I’m not sure what level of schools I should apply to because I have contradicting statistics. My GPA doesn’t correspond to to my SAT/ACT score it should and vice versa. Colleges say that their admissions are “holistic”, but is it truly, or really based on GPA? I would say everything else in my application is strong besides my GPA, which is really bringing me down. I go to a competitive school that is highly ranked, if that helps in my admission. My counselor has suggested colleges based on my GPA, which is lower than if you chose colleges based on my standardized test scores.
Unweighted GPA: 3.12
Weighted GPA: 3.3
ACT: 33
SAT: 2030
I think I’m good for extracurriculars.
I really want to go to a top school but I don’t know if I should spend time applying to a ton if my chances aren’t that high initially.
Schools I’m applying to are: Boston University, UPenn, New York University, Northeastern, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Texas at Austin, Syracuse University, University of Washington at Seattle, all the UCs (except for Berkeley, not sure about LA), Purdue, Rutgers, Penn State. Are these realistic?
I’m also considering UCLA, USC, George Washington, Georgetown, Cornell, Boston College, Washington University in St Louis, UMich, Babson. Are there any suggestions for any lower-tier schools if these are too high reach?
Unless you’re a national champion in some sport or other, your odds at BU, UPenn, NYU, Northeastern, Georgetown, GWU, Cornell, and UMich are 1% at best (a lot of the other schools on your list, like BC or WUSTL, are reaches). If you’re out of state for the UCs, we can chance you with perfect accuracy: your odds are then 0, because the UCs have a minimum GPA of 3.4 for OOS applicants.
Many schools are willing to look past low test scores if you have good ECs and a high GPA, because they know that a test score is decided in a few hours while your GPA is shaped over the course of four years of work (3.5 at application time). For the same reason, very few schools will look past a low GPA, even if a student has high test scores. Grades really are the be-all and end-all in college admissions.
Northeastern is at the lower end of the pack among the schools I mentioned above. Their average UW GPA is 3.66. Your counselor, in using GPA to select schools, is being sensible. A few schools, like Rutgers and Babson, don’t report their average GPA, but I couldn’t find a school in the above list that has an average UW GPA within 0.5 of yours. Aim lower, and listen to your counselor (unless this list of suggestions-including UPenn, Cornell, and Berkeley-came from him, in which case I wonder how he came to be hired).
UMich considers GPA to be very important. Unless this is the norm of your high school and you are at least within the top 10% of your class, your GPA would make UMich a high reach for you.
Are you a California resident? UC’s are very GPA focused so your GPA will hurt your chances. Do you have a good explanation for your lower grades? Hardships? This information can be addressed by your counselor or in one of your essays. Intended major? Other than GPA, your test scores are very competitive.
UCSD/UCLA: Reach
UCI/UCSB/UCD: Low Reach
UCSC: HIgh Match
UCR/UCM: Match
Well, the good news is that as a California resident you won’t be rejected automatically by the UCs.
I still stand by my comments on the extent to which GPA is going to be an issue; with a GPA of 3 or thereabouts, your chances are low or nonexistent at most of the schools you’ve listed, unless your school has unbelievable grade deflation to the extent that the average GPA is below 2.5 or so.