so my gpa is kinda low around a 3.83 but my weighted gpa is a 4.84
I have taken an extremely rigorous schedule and have a lot of time consuming ecs which Im not going to list for privacy reasons.
my SAT score is a 1440 out of 1600 with an essay score of 6/5/6
SAT IIs 790 in Math 2 and 760 in chemistry and a 710 for USH (which i didnt study for and wont send to colleges.)
However Ive gotten mostly 4s on my AP exams but I heard that most colleges dont look at them for admissions.
I am a female interested in pursuring a major in Computer science or BME.
Most of my ecs allign with my career interest and I have many awards in CS.
please help chance me! Im interested in schools like Cornell, Pomona, UC Berkeley, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, U Penn, Williams. Any insight is much appreciated!
You would have a decent shot at UC Berkeley in my opinion and you sound quite qualified for most of the colleges you listed. Make sure you produce outstanding college essays and letters of recommendation.
First question back is always: can you afford those schools? For example, unless you are a CA resident, UCB will be full-pay @ $60K/year. Make sure you run the cost calculators for each of them.
As @carrots0066 points out you sound qualified, but those are all so selective (and CS/BME are such competitive programs) that they are a reach for everybody (unless one of the prizes that you refer to is something like Intel). Don’t count on a gender bump at any of those schools, either. FYI, JHU has a reputation of being very GPA oriented for applications, which is a bit ironic given the grade deflation for students.
It’s easy to see the shiny programs, but you need to focus on the other end as well (unless you have the Intel prize, of course): what program do you like that you are really, really sure to get into (safety)? those are harder to get excited about, so start there and build up.
@HPhelpbot123 yes I think I will. That is a good idea. My essay score is a bit low isnt it? But if I apply early decision somewhere do you think a 1440 would make me competitive?
@collegemom16 financially, these schools will not be too big of a problem. Berkeley maybe out of the question because it is very far away from home. Are there any schools where my gender may help me get into the CS program? Unfortunately no I do not have Intel prize :)) but I do have multiple specific CS competition awards and engineering awards that are at the state and national level. I am also apart of the CS club at my school which I am working on expanding next year. I am kind of legacy for JH. And for safety schools I am looking at maybe some SUNY schools like SUNY binghamton, NYU what do you think? I would mostly attend a safety school in the NYS area and transfer if I dont get in anywhere else.
The essay score is fine as long as you don’t get 1/1/1. For Ivy League schools, I would retake that 1440. A 1440 is a fine score (obviously), but I am not sending my 1470. The new SAT requires better scores (1500+) because it is not equivalent to the old CR+M 1600.
Reading through your stats, particularly your EC’s, you sound competitive. Your un-weighted GPA is what will matter and your class rank if your school reports it will be helpful. Weighting of grades varies so much that your 4.84 is meaningless. If you look at the overall pool of applicants to Ivy League schools, a 3.9 or 4.0 un-weighted GPA would make you more competitive. My D had the same GPA when applying 2 years ago. I don’t know how the SAT score distribution has changed and there may not even be enough data for you to know what 25th and 75th percentile is with the new SAT but if you think you can do better and have the time then retake the SAT. A big part of Ivy League admissions decisions has to do with how strong your essay is and how well you complete your application. If you have very, very strong EC’s then make sure this comes across clearly in your application
While it is really hard to chance people bc most elite schools are holistic… tbh, your Sat scores and UW gpa are low for the elite schools. My advice would be to retake them. The new SAT is running 60-80points easier than the old SAT so posters saying you prob need above 1500 will most likely be right. Try to bring up/keep up your UW GPA next year… don’t let it slip. Most schools only look at your UW, then they have their own formula for weighting.
That said you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, so by all means apply to some of the better schools… just make sure to also find several other schools that you will fit at- you might also look at some safeties that will give you merit money.
FWIW: When a high school does not supply a student’s ranking, an Admissions office then must guess at where that student falls in the pecking order at their school. One of the easiest ways to do that is to order all applications from a specific high school in GPA rank-order and compare the rigor of their transcripts. In that way a colleges gets a relative-ranking based upon all the students applying from a specific high school.