Hi, this is my first post and I’m not exactly sure if I posted to the right place, so please let me know if I did something wrong.
I am currently a junior in high school and about to narrow down my list of colleges to apply for.
Here is some information about me:
3.5(although by the end of this year I’m hoping to raise is to 3.68 or 3.61) unweighted GPA with 5 AP courses so far.
4.32(although by the end of this year I’m hoping to raise is to 4.48 or 4.41) weighted GPA
1400 SAT score(740-math, 660-reading)
Extracurriculars: violin(I’m in a county-wide orchestra and have been playing for almost 9 years), hold leadership position in a community service club, hold a leadership position in the school’s chapter of a national music honor society, hold a leadership position in student government, participated in a student-run company and held a few “leadership titles”(titles given to everyone who participated in the program), member of a school business club(I made it to the state conference two years in a row, but did not make it my junior year)
Experience(internships, volunteer): was an intern at a non-profit last summer, I currently volunteer at a hospital, I volunteered at a senior home for some time.
Honors/Awards(not sure if this is necessary but just including it): Honor roll every quarter, member of the National Honor Society, invited to the schoolwide Student Leadership Conference, Awarded a scholarship for Dale Carnegie Young Adult Leadership Program(and had a short q&a about me published…should that be included?), various awards at regional/state conferences for the business club
I am not totally sure of what I want to major in, but I know I would like to study something business-related (healthcare management, international business, marketing, management, supply chain) but recently, I became interested in social justice issues.
I live in Maryland and would like to go to a school in either New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, Washington D.C., North Carolina, South Carolina(maybe), and I wouldn’t mind going to a school in California.
I would like a college that is nearby a city, medium-sized classes.
I researched a few colleges and some that sounded interesting to me were George Washington University and New York University but I believe they are far, far reaches for me.
In addition, I have a few more questions:
How much of an impact will my low GPA make on my college applications? I got a lot of B’s my freshman year, which is what brought my gpa down so low. Now, it’s super hard to bring it up and whenever I see colleges’ average gpa’s being like 3.7-3.8, I feel sooo bad about myself. I’m also not that great at some of my subjects, but I continued taking them anyway because apparently colleges like “the challenge”. Now, I’m not failing them or anything, but the grades in those classes are not top-notch. I’m terrified that my gpa is what will make colleges turn me away.
Does the SAT essay score matter? I did not do very well. I’ve looked online and colleges that don’t require them won’t care about them that much, but I’ve also read that if you have a bad score, admissions officers may second-guess your application.
Thank you for reading all of this. It means a lot to me, please provide any feedback you have for me.