<p>hey, so I'm applying to UPenn, WashU, USC,Jhu,Yale,UC LA, Berkley, Davis, and Irvine and here are my stats</p>
<p>SAT 720/720/700 (i'm retaking this january)
SAT II Math IIC - 800
US History - 730
BioM - 630
GPA: around 3.3ish :(<br>
Schedule: to be honest, i took too many AP/Honors classes, which is what screwed me over in the GPA department</p>
<p>ECs:
Varsity Debater and Co-Leader of hte Public Forum group - 4 years
3 years on the Academic Superbowl Science Team
2 years Science Olympiad
Freshman Mentor</p>
<p>Awards:
National Forensics League member w/ distinction
Have about 10 awards from placing in various Debate meets
various awards from Academic Superbowl competitions
2-3 Science Olympiad Ribbons
AP Scholar w/ Distinction
Placed in the National Latin Exam 2003
National Commended Scholar</p>
<p>Essays- pretty good overall</p>
<p>Your guy's evaluation of my chances would be really really helpful. thanks!</p>
<p>Forget Yale, Penn, Wash U, and JHU. Although your SATs are almost strong enough - but not quite - your GPA is definitely not, and your ECs aren't special enough for those schools. USC, UCLA, and Berkely are more likely and Davis and Irvine are probable. If I were you, I'd apply to some good schools that are below the top 25. Take a look at schools like Carnegie Mellon, Vanderbilt, and - Oh, I don't know - Macalester. Good schools that are less difficult than Yale, Penn, etc. to get into where you'd get an excellent education.</p>
<p>oh and im not sure about the instate thing, b/c my dad has been working in cali for hte past 2 years, but i've lived in the midwest, and we have an address there. i mentioend that in the uc app, but i don't know how much of an effect it will have</p>
<p>Ok, unless you are in the top 10% of your class, your current admissions strategy is pretty risky. The UC's are much harder for non-residents, and the average GPA for the remainder of your schools is going to be at least 3.7 UW. All of your schools - NU included - deny many more people than they select. Of course - you may do very well with your list - I can't see your whole application - and your AP scholar with distinction may save the day. But - I think you should add a likely admit school or two to your list. </p>
<p>There are many excellent schools that have deadlines that have not yet passed - <a href="http://www.commonapp.org%5B/url%5D">www.commonapp.org</a> lists a lot of them. What you need is a school that admits as many or more then it denies - and may be willing to look beyond GPA. Case Western is one of these - deadline is 1/15. Other schools would include Macalester (as someone also recommended) and Lawrence University. Again, lots to choose from.</p>
<p>thanks a lot guys. oh i have two safety schools already ; IU and Purdue. it's just htat, i'd like to move out of state, and i realize that my gpa is my achilles heel here. ideally, i'd like to shift the focus more to my ECs (which are quite good) from my gpa, though im not sure how to achieve that. would any of you guys have any clue?</p>
<p>The short answer is that you can't. GPA will always be a major factor in admission unless you've done something like get a gold in the IMO(international math olympiad).</p>
<p>hmm, i don't like to think that i've lost all chance of getting in, but I was always under the impression that JHU, WashU, and NW were easy(er) to get into. am i compltely wrong?</p>
<p>I don't think you have any chance at the schools on your list other than USC and the UCs. Well, I guess you have some chance, but they're huge reaches. Berkeley and UCLA are reaches, the other UCs and USC are good possibilities.</p>
<p>Yes. JHU, WashU and NW are easier to get into than HYPSM etc., but that's like saying it's easier to climb Mt. Mckinley than Mt. Everest. All of these schools are very difficult to get into. None of them, as I recollect, admit much more than 20% of their applicants, and most of the applicants have stats as good or better than yours. </p>
<p>You may want to try applying to a less selective school or two out of state to cover your bottom. Here's a few you can still apply to:</p>
<p>University of Michigan - rolling admissions through 2/1
University of Pittsburgh - rolling admissions, no deadline.
Brandeis - 1/15
NYU - 1/15
University of Rochester - 1/20
Dickinson College - 2/1
Skidmore - 1/15
Union - 1/15
Allegheny - 2/15</p>
<p>And that just scratches the surface. If you go to commonapp.org as recommended above, click Member Colleges and Universites, then Search Map, and then the state of your choice on the map. You'll bring up a list of colleges with info that includes the app deadline date.</p>
<p>I strongly recommend applying Case Western (deadline is 1/15, accepts the Common App). I'm applying to top schools, but I put that school on the list because it offers some merit aid, it is just a generally very nice place, and it is on its way to becoming a quite prestigious school. Oh, and there is no application fee if you apply online... I would throw it in as a safety, and good luck!</p>