hi, so i’m halfway through my high school sophomore year, just started second semester and i currently have a 3.34 gpa and last year i had a 3.4 i think, i’m going to get it up because what’s holding me back is my math grade (C+, i messed up a lot of tests, get too anxious and take too long to finish…) and chem (a B ) but the rest of my grades are good, as mainly, few a-s here and there… i had a lot of mental health and home issues going on but now i’m going to take life by the reins and turn things around before it’s all too late. my question is, what are my odds of getting into nyu ? i mean, i know you can’t tell now, but i’m anxious and i can only see the acceptance rate declining and declining. i live in new york, and i am under the impression that i can’t survive off the island of manhattan, and nyu has always appealed to me… i’d like to go to tisch or cas, either to study acting, dramatic writing, or literature, and i just am panicking. my school doesn’t offer AP classes, should i try to take college level classes outside of school? should i start building my portfolio now? am i just chasing a pipe dream, am i really just stupid and the odds are against me? what should i do? more leadership positions? college courses outside of school? everyone on this godforesaken website has a 8.7 gpa (not even exaggerating) and has worked with elon musk on some sort of space research at the age of fourteen, and here i am, with a pointless existence and i’m seemingly unable to complete with those who look better than me on paper. i will get my gpa up, but even then, i feel like i’m chasing a pipe dream. sorry about the word vomit. if you were able to read all of this, i congratulate and thank you, and implore you to give any advice below…
… i’ve had the lead (well, A lead) in the fall play in my freshman and sophomore year, i do debate, classical guitar, am considering doing something writing related over the summer + bookstore internship but jesus christ i can’t help but feel that i look awfully mediocre on paper. christ god help me… i don’t do research with prestigious universities or service trips… am i just greedily taking advantage of the opportunities being given to me without giving back to my community or whatever it is that they say? how does one live under this constant pressure to be better than the other? how can i go through this process knowing i’m objectively inferior?
Hey, I’m a sophomore too, and I think the first thing you need to do is take a breath. It’s really easy to get imposter syndrome from reading the profiles of other ppl on this site, but everybody is on different paths. Try taking things one step at a time. What extracurriculars do you currently do, and are there any others that look interesting to you? It’s never too late to join some more clubs at your school or start researching other opportunities.
If your school doesn’t offer any APs, colleges will know, and they don’t expect you to take classes that aren’t offered. How rigorous are your current classes? For the ones you’re doing well in, look at taking higher leveled ones next year (if there are none, just continue on your path). For math and chem, try improving your grades by getting extra help, doing additional practice, etc. It seems like you have some test-related anxiety, so work on your test-taking skills and practice staying calm.
I don’t think NYU is a pipe dream. You’ve obviously thought a lot about it, and now you just need to start stepping up your game. Put the past behind you and focus on improving for the future. Hope this helps!! <3
damn thank you. wasn’t expecting to actually get a response. my school isn’t particularly great when it comes to offering opportunities for advanced classes and ECs, but i’m going to look further into it and try and find some other opportunities. i think the test-taking anxiety is going to screw me over big-time in the future, especially when it comes to those standardized tests.
do you know if nyu – along with most colleges – looks at individual semester grades, or just overall ones? i really don’t want them seeing my first semester grades, they’re just godawful as you know, but if i improve and they just see the overall ones then that’s fine. anyway, thank you, i really appreciate it, and best of luck, you’ve been very kind and thoughtful.
Work on doing the best you can. Get that math grade up. Get a tutor (a free one at the high school will do). Work a little harder in chem. If you have a diagnosis for a mental health problem, work with a therapist (if you don’t have a diagnosis, get tested).
We can’t chance you for NYU until you have some test scores and a longer-term EC history, but you should make a list of at least four or five things that you like about NYU. Chances are there are other colleges that can offer similar things NYU does. It is not healthy to fall in love with one college. It is better to train yourself to have a list of “must haves” and then promise yourself to “bloom where you’re planted”, hopefully somewhere that checks those “must-have” boxes. Resiliance is the name of the game, and if you have it, you’ll be fine whatever happens: in the event you get rejected from NYU or in the possible case you get in, then find out it isn’t like you thought it was going to be (happens all the time).
