So my rank and gpa are average. Am I screwed?

Applying to College
1

<p>If I had an upward trend, but my rank and gpa are average, does this mean I have no chances at top tier? </p>

<p>My rank is top 8% right now, and my gpa is about 3.7. But i'm a rising junior, so it could be anywhere from 3.7-3.8 by the time i'm applying. </p>

<p>And yes, I know it depends on my SATs, extracurriculars, recs, essays, etc.
But I just want an idea if i'm going to be considered or not.</p>

<p>By the way, my trend is as follows:</p>

<p>Fresh: Mixture of All A's, a few B's, and one C.
Soph: 1 B (1st semester) and the rest A's. </p>

<p>So if I keep going the way i'm going, do you think I have a chance at these schools, even if my rank/gpa aren't perfect?</p>

2

<p>Statistically speaking, an "average rank" is 50%. By no means is being in the top 8% average!
You probably won't get into Harvard but I am sure that a lot of top schools would be happy to have you as a student.</p>

3

<p>Depends where you want to go to college? with those stats you could get into a lot of places (assuming 3.7 is unweighted).</p>

<p>I mean, being straight As, 2400s won't give you a "great shot" at any ivy beacause they're simply crap shoots.</p>

4

<p>Here is the link to Brown's admitted/enrolled statistics: <a href="http://www.brown.edu/Administration/Admission/gettoknowus/factsandfigures.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.brown.edu/Administration/Admission/gettoknowus/factsandfigures.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>You can see for yourself (at least at Brown) that your rank won't get you in ... but won't necessarilly keep you out, either. Like everyone else, you will need to apply to schools of varying selectivity. Once you find a couple of schools you like, CC can suggest similar schools of varying competitiveness.</p>

5

<p>Those grades are unlikely to keep you out of anywhere, especially if you have goos SATs and ECs. But obviously, as others have said, you, like everyone else, need to apply to schools with various selectivity.</p>

6

<p>I fail to see you as average, what brought this on? You look pretty ABOVE average to me.</p>

7

<p>I agree with poster #2, your grades wont hold you back cept at Harvard (they hate the C). However Stanford and Duke I believe do not count freshman year and your sophmore year performance is great. Continue on the path and make sure you own your SATs. Your grades are by no means "average", remember that.</p>

8

<p>it's way too early for you to start worrying. everybody has low gpa's freshmen year because you can't get into honors and ap classes to start weighting it. if you do this year what you did last year and take care of the rest of your stuff (sat's, ap's, EC's, recs, essay), you won't be turned down because of grades.</p>

9

<p>Thanks for the replies everybody! </p>

<p>And no, I am not aiming for Harvard. The only HYPMS school I feel I would fit at is Yale, though I wouldn't keep my hopes up on that. I'm aiming for the following schools: Trinity, Rice, Vassar, Reed, Amherst, Colby, and, maybe Brown as my big reach. </p>

<p>And I know i'm not an average student, I definitely work hard, it's just on CC some people are amazing and it makes you feel a bit like a worse student.</p>