I am a high school freshmen and have began to get an idea of what colleges I would like to attend. I know I want to major in computer science, and I have been looking at schools.
-3.0 GPA (4.0 scale)
-Student council class treasurer
-Jerseyan History club member
-playing baseball & football
-volunteered at local summer camp for 4 weeks and received community service hours
-tech youtube channel
What are my chances of getting into something like MIT, or anything like an Ivy league school, or even something like NJIT?
No one can tell you without standardized test scores and a couple years of GPA info. But I would honestly say you are not on track right now for Ivies or MIT. You need to get your UW GPA up to at least a 3.7 for those schools, and add some interest and depth to your ECs.
If you want to know about specific schools, try Googling the college name and “Common Data Set” for info on GPA, test scores, etc. for accepted students.
Broaden your horizons by speaking w/your guid counselor. See what he/she tells you others of similar academic ability have done to maximize their options come Senior year. Agree w/above about relative chances at Ivies & MIT. To even be in the conversation, you’d consistently need to be among the handful of top scholars in your grade and indeed, the recent history of your HS. Is this you? Can this be you?
Even if not, by hearing your GC’s recommendations, you can proceed forth with better info and expectation levels. Good luck
Thanks guys for all the responses, the reason I actually came to this site is because my gc is not really helping too much, and keeps telling me I’m on the right track. I knew I wasn’t 100% there yet and next year I plan on taking some challenging classes. I’m going to work on my GPA and see what other clubs are out there.
Your GC can’t really tell you too much at this point. After all, you probably have just finished first semester of your freshman year. Its good to be thinking about colleges, but it is impossible to try to chance you as a high school freshman.
More clubs won’t get you to those schools. You might read “How To Be a High School Superstar” by Cal Newport. Your GC is correct that you are on track to go to college, but not the very top colleges.
@dsilver17 as a start, you should try to improve your HS GPA since the majority of applicants have 4.0s (or close to 4.0, say >=3.8). You say you want to major in CS - have you done any programming?
Yeah I have started a bit of programing and I’m working on that, my GPA will definitely go up that’s one of my main points of focus throughout the year. I’ll look into that book and yes I do know it is a bit early to look at colleges, but the acceptance rates are a lot higher if you apply early.
Did you read the previous posts? 3.7-3.8 minimum UW for those schools. And you need that GPA by end of junior year if you intend to make any early applications.
Yeah true, and I had no clue about a lot of this stuff. Glad I turned to this forum for advice. I’ll find a way to raise my gpa. But as of now what range of colleges do you think I will get accepted into? It’s extremely early but just as a vague prediction.