Chance Me/Advice: Low [3.4] GPA, Above Average [1600] SAT + EC, Recruitable Athlete [NJ resident]

Chance Me / Match Me
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I’m sure this is a classic question, but I keep finding conflicting answers, so I was hoping for some personalized advice. I have a low GPA, but good test score and amazing ecs, and was hoping to see where I stand. I want to thank anyone who takes the time to read this. I tagged this as a “chance me" post because at the end I’ve provided a list of schools my mom is prepared to take on any cost for (acceptable in her eyes), and ofc they all offer my sport as I am a recruitable athlete. That’s the silver lining, my mom will be prepared and able to get all the support I need, if I go to a good school. Otherwise, it’s not worth it for her, especially because she’s going to start paying my brother’s private school tuition in the same year. Also, my mom is the only one who works so what she says goes, so no changing this situation.

Outside of those schools specifically, I’m actually mostly posting to ask for a realistic picture of where I might stand in college admissions generally. I’m really scared and would appreciate any help. I am a US Citizen from New Jersey, and go to a competitive public high school. I really don’t wanna get too much into it but my household is very abusive and it’s affected me since middle school. I have proof from police reports, arrest reports, and CPS has to come to our house regularly. Unfortunately, I only started getting help now and school has always taken the back seat, so I have a UW GPA of 3.4. I know that’s literally heinous according to most people’s standards, please don’t tell me something I already know. On a stronger note, I scored a 1600 on the SAT and found the test itself fairly light. Is there any possible way to convince colleges that my gpa isn’t a reflection of my intelligence and dedication? Unfortunately, my course rigor is also ■■■■■■ because I didnt care enough to maintain my honors. I had full honors freshman year and now my only AP is history and the rest are basic level classes. Yes guys, not even honors :confused:

That said, my extracurriculars are genuinely strong, largely because they became an outlet for me outside of my home situation. I don’t want this to come across as seeking sympathy, but if framing my story compellingly is what it takes to get into a good school and move forward with my life, I’m fully prepared to do that.

I’ll keep some details vague since they’re easily searchable and I’m already being vulnerable af here:

  • I won first place in a prestigious national history competition that also includes international competitors from Singapore, South Korea, and other countries, who were, frankly, stronger competition than most of the domestic groups.

  • I am on the youth national team for one of my sports. I know you’re probably thinking uhhh just get recruited tf? You are right! I’m not on a club team for this sport; I essentially came out of nowhere after switching over from a different, more competitive sport. The skills transferred well enough that I reached the national team level through my school team alone. I’ve also won a conference championship and earned first-team all-conference honors. I am currently reaching out to college programs and hoping to work something out. I’ve just started so I want to make this post before I get any responses so I know where I stand and what I can do to advocate for myself. Will my GPA deter coaches?

  • I compete on a state-level team for my second sport as well.

  • I am in active talks with a major publishing company about a book I’ve written. This is the most meaningful thing on this list to me. It ties directly into my sport and is very much a concrete, ongoing project, not just an idea. I’ve invested a significant amount of time into it and am now at the stage where that work is coming to fruition.

  • I completed two paid internships at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  • I have accumulated 100 volunteer hours at a major temple and have since taken on a leadership role as a tour guide there.

  • I made all-state choir and also sing at my temple.

  • I interned at a major media company, like a college student level internship, and I even got to meet a celebrity hehe :slight_smile:

  • This one is prospective, but I am going to do Young Arts next summer and hopefully win. I’m really desperate to go to a good college, I mean ive accomplished so much I dont want my gpa to ruin that for me, so I’ve been training since September.

Schools I am reaching out to (have my sport + mom’s full financial approval)

  • USC

  • UF

  • UVA

  • U Mich

  • UNC

  • Vanderbilt

  • Georgetown

  • Notre Dame

  • JHU

  • Northwestern

  • Duke

  • Stanford

  • Cal

  • All Ivies

Can I get into a top school? I know athletes get leeway with low gpas so…will I be okay? I dont even have 10 ecs to fill all the spots on the common app, and I don’t have any awards separate from these activities so that section’s blank too. Sorry I’m really stressed and thank you stranger for even reading this, I know everyone says this but I wish i could go back in time and made better decisions, but its second semester of junior year and im doing the best I can. Lmk if you want any more information :slight_smile:

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Can you fill in the template? It includes such relevant details like intended or possible major, etc. that will help others help you.

Are you specifically recruited at each of the schools you listed? Recruitable does not necessarily mean recruited or recruited with enough coach’s interest to give help in admission.

UCB and other UCs do not normally look at SAT scores, so your GPA would be the main factor (although UCs recalculate from 10th-11th grade with limited weighting). UCB also runs recruited athletes through regular admissions; those rejected then have to compete with other rejected recruited athletes for a small number of recruited athlete admission spots, so coaches will have to bargain and lobby for their highest priority ones. The recruited athlete admission spots are also tiered by academic credentials (i.e. GPA), so recruited athletes in that admission pool are more likely to be admitted if their academic credentials are better.

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In addition, can you indicate trend in your GPA since freshman year - up, down, sideways? That may matter.

Can you also expand on what your budget would be if you don’t get into one of these schools?

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First step is to reach out to the coaches to see if you are recruitable. Depending on the sport, it may be somewhat late in the game to get coach support. If you are not a recruited athlete, I would classify the schools on your list as very as big reaches with your GPA.

ETA: I would research options that would be affordable if you do not get into a college on your current list.

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It’s a whole different game if schools are interested in recruiting you. So it’s really hard to give you any feedback without knowing your sport, how you rank, etc.

What I would say is that you need another list of schools. I’m having a hard time understanding how recruitable you are, but are you possibly recruitable enough at other schools where you’d get a full scholarship? Then the whole “my mom will only pay for…” kind of goes out the window.

