Lowish Grades,Upward Trend, High Test Scores, Unique ECs. Chances at Top Schools?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey everyone! The schools I am looking at are Brown, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Northwestern, UNC JHU, WUSTL, Tufts. Safeties of UPitt, UWash, and UIUC
I’m applying to all these regular decision, so my senior year grades will factor into my transcript. The senior year grades I have listed are for the first quarter of the year, and I expect my second quarter to be similar.

I have a pretty solid upwards trend, but a low cumulative gpa.

Demographics: Asian Male, Washington
Intended Major: Bio

SAT: 2350 (single sitting, 2nd try): 800R 750M 800W
SAT II: 800 chem, 800 math 2, 740 Lit (not sure if I should send)
AP Scores: Chem (5), Bio (5), Lang (5)

My school weights by adding 5% to honors and APs.
School doesn’t rank, but i’m guessing I’m around top 12%
I see a lot of discrepancies with Percentage-to-4.0 conversions, but I"m going with
4.0=95% 3.9=94% etc

9-12th W: 4.04 UW 3.73
10-12th W:4.24, UW: 3.895

Freshman year courses: Geometry H, Physics H, English H, History CP, French, Band
Weighted: 3.57 Unweighted: 3.36

Sophomore Year courses: Algebra II CP, English H, CPUSH, AP Chemistry, French, Band
Weighted: 3.986 Unweighted: 3.743

Junior Year courses: AP Lang, AP Bio, Precalc H, Latin H, CPUSH, Intro to Computer Language
Weighted: 4.13 Unweighted: 3.84

Senior Year courses: AP Calc AB, Honors English, AP Physics C, AP Econ, AP Latin, AP Comp Sci
Weighted: 4.68 Unweighted: 4.1

Extracurriculars:
Completed a marathon this July. Raised almost $2000 for the Mental Health Association through crowdsourcing.
Mental Health Awareness Club (12th) Founder and President
District Meetings Student Rep (12th). --I’m one of two student reps at the monthly meetings. Talk with mayor, superintendent, etc, to improve the school
Unicef Treasurer (10th-11th grade), VP (12th)
National Honor Society member (11th), Secretary (12th)
Science Bowl captain (11-12)
Future Doctors of America Treasurer (12)

Essay: 9/10. It’s quite original and I think it showcases both my humor and drive pretty well.
Counselor Rec: 9/10
Teacher 1 Rec: 9/10
Teacher 2 Rec: 8/10

Thanks for taking the time to read!

2

Your EC’s are good, not strong, but good. Obviously GPA might be a problem, but if the upward trend is evident, you shouldn’t be discounted too much. Testing is excellent. If your essays are outstanding, then you will be a competitive applicant.

Chance me back???
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1934168-chance-me-for-upenn-ed-duke-yale-brown-cornell-tufts-georgetown-and-more.html#latest

3

@Speedy212 “eh”

4

@IvyBred Care to elaborate?

5

@ezbreezy8022 chanced back! Seeing your extra curriculars, I realize I may have overestimated the strength of mine!

6

@Speedy212 your EC’s are ‘generic’. If nearly every student has the cliche ‘National Honor Society’, for example, what does that imply about the applicant? Nothing. How does that connect to your intended career pursuit? It doesn’t.

7

Your freshman grades were a bit low, but I see a nice upward trend coupled with outstanding test scores (and yes, send the SAT II Lit - it’s one of the harder subject tests).

Your reaches are reaches for everyone, so hard to predict. Your in-state public is a great option if that’s where you end up. Good luck!

8

@IvyBred Fair point. I would argue that completing a marathon as a high schooler is pretty unique though, but I guess it’s not that impressive.

Also, forgot to mention that I completed a 3 month-long research internship at my in-state public’s bio lab, so there’s something that connects to my intended major.