Am I aiming too high?

agitatedoptimist
Sat, 30 May 2015 20:09:29 +0000

Hi,

I’m looking for an opinion on whether or not I qualify for top tier colleges…
So as the time to apply to colleges is nearing my insecurities inflate. I have always taken rigorous AP classes inside and outside of school and piled on extracurriculars and academic awards left and right…but my (unweighted) GPA…well…

Ninth grade year I took AP Human Geography, AP Art History, Algebra 1 Honors, Math Analysis Honors, Biology Honors, Latin 1 Honors, P.E, English 1 Honors, Spanish II Honors. I passed both my APs, passed all my classes with As and Bs ranked #17 out of 532 students, and took two more classes than the rest of my peers.

Tenth grade year I took AP European History, AP World History, AP Psychology, Geometry Honors, English II Honors, Culinary, Chemistry Honors…this is when things went downhill…I struggled horribly in Chemistry, I even failed second semester.(I got As and Bs otherwise) Thinking it wouldn’t hurt my GPA too badly I didn’t take any classes over the summer to mend the damage.

Eleventh grade year was rocky. I took AP U.S History, AP Macroeconomics, AP Studio Art, AP Environmental Science, AP English Language and Composition, Physics Honors, Art Criticism Honors, Algebra II Honors, Anatomy & Physiology Honors. First Semester messed up my GPA even more because my mom became very ill and I missed weeks of school at a time. Second Semester I rebounded very well and returned to my normal A and B status’, and even agreed with my teachers that they would fix my first semester grades due to the circumstances I was in.

Nonetheless my GPA is at a 2.8 unweighted! (Still hasn’t been recalculated to include my junior year grades)

It’s not the lowest its ever been but it sure is low… I was cautioned that my GPA will be recalculated over the summer but there’s no actual way it’s going to miraculously jump to a 3.5 or a 3.7

My weighted GPA is much better and I wonder if I could just use that to apply to colleges?

My classes have always been rigorous and I have various leadership roles within school. I’m VP of National Art Honor Society and Junior State of America. An urgent action officer for Amnesty International. Co-Founder of Photography club. And I won 5th place in a national European Economic tournament (the EuroChallenge).

Outside of school I’ve volunteered at a local nursing home. I also hosted/created a Charity Fashion show for breast cancer awareness month and raised over +300 articles of clothing. I created a program in Khartoum, Sudan which I go to over the summer and educate and empower young women to achieve their full potential. The Charity Fashion show and Empowerment Center were of my doing, there was no organization that gave me the blueprint on how to start these programs, I did it from scratch (not to brag, I’m trying to convey that I have more going on for me other than my GPA)

I won the country literary fair, the county science fair, and a congressional art competition.

My baseline SAT Score was 1780 and I’m planning to retake it in October and have been studying and gotten tutored. My goal score is 2100. I took two SAT Subject tests Literature (530) and U.S History (650). I will not take the ACT.

Do I have a shot at institutions such as University of Chicago, Vanderbilt, Fordham, NYU, Mt. Holyoke or Barnard? Or am I aiming too high?

My reach schools:
-University of Chicago
-Mt. Holyoke
-Barnard

My match schools:
-Fordham
-Syracuse
(Can you suggest me some more?)