<p>State of Residence--Massachusetts
GPA-- 3.8 W, 3.2 UW
Class Rank-- Top 15% (26/169)
SAT-- 2310 (750 CR 800 M 760 W(w/ a 12 on the essay))
AP Scores-- US History(5) US Government(5) English Language(5) World History(5) Environmental(5) Psychology(5) English(5)
SAT 2 Scores--800 Math 1, 730 US History,
ACT--35
Essay, Recommendations, and Interview--should be really good
ECs--Solid, but I don't jump off the page. 100 hrs of community service. Varsity Golf Captain. Lots of Sports.
Planning to major in--History (but I would also like to do some economics,; I would also like to study Chinese)
Colleges--(from reach to safeties)</p>
<p>Northwestern
Boston College (I'm Jewish so maybe I would be a URM)
McGill (I'm from the United States)
University of Rochester (legacy)
Northeastern (legacy)
University of Maryland
Union College
U of Connecticut
U of Vermont</p>
<p>Right. Well, to try to contribute more than a laugh, with the talk of grade inflation and whatnot, I think that the high test scores do speak very well of you. A 3.2 isn’t that bad, your EC’s are nice enough, and your test scores are accurately described as they are: Very High.</p>
<p>To be honest I’d be surprised if you weren’t accepted to most of your schools. You could try shooting higher still if you were interested.</p>
<p>As moodragonx said, try a few better colleges and take off a few at the bottom. Even better if you have a good explanation for your low GPA, or if you have shown an upwards trend.</p>
<p>As an international with high test scores and very low GPA (in my country’s system, at least), I got accepted to the 4th college on your list with merit aid. </p>
<p>The conventional view seems to be that, if you are an uncommon applicant (high scores-low GPA/high GPA-few ECs, etc.), then you should apply to more colleges, hoping that one of them will accept you for your strength rather than reject you for your weakness. I’d suggest 12 colleges, which is manageable if you try to choose colleges with Common App.</p>
<p>OP: Why such a low GPA? When I see high test scores, low GPA, my first thought is a very bright student who didn’t work very hard in high school. Is there some other explanation? Unless there is a good reason, your chances at top schools is greatly reduced. </p>
<p>At McGill the average UW GPA is 3.8 and the minimum for Arts is 3.3.</p>
<p>Well, Canadian colleges rely less on test scores and more on grades. Since U.S. high schools are less regulated and widely differ, a low GPA may be more reflective of the challenging grading system of a student’s school than his abilities. Hence the reliance on test scores. If he’s in the top 15% of his graduating class, and if his school is reasonably competitive (which I presume it is, since it offers so many AP classes), then he should be fine.</p>
<p>hahaha urm… yeah, i’m in a very similar situation. your test scores are nearly as high as mine, and my grades are a lot like yours. bc looks like a good fit, mcgill looks like a match, and the rest should be matches too.</p>
<p>The reason my GPA is so low is because I got French grades of 79 and 74 in two consecutive years. I would have been top 10% if I had not taken it. And herunar,great advice</p>