Are you saying your mom will only pay for school if you get into one of the schools on your list, or that she will only pay “top dollar” for one of those schools? If it is the former, you need a major plan B, if the latter, you need a list of safties (where you may not even end up playing your sport) that meet her non “top dollar” budget. There are plenty of great schools you can get into with your combo of GPA, SAT, and ECs, especially if you can produce some top notch essays.

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Need the chance me. For example, maybe you go to a private that a 3.4 is great.

Recruitable athlete only matters if you are recruited. Your schools are tough for top students so you’d be unlikely for all.

What’s your interests career wise that you’ve chosen these schools? I saw the media internship - are you interested in communications if some sort of?

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Hey! Thanks for being the first reply :slight_smile: Im not really seeing an option anywhere to edit the original post so I’ll have my templete filled out below! I am NOT recruited at any school yet. As specified, I only just came into the scene out of virtually nowhere, no club team, just my school team. So i had a little interest post-conference championships from local schools and now that I’ve won with the Youth National Team I have a lot more interest. I’m not starting to take initiative and respond to interest as well as email coaches myself, and I literally sent everything out a few hours ago lmao so I wanted to make this post to see where I stand and maybe it could help me deal with coaches. All those listed I am reaching out to, but I do have backup schools that have shown me interest first. BUT, I havent told them much about me yet so I’m a little scared if theyll see my gpa and back away. Thanks for the heads up on UCB, I’ll still try my luck but brace myself for less interest. I know academic schools are more serious about this kind of stuff.

  • NJ, public competitive, no legacy, no FGLI, US, female

  • Any Major as of now, clearly my EC’s are more humanities based but we’ll see

  • 3.4 UW GPA, School doesnt release info on class rank, 1600 SAT

  • APUSH, WHAP, AP Psych, AP Macro + Micro, Honors Spanish all throughout

  • AMAZING relationships with all teachers, especially AP, always getting “favoritism allegations” lol because I’m an athlete. No shame in it :smirking_face:

  • No cost restraint if I go to the schools listed, maybe 10k per year given by mom if otherwise

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It’s all consistently…bad :sob: . Junior year it does go up though, maybe I can advocate and say I am taking things seriously academically now. If not the following schools, I do have to pretty much fend for myself, and my mom said she can maybe give me 10k every year.

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Have you filled out a net price calculator ? These schools are $90k plus. Does she have $400k for four years or will you qualify for need aid.

For $10k, you can’t go anywhere most likely unless cc or on a low income in state - but just tuition.

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This means that you need almost a full ride to go to a school that is not approved by her.

Also, is the abusive situation involving police and CPS visits still going on? If so, then that probably makes the possibility of staying at home and commuting to a local in-state public undesirable.

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It’s very easy to find me online if I give the exact sport, but it’s no basketball or track. I am among the top players in my state, and a top 25 player in the nation. Pretty much all my peers from the team are getting recruited into these schools, AS IN I’M AT THAT TYPE OF LEVEL, not that just because my friends are getting recruited I should be lol. I could ask a few local schools, but I’m mostly here to ask about the schools listed because that would be the best case scenario. My mom can then get outside help + idk she said she could “figure something out” Asian parents ig? But yeah, she’ll basically only be able to give minimal help, so time to get started on that safties list :smiling_face_with_tear:

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Have you spoken to the coach(es) in your sport?

Have you spoken to the school counselors at your high school?

What year are you in high school?

I don’t know enough about sports recruiting to know if you have good chances with this helping you at your very top heavy list of colleges.

In my opinion, you need to make sure you have a sure thing for acceptance that your parent can support, in case these reachy schools don’t work out.

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Being recruited in a non revenue sport likely doesn’t come with money.

Need to fill out the net price calculators - she should. Not you. Your issue isn’t a safety, it’s $$. What can you afford ?

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I go to a public school with likea ll the 5.5 gpa warriors so it isnt great unfortunately. I’ll pretty much major in anything if it means I can go to college atp, and then once I get in also do like the pre-med classes because my only A’s are science classes which is also the only thing I ever liked academically. damn maybe i shoukdve done the act ppl say science nerds luv that

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Another thing you need to consider…if you think medical school is in your future.

The maximum amount of federally funded loans is $200,000 and that includes any federally funded loans you get for undergrad (this includes Parent Plus loans as well as Direct Loans you get). And should you get to medical school without undergrad loans, the maximum loans you can take for medical school per year would be $50,000. Medical schools will likely cost in excess of $100,000 a year.

Please consider all of this.

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You have a 1600 on the SAT. Why are you talking aboot the ACT?

Have mom fill these out. What do they say ?

Most people don’t just find $90k. Florida will be near $50k - you won’t get need aid.

You will learn quickly money trumps all. So you have to figure that out first.

https://vanderbilt.clearcostcalculator.com/student/default/netpricecalculator/survey

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Is your household income under $65,000? I believe some NJ publics give decent FA in that case.

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Yeah, I’ll probably need to take out crazy loans and bust a** but it is what it is. All the police and CPS stuff has calmed down as they moving forth with divorce, bur even if it doesnt go through (because they notoriously back out all the time) I’ll still stay at home if I need to and figure something out.

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I have just started speaking to them, made this post to see where I stand and how to approach coaches regarding that. My counselor is so dookie I’d put money on her not knowing my name, but I digress. I am a junior. I’m really getting to realize I should probably just commit to a school with good fa and call it a day lol.

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You can only get $27k in loans total - $5500 the first year.

Please have your mom fill out the NOC. If there’s a second parent, even if not in the picture, you may need to include their finances.

You need to slow down.

We need to understand your need level. Your best option may be community college and living home etc.

So let’s figure out the $$ and not jump to conclusions or talk about things likely not possible, such as big loans.