This is a ubiquitous "low-ish GPA/decent-ish everything else" thread.

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>As of now, my GPA stands at a 3.6 UW, which, although not terrible, is not really what I would call "good". In context, I'm in the top 7% of my class of around 700 at a pretty competitive high school (it's ranked fairly highly in USNWR though to be honest, I don't think the ranking really matters too much), which, hopefully, will maybe rise to top 5% given the (maybe) college classes I'm taking in the fall of the next school year. I honestly don't know how my current GPA bodes for college admissions (I'm pretty sure it doesn't bode too well), but honestly, I'm not going to try to justify it with a "reason" that explains my oh-so-terrible grades. I'm don't know if it's too little, too late to change anything. </p>

<p>My GPA almost certainly precludes me from about half of my current list, especially Amherst. I really like Amherst. I'm not gonna have a mental breakdown from my almost certain rejection, but you know, it's gonna be rather disappointing if I don't get at least deferred. I'm applying ED because punching in numbers into the NPC calculator gives a price nice for my family's wallet (and I would really like to go to Amherst, but, you know, money, yeah, that's important too). </p>

<p>In addition, should I apply for Questbridge? I honestly feel kind of guilty because as I'm typing this on my quad-core computer in my room, my 36-inch flat screen TV next to me is playing the MTV movie awards. My family's income has always been from 40k-50k, but my parents saved/spent their money really wisely so we don't owe anything on our house and can enjoy luxuries that I wouldn't consider indicative of a low income. That's part of the reason why I'm applying to these top colleges though, because most of them will pay me really well (if I get in). </p>

<p>So without further ado, here's the information you can judge me on. Have at it. </p>

<p>Objective:
GPA: 3.6 UW
Rank: Top 7%/700
AP's: 10 (All 4's and 5's, mostly 5's) by Junior Year, total of 12 next year, as well as the IB program.
PSAT: 214 Junior Year (hopefully, NMSF because Florida, luckily, has low cutoff scores)
SAT: 2270 (760 CR, 720 M, 790 W)
SATII: Math II - 800, US History - 800, planning on taking Chem in October. </p>

<p>12th grade courseload:
IB Contemporary History HL
IB TOK
AP US Gov/Econ
IB English HL
IB Mathematics SL
IB Chemistry HL</p>

<p>In addition, tentative CC courses:
Calc 1
Physics w/ Calc 1</p>

<p>I'm also starting an internship through a program that my school district offers, which gives college credit for an internship. Mine will be at a hospital lab, so maybe I can cure cancer or lethargy or something. </p>

<p>Subjective:
Race: Asian (Thai, though they probably don't subdivide into nationalities so I'm fairly SOL here)
Gender: M
Income: Around 50k/year
State: FL
ECs (the position and the years I will have been in the club are for 12th grade.):
President of National Science Honor Society (3 years)
President of Book Club (2 years)
President of Geography/History Club (4 years)
Co-editor and is published in school's Literary Magazine (3 years)
Co-founder for a program at a local children's hospital that helps children express their literary and artistic abilities, publishing their works for people to see (1 year)
Secretary/Co-founder of Asian Heritage Club (2 years)
Historian of Math Honor Society (4 years)
Member of Model UN (4 years)
Member of National Honor Society (2 years)
Member of Spanish Honor Society (2 years)
400+ hours of community service
I will have also worked at a restaurant for 3 years by senior year. </p>

<p>Essays:
I'm probably going to base one around food/cooking since it's one of my passions that I feel I could write really well on. </p>

<p>Schools (these are mostly the reaches, I also have a list of safeties but not really matches):
Amherst (ED, most likely)
Pomona
Rice
Carleton
Williams
Middlebury
Grinnell
Swarthmore
U Chicago/Columbia/Cornell (#carpediem)</p>

<p>Plus, UF/FSU/UCF</p>

<p>Anyone have any guidance for me? I'm planning on majoring in Chemistry, though specifically, U Chicago's Molecular Engineering program REALLY interests me.</p>

2

<p>You have lots of LACs, so who knows, since they tend to be more holistic. I could see rejection from Amherst/Pomona/Carleton/Williams/Middle/Grinn./Swarth., or getting into all of them. Most likely, you will get in to some and be rejected from others. Good luck.</p>

3

<p>I think you’re being a little pessimistic. Sure, your UW gpa isn’t that great, but your rank/percentile seems decent enough, which I guess must be due to a challenging courseload with lots of AP/IB. You have great SAT I and subject test scores, which are good enough for ivy league. But your real advantage is ECs, since you are involved in many important leadership positions and lots of clubs/activities. As long as you write great essays and get good letters of rec, then you should be accepted to most of the colleges you listed. The only ones I would say are high reaches would be UChicago, Columbia, and Cornell. The rest are low reach or high match</p>

4

<p>Really? I don’t mean to be pessimistic, but, I mean, these colleges consistently reject people with 4.0/2400 and a bevy of extracurriculars to which mine pale in comparison. However, I think one of my greatest assets is my writing, and I feel like I could write a great essay that really demonstrates myself well. That may turn out to be my saving grace in a sea of more-highly qualified applicants with these really selective schools.</p>

<p>Anyways, are there any suggestions for matches? Right now, I have a lack of matches, so judging by my current list, are there any suggestions for colleges that could reasonably accept me (with good financial aid)?</p>

