Chance a prep school applicant w/ low GPA/rank

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Demographics

US Citizen
State/Location of residency: California, East Coast boarding school
Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Boarding prep school (Exeter/Andover)

Cost Constraints / Budget
Full Pay

Intended Major(s): Economics + CS

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores:

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.7 (adjusted)
  • Weighted HS GPA: not done at school
  • Class Rank: 70th Percentile
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1590 SAT
  • AP Tests: (self studied, see next paragraph) 5s on Microecon, Macroecon, Calc BC, Latin

List your HS coursework
note: school doesn’t offer AP courses, so using the school’s provided scale (they say certain numbers correspond to certain labels, ex. a 3__ course would be AP level)

  • English: Normal english (no honors, AP etc offered)
  • Math: Finished Calc 1/2/3 (AB+BC+multivariable), now doing various math electives
  • Science: Bio,Physics,Chem,Advanced Physics (No honors system)
  • History and social studies: US History + a few electives
  • Language other than English: Latin (AP level)
  • Other academic courses: Computer Science (post-AP level)

Awards

  • USACO Gold
  • USAMO Qual
  • USAPHO Qual
  • fairly prestigious gov’t computer science competition winner
  • winner of multiple economics competitions (major ones, featured on national TV)

Extracurriculars (not in order)

  • Leader of multiple clubs (econ,business,etc)
  • Economics team captain (top 3 in US)
  • Vars lacrosse
  • bootstrapped online business making ~10k a month, 40% going to a charity I cofounded (now part of a larger one that manages the money)
  • AI startup accelerator internship summer (worked on multiple models, startups)
  • FBLA/DECA (State Champion)
  • Wharton Inv. Challenge semifinalist
  • Technically have an MBA from an online university, did for fun 10th/11th grade
  • Eagle Scout
  • NMS finalist

Essays/LORs/Other
*Essays: written commonapp (strong), columbia (fair), gtown (fair)
*LORs: English (fair), Math(fair),History(strong)
*Have a case w/ school for alcohol, will go on transcript. Unsure how this may effect things.

Schools

  • Assured (100% chance of admission and affordability): lacrosse Offer from W&M
  • Extremely Likely: UCR
  • Likely: UCI, UCD, UCSB, UCSC
  • Toss-up: uMich Ross (legacy), USC, UT Austin, Cal, UCLA, Notre dame
  • Lower Probability: Northwestern, Cornell, Dartmouth, Brown, NYU stern, uChicago, Gtown(EA)
  • Low Probability: Harvard Pton Yale Columbia(ED) MIT Wharton Duke
2

If you go to Exeter / Andover or similar- I’m guessing your college counselor will have much better info for you. They’ll know where the 70th percentile gets in.

You have a lacrosse offer from W&M? So that’s your floor.

Do you want to play lacrosse? If so, are others recruiting you - because I’d start with that.

W&M is as strong a school as any in the country.

Good luck.

3

That kind of high school should have college counselors who can give you a better idea of your chances at various colleges, at least those commonly applied to from the high school.

With a 3.7 unweighted HS GPA and intended CS major, you may be overestimating your chances at UCs.

2 Likes
4

This is what you’re paying for. Use it. No one here will have better insight or advice than your BS CC.

5

Ask your counselors for sure. There is also data by school for the UCs available here: Admissions by source school | University of California I’m not sure what an “adjusted” but unweighted GPA is - you should calculate your UC GPAs. I think you’re probably overestimating your likelihood of admission for most, if not all, of the UCs, especially if you are applying for CS.

6

The coach is ok with you EDing somewhere else and only going to WM if you dont get into a more “prestigious” school?

7

I find this list a but peculiar for CS. Georgetown but no CMU? what about Purdue (i think this would be a likely given test scores, awards, and BS - I say this based on our own BS results), GTech, UIUC, etc…

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