What are my Chances?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey Guys, so I’m currently a junior in a decent public high school in the Midwest. My target schools are the following(in order)

  1. Upenn(ED most likely if I have a chance)
    2)NYU
    3)Uchicago(Early Action)
    4)UMich
    5)Indiana University-Bloomington

I know my low GPA is bringing my application down, but I’m hoping my extracurriculars and test scores will help mitigate the damage. What do you think?

Intended major: Preferably Finance

UW GPA: 3.75 (I know this is very low; I can probably get it to a low 3.8 by graduation)
W GPA: ~4.6
Class rank: no idea because my school doesn’t give out percentile until senior year
***Note: I had a 4.0 GPA freshman year, but due to certain circumstances(my fault; not any medical or family emergency) my GPA absolutely plummeted sophmore year. In Junior Year so far, I have a 4.0.

SAT (New): 1560 as a sophmore; have to yet take it as a junior
ACT: 32 Freshmen Year, 34 Sophmore Year, will take again junior year
SAT Subject Tests: Math 2 (770), Plan on taking English and Physics

13 AP Classes by graduation:
Freshman Year: AP world(5)
Sophmore Year: AP Calc A(my school does things differently, so no AP tests are usually taken after this class), AP Comp Sci Java(4), AP Euro(5)
Junior Year: AP Lit, AP Spanish(self study), AP Calc BC, APUSH, AP Physics 1
Senior Year(Prospective): Multivariable Calculus(dual credit class), AP Statistics, AP Econ, AP Lang, AP Biology

Major Specific Classes Taken:
Business Entrepreneurship
Accounting Basics
Consumer Education

Clubs:
Principal Advisory Board Member: Competitive application process
School Newspaper(Editor)
Community Service Club(President)
President’s Forum(Representative)
Business Professionals of America(Member, and qualified for Nationals sophmore year; hope to qualify and attend this year)
Math Team: Regionals and Sectionals Team Member
Model United Nations(Founder and President)
Quiz Bowl: Team Captain
Varsity Tennis 2 Years(3 by senior year)
JV Tennis 1 Year

ECs:
-started own Business at age 15; does $10 grand+ per year
-founded and organized fundraise to help people in developing countries(to aid in education): $2500 raised in school: got an article in local news
-National Music Competition 6th Place
-interned with BMO Harris Bank over the summer
-had article published in local newspaper

Volunteering:
50 Hours through fundraiser(mentioned above)
20 Hours FMSC
100 hours volunteering in local congressional campaign(it’s a cause I believe in)

Awards & Achievements (I mentioned a few earlier but here they are again):

  • Hopefully NMSQT semifinalist
    -6th place Nationals Music
    -1st place business startup pitch Competition
    -4th place investment team(stock simulator)
    -Mayor’s award for service and volunteering
    -Statewide Journalism Competition 2nd Place
    -1st place State Music Competition
    -Special Recognition in International Music Competition

Prospective
Demographics:

  • Gender: Female
  • Race: Asian (Indian)
  • Geography: Midwestern public school(relatively affluent area)
  • Hooks: NOT URM(My Parents moved here, and I’m the first to attend college in the US, but I doubt that helps)

I know that most of the colleges I have listed above are reaches due to my low GPA and lack of volunteering, but I would just like to know how my chances look currently and what I can do to improve them. Any advice will be much appreciated. Thank you very much!

2

Really play up that business you started and the bank internship. If you’re majoring in business, all of these schools will want to see some sort of interest in that.

Your test scores and EC’s look good, the GPA may hurt some but I would imagine that it isn’t enough to seriously hurt your chances at any school.

IU is a safety, uMich is a match if you are in-state, NYU high match, Chi and Penn are reach/low-reach.

3

Thank you for replying, so would it be smarter to just apply ED to NYU to secure that admission? And then go RD at Penm and EA at Chicago? And no, unfortunately I don’t live in Michigan so it’s not instate for me. How good are the NYU international campuses? I am sorta interested in applying to the Shangai one, but do you think the quality of education in(an investment bank’s eyes) would be the same?

4

Because Penn is my dream school, but I also don’t want to harm my chances at other colleges to chase a dream(if it’s a low chance)

5

Your ECs and achievements will definitely help you even if your GPA is on the lower side. If you play up your business ECs, you should have a decent chance. Also, part of the decision on what schools to ED/EA/RD is whether you “fit” with the school.

If you’re looking to get your foot into the banking world early on in your career, Penn ED is the way to go and do Mich EA while you’re at it (I think the policy for Penn ED is that you can EA to public but not other private schools). Chicago is a great school, but unless you stay in the general vicinity of Chicago/Midwest, you won’t have that networking advantage that you would get at Penn.

6

@berk21

nevermind

7

All are reaches except NYU, which is a high match, and indiana, which should be a safety. if youre OOS for UMich, you will get little to no aid. Good luck!