My sophmore average is a 91ish%. Too late for UPenn, NYU, UMich, USC or UCBerkeley?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
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<p>So I have like an average of 91%, which is like a 3.6 I think. I always thought this was a good average because my school is small, but competitive. Its an NYC Public School, and it is one of the most selective ones in the city.</p>

<p>I was not in any APs this year because they were not offered in Sophomore year. I did not get into any APs for junior year (only options were English, Global and Art and I only applied to English and I didn't get in). I plan to beast senior y ear, but its too soon to say .
BUt I am taking college course this summer at Baruch CUNY and I am also going to take online AP courses.
I am going to take colelge courses during the junior shcool year. </p>

<p>oh and all my classes are honors</p>

<p>My ECs are okay, but I can certainly embellish.
Korean Traditional Dance (who does that?!) -- 2 Years
Korean Traditional Drums -- 2 Years
Lorax Club -- 1 year
Student Government -- 1 year
Film Club -- 2 Years
Varsity Softball -- 1 year
Wrestling Manager -- 1 year
This community service thing -- 1 year (I plan to get the presidents award for 100 hours)
Violin -- 5 years</p>

<p>my PSAT scores are pretty bad, i got like a 150 without any prepartion. But i plan to improve dramatically since I have tutors for math and reading and I am going to take Kaplan this summer. </p>

<p>I know Upenn is kinda outta the question, but thats what my mom really wants.</p>

<p>I really want to go to UCB Hoss (i forgot, hass or hoss), but I am out of state and my GPA isnt as high as their average.
(DREAM SCHOOL)</p>

<p>I also want to go to NYU Stern. My sisters go to NYU (one graduated from Gallatin this year and the other one is goig to graduate 2010 from Tisch). I plan to do ED (i am going to go crazy on loans)</p>

<p>UMich, I am not so crazy about, but I wanna go.</p>

<p>USC -- Marshall, i really want to go to. My math teacher went there (shes like 23) and she really likes me and so if she writes me a reccommendation letter, wouldnt that give me an advantage?</p>

<p>but my school is really hard. i dont know hwo to get a 4.00 and I dont know how anyone is able to do it! did you get a 100 on every test and project? But i plan to do well, better than this year. Porbably like a 94.</p>

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<p>bumppp. reply porfavor</p>

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<p>it will be hard to tell without SATs.</p>

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<p>srry but UC Berkeley is going to be very difficult for you. I am in-state, and I know those with higher stats that are in-state that didn't get in. Good luck though!</p>

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<p>You don't even know that your dream school's name is spelled "HAAS"? You need to do a LOT more research.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>PSAT doesn't matter, unless you do exceptionally well and make it pretty far into the National Merit cutoffs. So don't worry about that.</p></li>
<li><p>You don't apply to Haas during High School. You apply to UC Berkeley as a business major, then apply to Haas as a UCB sophomore (that is to say you transfer from the main university to the B school as a rising junior if you're accepted).</p></li>
<li><p>If you're school is as difficult as you say then you should be pretty well ranked in your class. Admissions will take this into consideration when looking over your transcript, because they're more concerned about whether or not you can handle the material rather than if you can get perfect grades in every class. Thus a 91% at your school might be comparable to a 4.0 at some other applicants' schools, so just focus on succeeding to the best of your ability with your context. Standardized test scores, ECs and teacher recommendations will be what make or break your record more than a few percentage points.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Here are a couple of things that I noticed while reading your post:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Your grades are probably good enough. Don't worry about them too much, although it could never hurt to raise them up a bit more.</p></li>
<li><p>You've participated in lots of activities, but how many of them have you really devoted time and effort to? Have you taken on any leadership responsibilities or are you just building up a laundry list of activities?</p></li>
<li><p>I have no idea what your standardized test scores will be (very important, especially for an oos applicant at UCB) so I can't give you any ideas on that</p></li>
<li><p>Do you have teachers that will write you solid recs?</p></li>
</ol>

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<p>thanks anti gravity, your response was as long as the orginial post. i really do have a lot to research and catch up on, im still confused with a lot of the college process. i obviosuly need a lot more safeties and matches. </p>

<p>i know UCB sounds more like a dream than reality, but i really want to get in!
when i look at acceptance rates:
is 25% high or low? i thought it was high, but thats the acceptance rate of UCB.</p>

<p>oh and:
what if you like really "embellished" your ECs. is that bad? or do like a lot of people do that?</p>

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<p>25% is a pretty low acceptance rate, considering that almost all of the applicants are very good students.</p>

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<p>Ditto. .</p>

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<p>You can't embellish THAT much. Instead of "I put names into a computer" you can put "Completed extensive data entry work." But after a certain point the admissions officers will know that you're lying.</p>

<p>It would also help to know which NYC high school you go to, since there are a lot of different ones.</p>

<p>And 25% isn't a very low acceptance rate, but you have to factor in that you're OOS- which means that for you, it'll probably be closer to 10%.</p>

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<p>ooo
what about usc</p>

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<p>You have a good shot at NYU and USC.</p>

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<p>The average GPA cut off for Berkeley is a 3.9</p>

<p>shall I say anymore?
lol</p>

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<p>UMich isn't that far out of range if you do really well your junior year. </p>

<p>What kind of program do you want to go in to?</p>

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<p>I say go for it. Just try and improve your grades next year. Besides, as stated before, colleges and universities will see how highly ranked your school is, which will help you a lot.</p>

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<p>so you either go to stuy or hudson</p>

<p>it will be fine, if you go to hudson you must have a high class rank</p>

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<p>roses&clovers, why do you think it must be one of those 2? Stuy isn't that small...</p>

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<p>op said that he goes to the most selective public school in nyc</p>

<p>I made a mistake, hunter not hudson</p>

<p>I've heard that they are both quite hard which would go for grade deflation and that by high school a lot of students at hunter are burned out. </p>

<p>a 91 at any selective public school is something to be really proud of. one of the most well spoken people I've met is from sit</p>

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<p>A 91 would be a 4.0 at our school...its annoying how every school does the grading scale differently...</p>

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<p>nope, its not hunter or stuy (i didnt get into those)
id rather not say actually.</p>

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<p>On the contrary, there is grade INflation at stuy, and if she went to hunter her classes would be at Hunter College, not Baruch.</p>

<p>Anyway, if you'd rather not say, that's fine, i'd rather not say either. But in my competitive NYC high school 91 is top 20%. Basically, I would call your school and see if there is a way to sneak into some of those junior year APs because not only do they look good, but they also boost your gpa. ie. my gpa rose nearly 3 points in one year because of the AP weights.</p>