What colleges should I be aiming for?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi everyone! Due to my horrendous inconsistency throughout high school, but strong upward trend in terms on academic performance during junior year, I honestly have no clue what type of schools I should be applying to. I’m definitely thinking about applying to University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign and University of Wisconsin - Madison. Perhaps my reach schools would be schools like Northwestern and University of Michigan? I’m honestly not quite sure, so it’d be better to look at my stats…

GPA: 3.61UW/4.72W (I took essentially all honors and AP’s at my school)
ACT: 35 Composite, 10 on Essay (English 35/Math 36/Reading 34/Science 36)
Ranking: Not released at our school, and I honestly have no idea as we have over 3000 students.

Now for a detailed look at my grades…

Freshman Year: (1st Semester / 2nd Semester)

Honors English 1: (B+/A-)
Algebra 2:(B-/A-)
Gifted (Honors program at our school): (A/A)
Honors Biology: (A-/A-)
AP World History: (B+/B+)
Spanish 2: (A/A-)

Sophomore Year: (1st Semester / 2nd Semester)

Honors English 2: (B+/B+)
Trig/Calc A: (B+/B-)
AP Statistics: (B/B)
Honors Chemistry:(B/B-)
APUSH: (A/A-)
Spanish 3: (B/B-)

Junior Year: (1st Semester / 2nd Semester)

AP Language & Composition: (A-/A-)
AP Calculus BC: (A/A-)
AP Computer Science: (A-/A-)
AP Physics B or 1&2: (A-/A-)
AP US Government and Politics (1st Semester only): (A-)
AP Macroeconomics (2nd Semester only): (A-)
Spanish 4: (A-/B+)

So as you can see, my freshman year was mediocre at best, my sophomore year I took an absolute nosedive, and I really pulled myself up during my junior year. I don’t really want to exploit this an excuse for my poor academic performance, but my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer during my sophomore year and we had a lot of subsequent family issues. I’m not sure how much I should talk about this on my college apps, but I know it definitely had a major negative impact on my academic performance that year.

AP Scores:

AP World History: 4
AP Statistics: 5
AP US History: 4
AP Language & Composition: 5
AP Calculus BC: 5
AP Computer Science: 5 (AB subscore 5)
AP Physics 1: 5
AP Physics 2: 5
AP US Government and Politics: 5
AP Macroeconomics: 5

SAT Subject Tests:

Math II: 800
Physics: 760
Will be taking Lit and perhaps retaking Physics

EC:

AP National Scholar Award
Debate - Varsity PF Debater going on 4 years. Won plenty of regional awards, attend national level tournaments. Won state quarter finalist my novice year. Plenty of speaker awards.
Cross Country - Freshman Year
Chess - Freshman and Sophomore Year
Published multiple times in scholastic writing contests
NHS member - Just joined this year
Volunteering - I have been volunteering at a local hospital of mine since early freshman year and have almost 350 hours total at this point

Reffed youth soccer for a job through freshman and sophomore year
Summer before senior year I have a job at a local fast food restaurant.

Thanks for any advice or feedback! Chance back if you want!

2

Bumppity Bump

3

bumpppp :(((((

4

I’d consider shooting higher than u.wisconsin or u.michigan. Your UW GPA is a bit low but you have taken incredibly hard courses particularly your junior year. You also have very strong AP Test scores and SAT subject test scores. Being a National AP scholar going into senior year is not very common. If you want to stay in the Midwest, consider Grinnell, Notre Dame, Wash U, or even U.Chicago. Do you have some idea what you want to study? How much can your family afford to pay for college?

5

I definitely want to go into medicine. From what I understand, going to an amazing undergrad school isn’t necessarily the most important situation if that is my ultimate goal, but nonetheless I want to see what type of colleges I should apply to in general. I’m not really aware of what my family’s financial situation, but I would definitely consider ourselves upper-middle class. I’ve talked to them about medical school before, and they have never brought up money as an issue…not quite sure what that means.