<p>(I'm typing on an iPad so the following may contain some grammatical errors :D) So I was an idiot freshman year and the first semester of my sophomore year, my nest friends dad had passed away and he was pretty close to me and a mentor of sorts, so that dragged me down in the dumps for a while.. Nonetheless, I didn't pay much attention to my homework. My freshman GPA was miserable, around 2.7 unweighted. Sophomore year, My first semester GPA was 2.9 (not much of an improvement), but my second semester was 3.5. Halfway through that semester, the reality of my grades hit me, so I worked to bring that up. Currently, I am in my junior year, and I am on track to hit a 3.77 GPA. Next semester, I think I can pull off a 3.85-3.9. I got a 33 on the ACT this year, and here's my course load:
Freshman year:
- AP Human Geography (4 on test)
- Honors English
- Algebra II
- French IV
- Biology
- Orchestra
Sophomore year:
- AP US History (4 on test)
- AP French (4 on test)
- Honors Chemistry
- Precalculus
- Orchestra
- Honors English
Junior year:
- AP European History
- AP Literature
- AP Language
- AP Calculus ab
- Orchestra
- Physics
- TA for French.</p>
<p>For my extra curriculars, I founded a successful film club at my school, I have been part of the Student Council (Running for Class Officer this year), I have been in a leadership position of JA company (Won the greater upper Midwest region), I'm part of the exec board of a charity that raises money for other organizations, I was in Speech (Finaled 2 times regionally), I wrestled freshman year, and I recently got my black belt in Tae Kwon Do. I volunteer often with inner city kids and regularly go on mission trips with my church. I also work around 8-10 hours a week at a pizza shop.</p>
<p>Supposing I acheive my goals this year and keep it going throughout the first half of my senior year, (so around a 3.3 GPA unweighted, planning to take 4 more AP classes senior year to hopefully raise my total GPA to 3.5, colleges won't see that though.) could I have a shot at attending some top notch schools?
Here's some I'm thinking of:
- Vanderbilt (First choice but I honestly don't think they'll even touch my application :/ )
- University of Texas - Austin
- University of Minnesota
- Emory University
- Carleton College
- Tulane University
- UNC Chapel Hill
- Northwestern University
- UC Santa Barbara
- Rice University
- Cornell (Ha doubt I'll get in)
- University of Pennsylvania
- Wake Forest University
- New York University
Kind of a long list of schools I'm considering haha.</p>
<p>brah, your ECs are amazing, your act is decent( Though pretty low for Cornell or upenn), and, frankly my friend, your gpa is downright terrible for the ivy leagues on your college list. You have a chance at rice,carleton,vanderbilt, wake forest but that chance is pretty small. You can easily get into uta and uc santa barbara</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply! Yeah, the ivies are there as kind of a big stretch haha… I forgot to put down that my high school is ranked #8 in MN, and is in the top 500 in the US, do you think that could possibly bolster my chances?</p>
<p>Hmm… I’m most likely going to want to go in for a History/French Major, so I am considering LACs as well… What do you guys think of schools such as Swarthmore, Carleton, Wake Forest, Oberlin, Grinnell, Wesleyan, Pomona, and Davidson? I heard they have a more holistic admissions process.</p>
<p>The upward trend is definitely going to help especially if you can show 4s and 5s on your AP tests. I think the black belt in marshal arts will also show that you have learn the value of discipline and hard work (are you still doing this?)</p>
<p>However, at the end of the day, pretty much every school on your first and second lists is a reach. More importantly, you are all over the place when it comes to school culture. Oberlin and Vanderbilt could not be more different. Ditto Wesleyan and Pomona. I think you need to get a better handle on what you want in a university and find some reaches, fits and true safeties. </p>
<p>I think that your application is really strong! While your GPA is lower than the Ivies and similar schools - wouldn’t it be better to try and apply and know the outcome than never know? One thing that may help in your application is to make sure that you talk about why your GPA is lower. By talking about that in your application, I think it will definitely help your application. Your EC’s, ACT, and AP scores are really strong, and I think that you’re a really strong candidate! </p>
<p>As long as you submit an application to a school, you have a chance. I live near Notre Dame, and I know students who got in with 29 ACT scores (which isn’t bad), while the school average is 33-34. There are going to be people at schools who are below the average, and there are also going to be people who are above average in every college. Those people who fall below the average just have other characteristics within their applications that stand out more. </p>
<p>After my long-winded response, yes, your upward trend will help. Once I was deferred from ND, my admissions counselor said she would like to see a higher GPA for this last semester, so admissions officers will definitely notice it.</p>
<p>Good luck in your admissions process! I hope that you are happy wherever you end up! </p>
If you’re not a Texas resident, an application to UT-Austin might be a waste of time and money. They have a statutory obligation to admit the top 7% of students from any class in the state, enacted after they banned affirmative action. They can easily fill a freshman class with just those students, and their out-of-state acceptance rate has plummeted. They are also known for being very GPA-based in admissions. UNC-CH is fiercely competitive for out-of-state applicants, as well. On the other hand, I don’t know why people see Wake Forest as an unreasonable reach for you - I think they’re probably a very solid match.
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