<p>I am graduating in '08, and I was wondering if anyone ever in a similar situation could shed some light on whether or not I can hope to get in to some of the schools I plan to apply to.</p>
<p>Currently I have (All GPA's unweighted):
3.0 GPA freshman year
3.4 GPA sophomore year (1 AP/ 1 pre-AP class)
3.4 GPA junior year (5 AP classes/1 pre-AP class)
I've taken 8 AP exams so far (some on classes I haven't taken), and gotten 4's or 5's on all of the one's that have already been scored.
My SAT score was 2400 the first time I took. I have a 232 PSAT score, and I took the ACT in June.
I have about completed about 50 hours of community service (or will have by the time I apply), and am on a varsity sport.
I participate in a few clubs, but aside from that basically no extracurriculars other than spending a summer on lab work at a university. I have some awards (AMC school winner, AAPT Physics Bowl 2nd in the 3-state region, 9 on AIME), but not enough to truly wow any college.
I have a strong focus on science and plan to major in physics, and my grade in every science class I've taken so far has been an A, with three AP science classes, five AP science exams, and 3 800's on science SAT II's, along with 800 in math and 750 in US history.</p>
<p>I know there must be a lot of "I have X can I get into Y" posts, but could anyone provide me some answers as to whether anyone who appears smart but doesn't have great grades to back it up has any chance of getting into an Ivy League, MIT/Caltech, or Stanford-caliber college?</p>
<p>Your GPA may weigh you down, just because it makes you look like you're not working up to your potential. But it won't necessarily keep you out of a top school.</p>
<p>Great recs, essays, and a good class rank will help you.</p>
<p>Short answer: It could happen. Long answer: Don't bank on it. Apply to one or two. That's it. Otherwise apply to top LACs/Tufts/Emory/UVa/etc.</p>
<p>I don't get the disparity between your B average and your multiple 4s and 5s on your AP tests. Are your classes just hard, are you slacking...or both? Neither?</p>
<p>Probably a little of both. At the school I go to, the classes aim for a much larger amount of material covered than is on the AP's. However, it's also about just not being the best worker and not the most popular with teachers; in some classes, I get perfect scores on all the tests and just don't turn in most of the work; in others, I do the homework and know all the material well enough to get a five, but somehow always manage to mess up every test that doesn't have "College Board" printed at the top.</p>
<p>Definitly apply to Caltech. They seem to be more lenient on gpa. As far as Ivies go, I think you have a good chance at Cornell. If you have the money, apply to a bunch of top schools and see what happens.</p>
<p>There are more kids with high GPAs and low scores, but a high score low GPA is very common too. Rank is the most important factor in college admissions because being smart doesn't do you much good if you're a slacker or can't get it together. High scores will not help you get into very top colleges but they will help at other good colleges.</p>
<p>Apply to the three high UCs (UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSD) using their third option (admission based upon test scores only). Also, the UCs don't count freshman grades--so they will throw out the freshman 3.0 anyway. In my opinion, you will have an excellent chance at all three--even OOS--since your scores are all 800s. (you need to submit the SAT I, plus at least two SAT IIs)</p>
<p>Here's the link you need to get this info on applying:</p>