Typical Low GPA/Really good everything else....evaluate?

Applying to College
1

<p>I don't want to waste anyone's time with a 7 page long list of achievements or something. But here are the most important parts of my App. I left out a lot of less important stuff where I didn't have leadership positions and whatnot.
My application is based a lot around my interest in the environment, my scores, and my achievements outside of school in various activities. </p>

<p>Everything I XX is stuff I will particularly try to highlight somewhere in my app.</p>

<p>XX SAT: 2250, ACT 34
3 SAT IIs in 700's, but retaking.</p>

<p>GPA: 3.41 Unweighted/4.1 Weighted (Top 9% in class) In magnet school. But yes my GPA is awful.</p>

<p>Leadership:
XX Tennis team captain/3 year MVP (Top 30 Ranked individual in my State)</p>

<p>XX Environmental Action Team President/founder</p>

<p>Founder of Ultimate Frisbee Club at School</p>

<p>XXX Leader of several service projects at school including one called Food Wars, which won a National award for creativity and success. Other projects included sending hundreds of letters overseas for troops, collecting books for soldiers, and planning/doing special olympics.</p>

<p>XX Youth Activities Organizer in my Apartment Complex (plan festivals, fairs, etc.)</p>

<p>Head Tutor at where I tutor (1st-8th grade students)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars</p>

<p>XX Tennis Team (Captain)</p>

<p>Ultimate Team (Co-captain)</p>

<p>Math Team (State Champion team)</p>

<p>XX Environmental Action Team (President)</p>

<p>Envirothon team (7th place at State competition)</p>

<p>XX Top 15 ranked high school chess player in my state, top 100 player among all players in my state.</p>

<p>Academic Achievement</p>

<p>XX Winner of State Spelling Bee in 2008, Attended Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington D.c., PLaced 60th out of 273.</p>

<p>XX Accepted to Keystone National Youth Policy Summit, debated/drafted Environmental policy there. Chosen as one of 6 students to propose final policies to local officials.</p>

<p>AP Scholar with Distinction (Becoming National AP scholar this year) Average of 4.2 on exams.</p>

<p>National Merit Commended Student</p>

<p>1st Place at Regional Science Fair and other county awards</p>

<p>Winner of Presentation contest for Research Symposium</p>

<p>School-wide Essay contest winner "Why 9/11 should be remembered"</p>

<p>Mu Alpha Theta/National Honor Society (Not really important)</p>

<p>Community Service</p>

<p>XX Community Tennis Coach for underprivileged (60 hours)
Community Tutor (40 hrs.)
XX Youth Activities Organizer (40 hrs.)
XX Goodwill Emporium volunteer (25 hrs.)
Elementary School Fundraiser volunteer (20 hrs.)
adopt-a highway participant (20 hrs.)</p>

<p>And a bunch of other smaller stuff. About 250 hrs. total.</p>

<p>I tried to keep it kinda short haha. But yeah. The top schools I'm heavily considering applying to are:
Stanford, Duke, UPenn, Rice, Emory, Vanderbilt, Northwestern.
I know these (especially the top 3) are reaches because of my GPA, and I have safeties and stuff.</p>

<p>But do you think I can get in to maybe 1-2 of these?
I can write very very well. And my recommendation will be good, if not great.
Also I have low family income, and was given 6 fee waivers for applications.</p>

<p>Please give me some input on chances/strategies</p>

<p>Thank you :)</p>

2

<p>***? Since when has 3.41 been awful??</p>

3

<p>ok it’s really not thatt bad. But for the reach schools I mentioned I’m pretty sure its not good at all.</p>

4

<p>Hm, everything DOES look pretty good…Are you going to be able to highlight <em>all</em> of those things you XX’d?</p>

<p>I wouldn’t try to highlight your 2250/34 btw. It’s good score, but it’s not perfect. Plenty of kids get 2400/36s and they don’t talk about it in the app. Even if it was a 2400/36 , what are you gonna say? I’m good at finding the one right answer in a completely realistic just like life setting. (Unless I’m completely misinterpreting and you’re trying to highlight why it’s not a higher score)</p>

<p>GPA wise, while 3.41 isn’t Stanford/ivy etc. level, you’re still top 10%, so it’s not too bad. Do you have any info on your course load and distribution?</p>

5

<p>You’re right about the 2250 I guess. For those schools it isn’t something special.
But coursewise I have taken 5 AP’s to date and am taking 3 more this senior year. So 8 total.
3 AP sciences (Chem, Bio, Environmental)
2 AP English/Lit
AP Psych
AP Calc A/B
AP US HIstory
Almost all my other classes have been magnet</p>

6

<p>Wait, but, if you’re top 9%, your school must just grade really hard. If that’s the case, shouldn’t your GPA be fine?</p>

7

<p>my school ranks by weighted GPA. My unweighted is definitely not in the top 10%.</p>

8

<p>You and I are in similar position. I have a 3.3 UW, 2330 SAT, and not as good extracurriculars as you, but I am a URM and lived a significant portion of my life outside of the US. </p>

<p>My advice would be to highlight why you didn’t do so well, or what why you ended up changing. I have a good reason why for the latter and am hoping it convinces schools to look past my earlier grades.</p>

<p>Also, it would probably help significantly if the GPA is low because of freshman/sophomore classes rather than junior classes.</p>

<p>What I’m trying to do is apply to plenty of schools and hope a few of them look past the low GPA. I’d recommend you do the same. I’d say the chances for schools like Stanford, Duke and UPenn, while still worth applying (I’m applying to Columbia), we have very low chances for.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

9

<p>That is exactly what I’m doing. Applying to many schools and hoping that they look past my GPA and look at everything else.
I think your URM status will significantly raise your chances though.</p>