<p>Hey CC,</p>
<p>I am a high school student and am going into my senior year. I currently have a 2.9 GPA and a 1930, or a 1330 on a 1600 scale, on my SAT. I was hoping for some help regarding what colleges would be good for me. I have a list of colleges, but I don't know if I even have a chance of getting into them. Can anyone give me some respectable colleges that would consider me? I have strong extra curriculars and community service (a lot of my extracs are in science). I am interested in a premed or a biomedical engineering program, but am also interested in Neuroscience. I would like to go to a UC school, UMiami (Florida), or a Texas school (SMU, UT, A&M, UTD), and Michigan-Ann Arbor. Could some of you tell me which of these schools I have a chance at if any? Also, provide some schools I should look into.</p>
<p>First, are you in-state for any of them and have you considered the cost? UCs, UT and UMich will be ~$50K/year for OOS students. Try the Supermatch engine on the left of this screen.</p>
<p>What state are you in? The UCs have a minimum GPA requirement for consideration, based on their own weighting system. It is 3.0 for CA residents and 3.4 for out-of-state. It’s probably unlikely that your UC-weighted GPA broke the 4.0 threshold required by the most elite campuses. If you are from out-of-state, then see if you break 3.4. If you don’t, there is no point in applying. The GPA is calculated from sophomore and junior years, and you will be automatically ineligible. If you are a CA resident, you probably have a shot at Merced, Riverside, and possibly UCSC, provided your UC-weighted GPA is over 3.0. I’d say that Michigan-Ann Arbor is out of reach. If you’re a TX resident, you probably can get into state campuses other than Austin. U. of Miami would be an academic reach, and you won’t qualify for any merit aid if you get in, so be sure that you can pay for it if you do. Almost every four-year college will have the curriculum you need for pre-med courses, so start looking at less-selective colleges. given your list, I presume you want a large university. Look at some other western state universities, like Montana, Arizona (U. of A. and ASU), Wyoming, possibly Colorado State (UC-Boulder might be a reach, with your GPA, but worth a try), Iowa and Iowa State (the heartland has always had strong Life Science departments), Alabama, Ole Miss, WVU, et al. Most of those colleges are delighted to accept students with SATs over 1800. </p>
<p>I am a Texas resident. Money is currently not an issue, but it will be taken into account when deciding schools, but first i need to get into a school -_-. Do the UC schools have a minimum requirement of a 3.4 unweighted GPA? I am very interested in NYU and NYU Shanghai (if you guys know anything about those). A lot of my extracurriculars are can be molded towards NYU Shanghai, such as teaching myself Chinese because of high school scheduling conflicts, and an exchange program to Taiwan, etc. This is my dream school, but idk because of my gpa. My out-of-school research is pretty exemplary, but idk how far that will take me in trumping a gpa this low. I’m also looking at Temple University. Also, are there any schools outside of America that would be good for me, similar to NYU Shanghai (an NYU campus based in Asia, that is an english taught university), and Yale in Singapore?</p>
<p>Most colleges are not very difficult to get into. Most students have their eye on one of the top 50 colleges. There are thousands of colleges-most of which you’d get into. Why don’t you consider things like what you want to study, what type of school you want, etc. Then generate a list of schools that offer those things. Put a little leg work into your college search. It will make all the difference for you.</p>
<p>The UC minimum GPA is a 3.4, as calculated using their own method. There have been links posted here and elsewhere about that. Look in another section about UCs to figure it out. You might well break 3.4, but the elite schools in the system want something much higher than that. As a point of reference, my son had an unweighted GPA of 3.3-3.4, but his UC-weighted GPA was over 4.0. He got into UCSD and Davis, but not Berkeley. His SAT was 2060 and his ACT was 31. He was not looking at any of their super-selective undergraduate schools. If you are interested in pre-med, your best bet would be to apply as “undeclared” to the regular Arts & Sciences colleges. The STEM programs are brutally competitive. Temple is probably a pretty good match, especially if your weighted GPA is well over 3.0. I really don’t know about the Chinese satellite campuses. You should probably start a separate thread to ask about them specifically. </p>
<p>Is Penn State a reach?</p>
<p>OP, you want answers only to your specific questions. We’re telling you you need to do the legwork. Quit panicking and start doing what you can to answer your questions. Go to </p>
<p><a href=“College Search & Match with our College Finder | CollegeData”>http://www.collegedata.com/cs/search/college/college_search_tmpl.jhtml</a></p>
<p>and look at the middle 50 SAT scores for the schools you’re interested in. If your SATs fall into the middle 50 you’ll have some idea whether you’re an academic match. Whether you fit in any other way, including financially, is something we cannot determine but you will have to. Take a deep breath and get to work.</p>
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Look up the Common Data Set for Penn State, section C and see what they look at and how you compare.</p>