White Male in CT
GPA: ~4.08 → SAT: 1440
Extracurriculars:
Grades gradually increased & took the hardest courseload I could take
Not that you will have the same experience. But as a measure from 2018 and how you just don’t know imho.
Imy d was class val at the arguably one of the best schools in a very large state. Number 35 or so usnwr type public exam school.
4.0uw with 13 aps all 4s and 5s. 1520 and 35 act (SS) Sports captain school government hospital volunteering etc. and a nice kid. Great recs but probably a perfectly well written but safe set of essays.
Wl at GTown in a very competitive major and program. Declined wl after a few weeks so didn’t fully run out the string. . No go at Brown.
Caucasian no hooks and full pay. Gtown was ea. Brown rd.
1b school was ea acceptance.
Rejected at Harvard. WL Bowdoin rd
.Offered and declined. Didn’t have any real indications of interest at Bowdoin and was a last minute decision to apply. Probably because of my input. Also accepted to honors college at two top 30 public flagships.
It ended up great as her 1b school has been a fantastic experience and better for her personality than the others.
Hope this helps. It usually seems like a mixed bag. You’ll get some great offers imho somewhere and some wl etc elsewhere.
Is that your weighted GPA? What is it unweighted?
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Is your gpa weighted or unweighted?
These schools are all reaches. Do you have any safety and match schools?
When applying to those, you’ve got to know it’s not the total SAT, individual scores matter. As do subject tests and AP.
Yes, unweighted gpa matters. But you’ve got to understand they look at the transcript, not just stop at reported gpa. It matters that classes related to your major all got best grades.
What major? Those ECs give no hint. They boil down to sports and church, with one school role. Top colleges want stretch, some impact around you, etc.
Yes, your activities should include some relevant to the major. And some ongoing comm service. For highly competitive colleges, that can be a little different than just volunteering once or twice.
Try to learn what matters to those.
yes it is weighted. And yes i do have safety and match schools, I’m just wondering if these are schools I should apply to as reaches, and not ones that I would have virtually no shot at and might as well not apply to.
First question: What will your parents pay?
The UC’s are publicly funded universities, so that means you pay full fees as a resident of Connecticut.
Are your parents willing to pay $65K per year to attend a public school? There is very limited funding for non residents. Assume no funding at UCLA.
The UC’s look at rigor, unweighted GPA, and SAT scores.
Ask your parents what they can pay and then use the NPC for each school. Keep in mind that certain things impact accuracy (divorce, etc). Aunt bea’s post is very important.
Again, these schools are all reaches for you. If they are affordable and you don’t mind putting in the work, then apply. As long as you have likely schools on your list then there is no harm.
If you take a look at the results thread for each one of these schools, you will see students rejected or waitlisted with high scores and gpas, amazing ECs etc.
Your stats are very good (congrats!) but to me they are on the low side for these schools. Does your school have Naviance? Have you spoken to your guidance counselor? What is your major?
It’s hard to judge your ECs because you simply listed them…we don’t know what you did, accomplished etc. How did you help others? How did you impact your community?
I agree that you should research these schools and see what matters to them. For example, some schools are all about giving back to the community. I notice that you have ECs such as co-commissioner of a rec basketball league, peer minister, and a mission trip. What was your impact? Who did you help?
I am not going to lie…you are aiming high here. But…we don’t have a crystal ball. Work hard on your essays and make sure to choose safety and match schools that you like.
Good luck!
You know that theses are all reaches, so why this group? Brown, JHU & UCLA may be a similar tier, but they are wildly different experientially: why each one? IME your odds of success in both admissions and in being happy go way up if you focus on the ones that fit you best.
Without major hooks, it doesn’t look good for any of them 4.1 weighted and 1440 is not really what they are looking for and you don’t mention subject tests and APs.
There’s a difference between reach and fantasy. A reach school is something you can afford, since cost is a precondition. If you can’t afford to pay triple/quadruple the tuition, then you’re wasting your money on an application fee, because you couldn’t go there even if you got in.