Chance me for T20 schools, UChicago, UIC, Northwestern. 3.1 UW GPA, 36 ACT [WI resident, Math/Physics/Engineering]

Chance Me / Match Me
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If you want to see an example of someone who is very successful (and also a lot of fun) look up Tyler Vigen. He started at Normandale Community College (a really high quality CC in the Twin Cities) then finished at Metro State University (a non-selective 4-year commuter college in the Twin Cities)….then Harvard Law school.

He did great. You’ll notice though that he worked his butt off at each step of the way, was super involved in all his schools (working, leadership etc.) Fully invested himself at each school, didn’t treat any school as beneath him or as just a stepping stone.

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What year are you currently?

If you really are set on leaving Wisconsin, you should consider community colleges in Illinois. Many have transfer agreements with UIUC and UIC. Complete 2 years at community college and then transfer.

The finances may still be a hurdle, but community college is usually more affordable than starting at a 4 year university.

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So obviously the more distance you put between yourself and your HS transcript, the better for selective academic admissions, assuming you maintain high grades going forward.

But realistically, it is likely going to be a longshot to transfer to colleges like those. It is basically a math problem. Not many people drop out. Many people would like to transfer in. So in their last CDS, Chicago reported 2884 transfer applicants, of which they only admitted 268. And these are likely mostly applicants with very good college grades themselves. Northwestern it was 4045 applicants, 484 admitted. Again, not good odds. At colleges like this, a good record at your first college just isn’t enough to make it likely they will accept you as a transfer.

OK, so realistically, I think by far your best chance to transfer to an affordable top undergrad for Math, Physics, and/or Engineering would be Wisconsin-Madison.

I understand you would prefer something else, but then your next-most realistic paths are likely going to a solid and affordable undergrad for four years, and then plan to apply to top departments for grad school. By that point, no one will care about your HS grades, and if you do really well in your department at a solid undergrad with lots of faculty support, you will be competitive for top grad school admissions.

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I can maybe give a little color on this - so this may be major dependent but they could give merit and judging from C26 they place a lot of emphasis on test scores even if GPA is not great - our final number was a little under $10k which I believe is the highest OOS award. So if that’s enough to make it affordable then you’re right.

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You have not addressed the reasons behind the HS grades (and you don’t have to here), but realistically, it will be harder to maintain a high GPA taking multiple college level courses at UIC (or at any university.)

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There is a lot missing from at least my understanding of the overall picture here.

What grade of high school are you currently in?

What is your unweighted GPA separately for each year of high school? This is on a scale where A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1, F=0.

Why did you skip a grade, and what happened after you skipped a grade?

To me, an unweighted GPA of 3.1 makes U.Chicago and Northwestern pretty much impossible for your undergraduate education. I would expect that U. Wisconsin Madison would be unlikely, but it might be possible (?) if you have a very strong uptrend.

With a family income of $110,000 per year, your budget is going to matter a lot. You are going to need to find an affordable option. This is very likely to be an in-state public university. It might even be a year or two of in-state community college followed by transferring to an in-state public university. I doubt that out of state public universities are likely to be affordable.

One piece of good news is that math and mechanical engineering are areas where a graduate degree is not really needed. Physics is a bit more complicated. I did work for a couple of years at a cyclotron with only a bachelor’s degree (in math). I was doing a combination of software engineering and mathematics (there is a lot of both in keeping a cyclotron working). My boss and others who were leading the various experiments had PhD’s.

If you were able to get into the University of Wisconsin Madison, it is VERY good for mathematics and physics and engineering. If you have a very strong uptrend then maybe it might be possible for admissions. If you do not get accepted straight out of high school, then one option might be either community college or a different in-state public university and optionally maybe a transfer to U.Wisconsin.

Employers (and if relevant graduate programs) outside of Wisconsin will certainly know how excellent the University of Wisconsin is. If you can get admitted then getting a bachelor’s degree there, if you do very well, can open up opportunities all over the USA (and elsewhere as well).

One thing that might be worth mentioning: Highly ranked universities such as the University of Chicago and Northwestern in general take very, very few undergraduate transfer students. Your chances of transferring to U.Wisconsin as an in-state student are likely to be much better, and it is a very good university. Once you get your bachelor’s degree, what you did in high school will not matter and will be behind you. Employers and if relevant graduate programs will care what you did in college and/or university, but this is all in your future and something that you have some control over (assuming that you apply yourself and do very well in university).

