I am a sophomore in high school with a 3.5 unweighted cumulative GPA taking 2 AP classes, AP world and AP bio, my junior year, I plan to take AP psych, APUSH, and AP seminar. I know my GPA is awfully low but I plan to get it up to at least a 3.6. All of the other classes I’ve ever taken and taking currently are pre-ap and honors.
I volunteer at the library tutoring kids from Monday through Wednesday for 2 hours each
I volunteer at the children’s library from Friday-Sunday for 2 hours each
I volunteer cleaning parks and roads when I’m free
I’ve been dancing all my life but I quit at the beginning of sophomore year
I am apart of a health occupations club at my school and will be lettering in volunteer service
I am going to join key club next year for more community work
I am apart of the women organization of my state and help with events occasionally.
I own and created a buisness that I run with my friend which we make quite a bit of money from
I am worried that since I am not involved with sports and my GPA is not very high, I won’t be able to get into the universities I want to get into. I want to go to:
-Penn State
-University of Washington
-Syracuse University
-UW Madison
-New York University
-Rutgers University
I am interested in majoring in medicine, psychology, or education. I’m pretty much undecided at this point, but I hope to get into any of those universities I’ve listed.
I am also a first generation student, and Asian American.
With solid test scores, Penn State, Syracuse, and Rutgers are definitely in your range. University of Washington and UW Madison will definitely be on the reachy side. NYU a definite reach, but if you’re seriously interested in attending and don’t have any financial constraints, consider applying Early Decision, which is binding. Are you in-state for any of the schools you listed?
Yes, I live in the state of Washington so my first choice school would be UW.
Penn State, Madison, Rutgers, and NYU will all be very expensive. Are you okay with $45K/year for Rutgers and even more for the other three? (NYU gives poor need-based financial aid, even if you’re eligible, and public U’s typically don’t give need-based aid to out-of-state students.)
A 3.5 unweighted won’t keep you out any of these schools, especially with good course rigor which you seem to have. But it’s unclear how you’re picking these schools, whether they’re likely to be realistic cost-wise, and whether they’re particularly good for your areas of interest. Will you need financial aid? Do you know what out-of-pocket cost would be acceptable?
Apart from the cost issue… what do these schools have in common, that puts them on your list? What are you looking for in a college experience/education? It sounds as if a priority for you should perhaps be flexibility - the ability to explore and choose your path, and have pre-health, social sciences, and education all open to you - i.e. not a school where you’re going to have to be locked into your major or into one division of the school. Does that sound right? (It’s not clear to me that your current schools of interest are chosen on this basis, though.)
Did you take a PSAT sophomore year, or practice tests that have given you an idea where you might land, test-score-wise?
Have you looked at your own state schools, beyond UW? Western Washington, Washington State, etc.? This would be a good place to start, as UW has gotten so competitive that you will certainly need a backup plan, and there are some other excellent public U’s in Washington.