I’m submitting my application tomorrow but I just wanted to see what the CC community thinks my chances are of getting the big fat envelope in the mail in December lol. My UW gpa is 3.50. My W is 3.7. I screwed up pretty bad my freshman year. So that’s really the only thing I’m worried about. I took the most difficult classes available at my school. I took all IB classes my junior year and had one B and all A’s. But freshman year, I had one C and 3 A’s and the rest were B’s. Sophomore year was better but I had a C in physics. So these are my scores/ec’s.
UW 3.50
W 3.7
ACT: 34
ACT Writing: 11
SAT: 2300
SAT II’s: US History 800. World History 800. English 800.
APHG: 4
AP Euro: 3
Awards:
-Outstanding Language Award
-KYA Award for most involved speaker.
EC’s:
Beta Club: 10-12
-President: 12
YCLUB: 10-12
-President: 12
Delegate at Kentucky Youth Association: 10-12
Muslim Student Association: 11-12
-Historian: 11
-Vice President: 12
Rho Khappa: 11-12
-President: 12
National Honors Society: 10-12
-Treasurer: 12
Student Council: 12
-Secretary
Gun Violence Awareness: Founder and President
Kentucky United Nations Assembly: 11-12 (Governor)
Summer Activities:
-Volunteer at children’s hospital: 2015 & 2016
-Law Internship: 2016 (2 week thing)
-Business Internship: 2016 (2 week thing)
-Volunteered in my cousin’s retirement home and animal shelter, respectively, in Bosnia in 2015.
-3 week service project in my name in Bosnia over the summer to help orphanages and schools.
-Kentucky Refugee Ministry: Year long thing but really involved over the summer
-Bosnian-American Center: Same situation as above.
-Americana Community Center: same^
I also had a job at a daycare center during junior year and I still do.
My recommendations were stellar.
My essays really showed my identity and how I incorporate my Bosnian culture into pretty much everything I do. I’m from Kentucky and there’s a minority foreign/Muslim population here.I’m very involved in my culture and religion and I love helping out those who are experiencing hardship. Unlike some people who only volunteer in Africa with mommy and daddy’s money to spice up their application, I actually care about helping and contributing to society. I know it sounds cliche but it’s true. I think the only thing keeping me from getting in would be my GPA.
So, what do you guys think?
Your EC’s are impressive. Is freshman year the only reason for that 3.5 UW? SAT scores look great. You still have a chance at Harvard. Have you considered other colleges?
Yes I believe so because I had one C and 3 B’s and 2 A’s and one A-. It really brought my GPA down. My C from sophomore year didn’t affect my GPA as much but it still hurt it quite a bit. Thank you! I studied really hard for them haha. I am considering Cornell, Indiana University, Babson College, Swarthmore, and Purdue.
Very high reach because there are kids with your test scores and 4.0’s that get rejected
chances are lowered because of your gpa but everything else may carry you.
Do you think I would have had a better chance with ED Cornell or SCEA Princeton? I’ve seen a couple of kids get into Princeton early with low GPA’s. I was just wondering.
I think you should also check out schools with more generous acceptance rates, but still pretty prestigious. UCSB, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCSC, UCSD, American U, William and Mary, Colgate, NYU and RPI all have acceptance rates around 30-50%, which is pretty high nowadays.
I honestly don’t think you have a chance unless your essays are as good as you say they are, which I’ll never find out for myself.
Your extracurriculars are very good but nothing that special for Harvard, sorry. Not saying they’re the very basic extracurriculars but the people i’ve seen go to harvard have won major competitions, are really good at sports, or have legacy. Moreover, some of your more important extracurriculars are nothing long term as you had 2, 2-week internships and nothing for a couple months. Your Sats are really good. The problem is ivys take all your test scores and the 11 on the act essay will reflect very badly on you. The giant coffin to your application is your gpa in the end.
Tldr: You have a chance at lower ivys or schools like st. louis even with a 3.5. Harvard is a longshot. Good luck!
An 11 on the writing portion is very good though.
I think your last full paragraph above is what will intrigue them, the notion you are both aware and committed (in several ways) and serve a bit as a bridge. (This is far more interesting than all the kids who won some minor any-old award or ran some pep committee.)
But you want to be very sure you app conveys your strengths well. Appropriately, no hint of aggrandizement. Don’t rush, if you have a few more days.
Also, again, it’s not gpa. It’s the individual classes, their rigor, those grades, vis a vis your potential major.
Do you have any specific tips on how I can draw more attention to my strengths and not have the admission counselers focus solely on my GPA? I’m just genuinely worried that they’ll ignore all the hard work I’ve done outside of my academics and focus on a couple of B’s that I’ve gotten. To be fair, a lot of people at my school who are applying early to Cornell or Yale have <3.8’s but hardly any EC’s and ACT scores in the upper 20’s. I’m so stressed out haha.
Anyone else have anything to add? 