Nasty Dilemma... please offer insight!

Applying to College
1

<p>Hi,
So my dream school is Brown, and my second dream school is Johns Hopkins. I need to choose one school to apply Early Decision to. But heres the problem:</p>

<p>During my junior year of college, a friend who was very dear to me passed away, and it effected my junior year GPA. I emailed my GC, and she tells me I should be around 13-15% of my class with a 3.7X unweighted GPA. That puts me at below 10%. Brown's most recent data shows that 93% of their students were at the top 10% of their class, which means that I would somehow have to ninja my way into the left over 7%. However, I don't really think thats likely, because I hear that the 7% is reserved for athletes, legacies, etc. Johns Hopkins on the other hand, has a much lower average gpa and class rank.</p>

<p>I might be getting cocky, but I really do think I have a good shot at JHU ED. But, Brown is my dream school. A lot of you guys are going to say "just follow your heart and go with your dream school!". However, my situation puts me in a tricky spot. Because my gpa is low, I actually have a better chance at out-of-state competitive colleges than in-state colleges, due to the holistic admissions process (ironic huh?). This means if I apply to Brown and I don't get in, it would significantly decrease my chances at JHU and other state schools for RD. I might be forced into my safety school. </p>

<p>So- do I play it "safe" and apply to JHU for a higher percentage of acceptance, or do I go with Brown? I've seen the Brown ED threads, and I believe that everything else besides my GPA is on par or better than a lot of the people who got in (probably just being cocky again). The question that I'm pondering is; If everything else is good enough for Brown BUT my gpa, will they reject me to reserve that 7% for hooked applicants, or would they forgive me for my junior year slip (one semester) and let me in, even though cases like me would lower the percentage of undergraduates who were at the top 10% of their class and decrease their prestige?</p>

<p>Of course, there is always the chance that I am way out of my league, and will get rejected no matter which I apply to. But I prefer to be optimistic. So, should I take the gamble? </p>

<p>PS- Please don't suggest applying for a less competitive ivy league. I don't WANT to go to Cornell or Penn. Or Yale or Harvard for that matter. And apologies for the grammar mistakes.</p>

<p>Former Chance-Me thread here if you're interested: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1377009-chance-asian-low-gpa-really-specific-resume.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1377009-chance-asian-low-gpa-really-specific-resume.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

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<p>After reading your chance thread, it looks like you’d have a great chance of getting into Brown ED, even with your quote-on-quote “low GPA.” I don’t think that applying RD would kill your chances of getting into JHU. I don’t know exactly what would be the best decision, but that’s my thought.</p>

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<p>You have really good stats and you will get into a great college. . . maybe not Brown or JHU, but if you choose wisely and cast a fairly wide net, you will be fine. </p>

<p>Apply to Brown ED. There’s no sense not applying to your dream school only to wonder “what if”?</p>

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<p>Will your GC describe your situation in the GC recommendation? Can she estimate where you would be in your class if you hadn’t had the unfortunate year? What does she think your chances are at either Brown or JHU?</p>

<p>Otherwise – You’re saying that you would prefer to go to Brown, but think that you have a better chance at JHU ED. I presume your concern is that if you have a better chance of getting into one of your 2 top choices if you go JHU ED-Brown RD than the other way around.</p>

<p>If so, then, you’ve analyzed the situation, and have a tough decision. I don’t think there’s anything any of us can say to make it easier.</p>

5

<p>Thanks for all the replys!
@Zephyr
Yes, my GC will describe my situation. According to her, without the junior year semester where I messed up, I would easily be in the top 5% of my class, maybe even in the top 10 ranks (that was based on last years class, but it shouldn’t be off). I haven’t directly asked her what she thought of my chances at either JHU or Brown. Does this change your suggestion at all?</p>

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<p>I’m a little confused 2 weeks ago you didn’t mention Brown? You said between JHU and Dartmouth? How did the love start so recently with Brown? Your ECs are amazing but really spread out?..</p>

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<p>Correct, I did mention Dartmouth in a previous post. The post was for Dartmouth vs Brown when it came to admissions. At that time, I was trying to narrow down my ED list to an ivy league and JHU. I decided on Brown though.</p>

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<p>Sounds to me like you do not know where you really want to go - so you should not commit with ED for either school.</p>

9

<p>schlaag</p>

<p>I think your GC’s letter may help – my memory is that admissions officers who post here have said that an explanation of a bad year is exactly the kind of thing they find valuable in a GC letter. I would hope that Brown would recognize that your class rank does not measure your potential, and that there is a good reason for this (i.e., not just slacking off), but honestly I don’t know what Brown would do.</p>

<p>Does it change my thoughts-- honestly no. I personally think your analysis is correct – JHU-ED increases your chances of getting into one of these two schools (but decreases your chances of getting into Brown.</p>

<p>As to advice – first of all your situation is fairly unique. None of us here is really qualified to help you. I think you need to specifically discuss this with your GC.</p>

<p>If you were my child, I’d probably recommend Brown-ED (if you’re positive it’s your first choice) or Neither ED if you’re not sure – but it’s a very hard choice.</p>