Hi, I recently just started junior year and am taking AP psych, AP lang, AP gov, and AP calc BC. I only have two per semester, along other classes. My freshman and sophomore year were filled with A’s and B’s, even though I took AP world freshman year and APUSH and AP chem sophomore year. At one point I made all B’s in a semester. I know that that is extremely, extremely detrimental, but if I make all A’s this year, and do well on the PSAT, ACT, and SAT subject tests, will I still have a chance to get into an Ivy? I want to pursue a career in law/politics, and have been involved at the local democratic party, YMCA youth in government, and plan to start a democrat club at school. I really want to change, but how screwed am I???
Can you calculate your gpa at this point for us? And maybe a list of ECs. What ivy leagues are you applying for?
Why an Ivy?
For 2014-15, 87.41% of students accepted to Harvard had a 3.75+ UW GPA.
http://oir.harvard.edu/files/huoir/files/harvard_cds_2014-15.pdf
For 2015-16, 87.64% of students accepted to Princeton had a 3.75+ UW GPA.
https://registrar.princeton.edu/university_enrollment_sta/CDS2015-16.pdf
For 2015-16, 92% of students accepted to UPenn had a 3.75+ UW GPA.
http://www.upenn.edu/ir/Common%20Data%20Set/UPenn%20Common%20Data%20Set%202015-16.pdf
You can draw your own conclusions based on this.
I want to do law. I’m a Muslim living in the South and I do not enjoy the political climate, and I want to help change things.
Why do you have to go to an Ivy for that? Your goal is a high GPA and LSAT, right? Why is an Ivy (one of eight schools who are not all that similar despite being in the same athletic conference) the only place you can accomplish that?
My weighted GPA is 4.28, unweighted is 3.33. I took AP world freshman year and APUSH and AP chem sophomore year. This year I’m taking 4 AP classes. I do debate, politics club, SGA student council, am involved in committees in my mosque, the local democratic party (hope to start a chapter of HS Dems of America), YMCA youth in government, and French club. I started a group with my friends called Muslim Youth 360, and helped organize a charity event for Syrian refugees. I don’t like to make excuses, but sophomore year I ended up with an 89.3 in a class and my teacher wouldn’t bump it up. I am kind of dejected, because my GPA is very low, but can I still compensate with a high ACT score? I honestly don’t think I’ll get into Yale or Princeton…
Honestly I want to get out of the south. Not necessarily an Ivy, but I’d be honored to go to UChicago or Duke. What’s wrong with wanting to do Harvard or Yale law? I want to get into politics and maybe become a senator
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to go to Harvard or Yale Law. bodangles is just saying that you can accomplish your same goals by applying to schools that aren’t ivies. Honestly, even people with 4.0 GPA and 2400 SAT / Full score act that have great ECs and still get rejected at these schools. What I’m trying to say here is you need more realistic goals. Both UChic and Duke are still sub / around 10%, and at that point, college admission are pretty unpredictable. Think beyond only ivy league schools.
You’re right. I’ll look into more reachable schools, and I think the main thing I need to do is to discipline myself and try harder to get my GPA up before applications. Thanks.
^ Exactly what I wanted to say. 
There are people with “mostly A’s” getting rejected, people with all A’s getting rejected…and many schools would be happy to have a student with “mostly B’s,” but universities with sub-10% acceptance rates aren’t going to be your best shot. Buy a lottery ticket if you want, but make sure you have a full list fleshed out with more realistic matches and safeties.
Thanks, bodangles!
Law school admissions are VERY stats driven (LSAT being the most important and GPA also being very important, but less so than the LSAT). The school you go to for undergrad makes little difference for Law School. Princeton, with its grade deflation, might actually be a BAD idea for pre-law students commited to becoming lawyers. Also, like the other posters mentioned the Ivies are very different from each other.
Look up your state’s representatives and check out where they went to school. Odds are many of them didn’t even go to an ivy or a top 20 school. I would suggest looking into a nice liberal arts college.
Lol my congressman hates Muslims. You don’t have any idea how the politics is like in the south
I don’t want to go to school in the south, unless I go to University of Alabama in Birmingham for preMed
To be completely honest, it will be extremely hard to get into an Ivy school or any top school with a GPA of 3.33. Many people who are rejected have a GPA of 4.0. If you have something that really REALLY stands out in your application like a particular EC or maybe your essay, then I would say you have a chance.