Safeties, Matches, and Reaches, Chance Me?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi everyone!</p>

<p>I'm going into senior year and I'd like to know what schools I should consider to be my reach, match, and safety schools! I go to a highly competitive high school (where the top 10% have GPAs of about 3.95 and above) and my school doesn't weight GPAs but I did it myself just in case.</p>

<p>Academics:</p>

<p>GPA: 3.74 U/W, 4.0 W
SAT I: 2390
ACT: 36</p>

<p>AP Tests: Bio: 5 | Microeconomics: 5 | Physics B: 5 | Physics C Mechanics: 5 | Calculus BC: 5 | Music Theory: 5 | Spanish: 5 | English Language and Composition: 5 | Psychology: 5 | US History: 5 | Computer Science: 5</p>

<p>SAT IIs: Bio E: 800 | Physics: 790 | Math II: 800 |World History: 780 |US History: 800</p>

<p>Advanced Courses:</p>

<p>Sophomore year: Physics Honors (C/B), Precalc Honors (B/B), AP Comp Sci (A/A)
Junior year: APUSH (A/A), AP Music Theory (A/A), Calc BC (A/A), Am Lit Honors (A/A), AP Biology (A/A), Spanish 4 Honors (A/A)
Senior year: AP Literature, AP Spanish, AP Chemistry, AP Gov/Econ, AP Stats</p>

<p>Outside Courses (taken at a local community college): Psychology: A |Political Science: A | Linear Algebra: A | Physics (the AP equivalent at our school): A</p>

<p>Ranking: Unknown until early next year</p>

<p>Extracurriculars (Notable):</p>

<p>2003-2014: Violin
2013-2014: Concertmaster of an orchestra (not school)
2013-2014: President of our FBLA chapter (ranked top 5 in the nation)
2012-2013: Western Region Board Member in FBLA
2012-2013: Section officer in FBLA (outside of the local chapter)
2013-2014: National officer in FBLA
2010-2014: FBLA Member
2010-2014: DECA Member
2013-2014: Vice President of Photography Club
2012-2014: Varsity Soccer (2 years), now captain
2013-2014: Varsity Track and Cross Country
2005-2014: Soccer (Have gone to the top tournaments in the country)
2013-2014: Local Teen Commissioner
2011-2012: Club Commissioner (in Leadership)
2013-2014: ASB Officer (in Leadership)
General: Over 400 hours of community service</p>

<p>Awards:</p>

<p>Winner of the Young Artist Competition (I get to play solo next year with an orchestra)
1st place in the nation in Entrepreneurship in FBLA
1st place in the nation in Management Decision Making in FBLA
1st place in the world in Entrepreneurship in DECA
Presidential Volunteer Service Award (Gold level)
National Merit Scholar (PSAT)
National AP Scholar (for AP tests)
Semi-finalist in the USA Biology Olympiad
Attended the LBW Program at UPenn (not really an award but it fits here best)</p>

<p>Schools (not in order of desire to go there):</p>

<p>New York University
Carnegie Mellon University
University of Michigan
UC Davis
UC San Diego
UC Berkeley
Boston University
USC
Cal Poly SLO
Rice
Claremont McKenna
University of Chicago
Cornell
Washington University in St. Louis </p>

<p>I'd like it if you guys could tell me which schools are my matches, which are my reaches, and which would be my safety schools (I know I don't have many of these so feel free to add on your own if you wish)!</p>

<p>Thanks for all the help!</p>

2

<p>I personally think you would get accepted to any of those. Whether or not you could afford the high cost of attendance is another story. Best of luck.</p>

3

<p>Are you sure the low-ish gpa will be okay in the eyes of admissions? Because that’s my main concern right now.</p>

4

<p>Also, the cost of attendance is not too much of an issue for me. My mom works at Stanford (not as a professor and not in admissions) but she does get 50% of the Stanford tuition off from any college that I go to so it will be cheaper than usual at any school.</p>

5

<p>Yes. Your GPA is a bit low. You may still make it a match at UMich and the UCs. It is tricky for the Ivies and alikes though.</p>

6

<p>Woah. How is all of that possible? :open_mouth: I personally thing you have a good chance to get into any of them. Cause despite your somewhat lowish GPA, you make up for it with your extracurriculars.</p>

7

<p>GPA is the only issue here.</p>

<p>New York University - Low match
Carnegie Mellon University - Low reach
University of Michigan - Match
UC Davis - Safety
UC San Diego - Low match
UC Berkeley - Match
Boston University - Safety
USC - High match
Cal Poly SLO - Safety
Rice - Reach
Claremont McKenna - Low reach
University of Chicago - Reach
Cornell - Low reach
Washington University in St. Louis - Low reach</p>

8

<p>Thank you for chancing me and for the advice that you gave. I’m really only familiar with the admissions at Cornell, Chicago, and UMich of the schools you posted, and I would call them all high matches/low reaches for you. Your GPA might be a bit on the low side for those schools, but you took a rigorous schedule and have great test scores. Your extracurriculars are excellent. I wish you the best of luck.</p>

9

<p>I’d say a 3.8 GPA here looks a lot better than a 3.7. Other than that your resume looks fantastic and you have a great chance of getting into many of the colleges on your list.</p>

10

<p>Did you include freshman grades in your uwGPA calculation? You do show an upward trend in GPA that it may help.</p>

11

<p>I did include freshman grades in my GPA calculation.</p>

12

<p>Good lord. The only ones I would give a second thought about are Rice and UChicago. All of the others you are a shoo in. However you are the type of applicant colleges will wait list if you show no interest. Make sure to visit and contact admissions office of all.</p>

13

<p>Yeah, I’ve visited Chicago, Cornell, NYU, CMU and the UCs. I’ll definitely contact that admissions offices to show my interest as well, thanks for the tip!</p>

14

<p>Try to recalculate your uwGPA without freshman grades. Many schools do not count freshman grades and it may look a lot better for you.</p>

15

<p>If your applying to WashU and actually want to go their then show it. If you are just sending it because it is a good school then you have that waitlist chance…</p>

16

<p>I think you will be a highly competitive applicant at all of these schools. In regards to your GPA, I would worry more about your rank in your class if the top 10% has a 3.95 or higher (although each college will hopefully be familiar with your school and the level of competition). I don’t think a 3.74 is that damaging considering your coursework over those three years included 11 AP classes, and you can easily make up for it with great essays. Best of luck to you!</p>

17

<p>New York University - Low match
Carnegie Mellon University - Low match
University of Michigan - Low match
UC Davis - Safety
UC San Diego - Safety
UC Berkeley - Match
Boston University - Safety
USC - Match
Cal Poly SLO - Safety
Rice - Match
Claremont McKenna - Match
University of Chicago - High Match
Cornell - Match
Washington University in St. Louis - Match</p>

<p>Your ECs and test scores are flawless. I would even throw in some HYPMS for the heck of it. I’d say anything 3.7+ reasonably puts you in fair game, and with everything else you have going for you, I think you definitely have a shot! Good luck :)</p>

18

<p>Good luck~ And you can actually try HYP… Your ECs and awards, SAT can really demonstrate your ability to those top ones…</p>

19

<p>Thanks for all the feedback everyone! Also, how many colleges do you think I should apply to? I’m thinking around 10 but is that too much? I’m starting essays over the summer so I’ll have time to dedicate to each one.</p>

20

<p>Ahhh I’m so jealous of you! And I think you’re pretty much in all of those schools</p>