What does your high school offer in lieu of AP classes? Does it offer IB? Or just it’s own “honors”? Either way, colleges will look at you in the context of what your high school offers. While a dual/concurrent enrollment class here or there is a great way to get a credit or two under your belt or show you can handle college level classes, ultimately it is important to show you are doing well in the most rigorous classes available to you at your own high school.
ECs: Do what you enjoy, and stick with it. You can drop ECs you don’t like, but it always looks good to have one or two you’ve done longer term. Do something related to your major and something not. Leadership, as far as colleges go, isn’t about titles so much as impact.
Find out what NYU looks for in candidates. Ideally an unhooked applicant would want to be at the 75th percent mark for GPA and test score levels, but I wouldn’t discourage you from applying if you hit the 50% mark and had some other good things going for you. Do they value research? Volunteering? Do you have the four years (recommended) of math, science, English, history/SS, and foreign language? They value talent/ability, so how will you show that? 69% of accepted students had a 3.5+ GPA, so that’s where you want to be.
Good luck!
I don’t think NYU is impossible and I think it’s fine to work toward that goal, primarily by trying to keep your grades as high as possible, taking as challenging a curriculum as you can, and pursuing extracurriculars related to your interests.
Importantly, though, I would NOT get too set on any one school. This has nothing to do with your GPA. I would say this to anyone! If you get all your hopes set on one school–particular one school that is currently accepting fewer than 20% of applicants–you risk having your heart crushed. (As I’m sure you know, NYU has gone from being a school that accepted 35% of applicants in 2014 to a school that accepted only 16% of applicants in 2019.) You want to have a more diverse set of schools at which you could imagine being very happy.
There are plenty of other schools in Manhattan. What about Fordham? What about Eugene Lang? What about Pace? What about Marymount Manhattan? What about Hunter?
If you are willing to look a tiny bit further afield, even more possibilities open up to you, like Hofstra, Sarah Lawrence, Wagner, St John’s, etc.
Tour a variety of schools. You may be surprised how many you love.
Breathe. Relax. You have time to make this work.
And remember if Manhattan is the thing, there is not only NYU, there is also the Lincoln Center campus of Fordham, and the New School.
- Take a deep breath. Panic isn't going to help anything.
- Too soon to say whether you will be accepted to NYU, but you will want an UW GPA over 3.5 with rigorous classes (as available in your school- there is no need to take classes outside your school) and an SAT over 1400 / ACT of 30+ for it to be a reasonable match (that won't guarantee you admission- it just puts you in the pack- and you can get in with lower numbers, it's just less likely). It is definitely not all about numbers!
- More importantly, is your family prepared to spend $55K / year (if you live at home) or $75K (if you live at school) for you to go to NYU? that's $220,000 to $300,000 for you to go to college. If not, NYU is almost certainly not going to happen for you, as NYU is not generous with financial aid.
- Focus on 1) figuring out how to deal with the anxiety; 2) working hard at your school work; and 3) working hard on the ECs that truly matter to you.
- Next spring/summer, when you have your actual GPA and your test scores, and a budget from you family, look for colleges that match.
Same as everybody else, you can only run your race. If you keep swiveling your head around to see what everybody else is doing you just slow yourself down.
I think that there are three things that you should do right now.
First of all, relax. There are a lot of very good universities in the US. A 3.3 unweighted GPA is significantly higher than the average for all high school students in the US, and will get you into a good university.
Secondly, keep an open mind regarding where you want to attend university. There are a lot of very good universities in the US. None of them have a monopoly on anything that they are going to teach an undergraduate student. You should look at several schools when the time comes and think about what you want in a university. Also keep your budget in mind, and make sure that you pick out two good safeties before you spend too much time thinking about reaches.
Finally, try to keep your GPA up as much as you can. Pay attention in class and stay ahead in your homework. Participate in the ECs that you want to participate in, and do not worry about how your ECs compare with anyone else’s ECs.
I guess that I will add a fourth item: Remember that you are not competing with everyone you know. You do not need to be “the best” at anything. Life is about people working together and cooperating to get stuff done. Learn from the smart students. Do not try to be them nor to beat them.