In one sense, yes, because there will not be other students from your high school directly applying to the college – so comparisons of actual transcripts cannot occur. However, every high school supplies colleges with their “high school profile” which describes in words and graphs the grading system at your high school, how many student’s are in each quartile, the average SAT scores and AP scores etc. It’s basically a rubric for Admissions to understand your high school and its students. So, if you are the only applicant applying to a college in the early round, an Admissions Officer will consult your high school profile and compare your file to the profile. If an Admissions Officer has been doing their job for several years, they will also remember other students who were admitted in prior years to the college from your high school. So they will have a general knowledge of the caliber of applicants from your high school and where you seem to fit into that mosaic.
I can’t really say without knowing how prestigious your extracurriculars are, but based on scores alone I would guess the higher ivies are quite unlikely. I do think that Cornell and Hopkins could definitely work out. I would apply to one of those early because you may not get in regular. Best of luck!
I don’t think applying to Columbia or Penn would be a bad idea. But, I suggest you retake the SAT and study a lot for it, so that you get a better score.
It seems to me that you have good ECs which show your passion, so I think you have a shot. As some people already pointed out, do your best to get good grades.
^^ And my suggestion: Regardless of the OP’s test scores, their unweighted GPA is on the low side to be considered a competitive applicant in the EA, ED or SCEA round to an ivy league school (OP’s stated goal). As such, they stand a good chance of being deferred.
@BlingBlingBling Yes I plan on taking the ACT in September. I think I can get a 34 or maybe a 35 with a bit of studying. I took a practice test for the first time last week and got a 33. Do you think a 33+ would improve my chances?
@gibby My unweighted gpa on the 4.0 scale is around a 3.9. I also plan on taking the ACT. I will be applying to many safety schools like the SUNY schools as well as the university my parents currently work at, which I am almost guaranteed admissions.
@smileydinosaur I think you would want a 33+ to maximize your chances, but I wouldn’t stress too much about the score. Just study hard and do your best. Whether your score is a 34 or a 35 or a 36 isn’t too important.
If you read down on the 4.3 scale to 3.88 and then read over left to the 4.0 scale, you’ll see that your GPA equals 3.58 ~ 3.61 on a 4.0 scale or a 91 on a 1-100 scale.
Agree with gibby that the math conversion seems off.
What an adcom at a competitive college will do is look at the transcript, see where you got less than A. It matters what classes. If gym and woodworking brought your gpa down, probably no problem. If it was cores, it had better not be in math-sci. And still, you will compete against kids with perfect records.
Thing is, right now, there are more gals (from all sorts of high schools) who are doing well with CS or engineering- they have learned what opportunities to pursue, what real strengths it takes, and can write in ways that show both the level of challenges they took on and their delight.Their math-sci stats and rigor show a drive and curiosity (sometimes, you can call it a lust- that’s much more than contests.) They are good bets to run with CS or, if they change majors, to find one equally challenging. And make their mark.
OP, it’s not about showing you’re “completely committed to concentrating.” They aren’t looking for a contract. It’s about the choices you made, what that shows about you as an individual and how you think. We don’t know enough about your ECs to offer our reactions. We don’t even know if they’re balanced in the ways tippy tops want or if they include collaborative math-sci activities with peers.
But it does seem you don’t quite have a bite on what those colleges look for. Try to go back and figure that out. They’ll want to see you understand what they value, the sorts of attributes they want in their campus community. You’ll need to show that in your app and supps.
^^ There are several NYC public schools that use a 4.3 scale and supply a 1-100 scale along side (as well as a 4.0 scale) for comparison sake. Those schools, however, do not make a distinction between a student receiving a 93 versus a student receiving a 99 – they are all glumped together – and I think that would matter to a college, especially ultra competitive schools like HYPSM. I think this where the confusion may lie: http://schools.nyc.gov/SchoolPortals/10/X546/EducationalSupport/Admissions/gpascale.htm.
IF what you want is the top programs in CS/ E, there are plenty of top notch schools for that area of interest… you shouldn’t just be be focusing on Ivy schools… What’s with the Ivy desire? Is it the perceived prestige factor? What schools has your school counselor suggested?
since you don’t list major EC’s, it’s not really easy to tell if you are “Ivy caliber”…however…first I have to note that NYU is not a safety school at all since it is 1) super expensive (70K a year) and 2) around 30% acceptance with tons of full pay international students also vying for a spot.
a 1440 SAT is below average for Cornell (avg 1480) and way out of range for Princeton (whose 25th percentile is 1480) CS and Eng schools particularly look for good numbers…not saying numbers are everything (major awards definitely help), but high GPA and SAT/ACT scores are crucial.
I recommend either retaking, or considering schools such as GTech, UW Madison, UMich (as a reach school), Purdue…but a lot of good schools have computer science these days, so you shouldn’t have trouble finding a school that will fit your academic caliber, location, cost constraints etc.