transfer student for UC Berkeley.</p>