<p>Also, I’m Asian so I’m fairly screwed.</p>

5

<p>University of Miami
RPI (Mentioned Engineering)
Case Western (Same as above)
Georgia Tech (Same as above)
UF (In-State)</p>

<p>I don’t know about any of their Fin Aid.</p>

6

<p>Just add a few more match LACs. There are lots of need-blind schools at which you have better chances, though I wouldn’t say any of those colleges are completely out of the question. GPA aside, you seem like a very strong candidate!</p>

7

<p>Are there any recommendations for match LACs? Would Macalester College be a good match? I also want to add Bowdoin to the list, though I already know that’s going to be a reach.</p>

<p>Oh, and do my extracurricular’s look too spread out? Like, I’ve won or placed in competitions in clubs related to all of the four subjects (like Geography Bee, MAO, essay contests, etc.) so hopefully it doesn’t seem that way. I’m interested in all of these subjects but does the “unfocused” appearance of my extracurricular undermine my chances?</p>

8

<p>Engineering LAC : Harvey Mudd - Reach
But they only have a few majors</p>

9

<p>Hm, Harvey Mudd looks interesting but I don’t know if I’d really fit there. Thanks for helping though, although I feel like I’m looking at this thread far too often. </p>

<p>I can’t edit my post but I recalculated my GPA without freshman year and it’s bumped up to a 3.85 UW (my rank probably doesn’t change). How much would this help?</p>

10

<p>I sent the first draft of my essay in to my guidance counselor and she said it’s one of the best she’s seen in recent years, and possibly the best one for Amherst that she can remember. This is for a school that usually sends 1/2+ kids to Ivies and more to top schools every year. </p>

<p>I know it’s incredibly hard to judge but to what extent would you say my essay(s) help me? Not enough for a guaranteed acceptance, of course, but would it make the top schools (Amherst/Pomona/Swarthmore…actually the entire list) more feasible? Like, not rejection from 90% of my (reach) list? Especially for the ones that place more weight on essays and holistic admissions. </p>

<p>Also, I need more matches. I think there’s still a noticeable lack of matches for me as of now.</p>

11

<p>I think I have a list of match schools right now; what does CC think?</p>

<p>Macalester
Rollins
Haverford
Hamilton
Bucknell
Tufts, though it might be a low reach if my gauging skills are correct. </p>

<p>I might pare it down a bit but these are the ones I’m most interested in right now. </p>

<p>(this is not a bump disguised as a normal post)</p>

12

<p>Oh, and I also want to put that my low GPA comes mostly from middle school and freshman year, when I didn’t care about school and possibly ruined my chances for these colleges, so yeah.</p>

<p>I know I’m being hyperbolic but I’m thinking that if I don’t have high expectations, then I’ll be more pleased with the outcomes, whatever those may be.</p>

13

<p>If you’re ranking at the top 7% with that GPA, it looks like your school has grade deflation. If I were you I wouldn’t be selling my self short, so I suggest you be more proud of yourself.</p>

<p>Your test scores are great. People regularly get admitted to the Ivies with test scores lower than yours.</p>

14

<p>Well because ranking at my school is based on weighted GPA, my weighted’s pretty high since my low UW mostly comes from before 10th grade.</p>

15

<p>Your guilt about the scholarship money would be silly. You basically are saying that the scholarships should only go to people who waste money. I definitely think you should apply.</p>

16

<p>I’m kind of at the same spot as you… My freshman GPA will be something like a 3.8. Yiiiikes. Definitely not what I wanted… and I’ll be attending a hugely liberal-arts focused charter high school (writing) so I’m definitely concerned about whether I’ll appear to be a serious, focused student or just some grainy, flaky hippie who writes prose (I’m exactly the opposite… Indian parents. Both are engineers. Cousins went to Princeton. /humblebrag)</p>

<p>My schedule is also quite lackluster, definitely not at Amherst standards, which is why I’m going to take some subjects over the summer to give my transcript a boost. </p>

<p>Bah humbug.
:(</p>

17

<p>Well you’re in a much better boat than I was in freshman year. If they didn’t factor freshman/middle school grades into my GPA, it’d be much higher as of right now. At best, I could maybe raise my cumulative GPA to 3.74 by the middle of next year, with a hypothetical 6 IB/AP classes, 2 online courses, 2 dual enrollment courses, and internship credit, getting an A in all of them. </p>

<p>Of course, I doubt I’m going to do ALL of that in addition to my job, but I don’t know. Should’ve thought about this a long time ago and now it’s too late.</p>

18

<p>3.5 UW gpa, 3.68 weighted. If Freshie year doesn’t count, then I have a 3.78 Weighted gpa. I have a 34 ACT and a 2190 SAT (M + CR = 1520, WR tanked my score). Mediocre EC’s, but I’m trying to get into school like Ohio State, University of Illinois, Purdue University, and Georgia Tech. Chances?</p>

19

<p>For you, awful.</p>

20

<p>I calculated my cumulative weighted GPA to the best of my knowledge and it’s around 4.1 on a scale of A being a 4.667 (my school uses a different weighted GPA system so I have to do it by hand), which worries me a bit (okay, a lot). I don’t know how much my ranking would help because my school tells us the percentile but doesn’t send it to colleges.</p>