And right now you need to keep your grades up in whatever classes you are taking.

I have seen students come back from worse and end up doing very well. The main point is to be an excellent student from today going forward.

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Do you mean $10K merit or COA? I don’t want to pile on OP, but with around 12 C’s, and a couple of F’s and a D [possibly unremediated] on their transcript, UIC admission is far from assured and they very well might not see any merit if accepted.

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My opinion…I think the possible reason for the poorer grades might matter. Is there some mitigating reason why those grades are so much worse than your current grades? If not, I think your reach schools and what you think are targets are not likely.

You need to look at what your end goal is. Getting out of Wisconsin will always be an option once you have your college degree. If staying in Wisconsin makes this possible from an and affordability standpoint, so be it.

Please consider all options to get to your end point.

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10k merit. (A little lower to be precise - something like $9700)

Agree the Ds and Fs need to be remediated. For some comparison points, C26 had some Cs (not as many as OP) and a remediated D->A on their transcript, but also had a counselor letter explaining the low grades. 3.3 uw gpa overall (but upward trend) and 1500 SAT. I would note that UIC had the most comprehensive “why major” (500 words) essay of any of the colleges that C26 applied to. The major is different though (though also competitive for UIC).

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Unfortunately I believe the OOS COA for UIC is now over $55K.

We’re all operating in the dark a bit here, but if it is true the OP would at least mostly be paying for that themselves, I’m not sure how that would even be possible, even with max OOS merit.

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Currently a junior

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freshman year i had depression while also having ADHD and autism. Then it continued on sophomore year. This year (junior) i planned on just improving my grades but while doing that i finally found a passion for school which was math(algebra 2 , and. Trig) and physics since they are claimed to be the hardest courses and I have found great success in these courses And they are still college level courses.

Many of my teachers who know little about me brought the idea of attending an ivy league or a T20 because they saw my skill before seeing my GPA. But to summarize I really do appreciate the concern.

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Here is my reason that I explained to another user

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**Updated version to fill in more

Demographics**

  • US domestic (US citizen or permanent resident) or international student: US citizen

  • State/Location of residency: Wisconsin

  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Public

  • Other special factors: (first generation to college, legacy, recruitable athlete, etc.): Youngest in my class, skipped a grade in kindergarten.

Cost Constraints / Budget
Parents make 110k<

Intended Major(s):

OP1 Dual major: Math, physics

OP2 Dual major: MENG, Math

OP3 Dual major: Quantum ENG, Math

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: (calculate it yourself if your high school does not calculate it)

  • Weighted HS GPA: (must specify weighting system; note that weighted GPA from the high school is usually not informative, unless aligned with the recalculation used by a college of interest, such as CA, FL, SC public universities)
    My school does not do weighted GPA yet but I assume my weighted would be around 3.5-3.7 GPA

  • College GPA: (for transfer applicants)

  • Class Rank: 205/432 (sorry I used an older one this updated)

  • ACT/SAT Scores: 36 ACT cumulative

List your HS coursework

(Indicate advanced level, such as AP, IB, AICE, A-level, or college, courses as well as specifics in each subject)

  • English: Honors eng, IB MYP LIT, IB LIT 1, IB LIT 2

  • Math: Algebra 1, Geometery, IB MYP Algebra 2, IB HL pre calc, Discrete math(UC summer), IB Calc.

  • Science: Biology, IB chem, Physics, IB physics 1, CSP, PLTW CS, INTRO TO ENGINEERING,

  • History and social studies: AP Human geo, IB world History, AFR american his, US GOV, ECON, Personal financ, Latin american his, Buisness.

  • Language other than English: IB Spanish 1, IB Spanish 3, Chinese 1, Chinese 2

  • Visual or performing arts: Sculpture, ceramics, Art studio,

  • Other academic courses:

College Coursework (Transfer Applicants)
(Include college courses taken while in high school if not included above.)

  • General education course work: Personal Finance, sociology courses, (courses at carthage)

  • Major preparation course work: Discrete math UC, Astronomy, philosphy.

Awards

Black history acheivement award (academic)
High honors award (for semester) I had a 4.0 GPA for the semester

Extracurriculars
(Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)

CS ambassador, Skills Pres, Stem group founder (built nuclear fusor electric car, particle accelerator, and I teach students about STEM), work apprenticeship as a data anaylst at a engineering company, work family buisness, Founded activist group, Uchicago Summer session, 6 months Student council, 1 yr debate, Youtube channel (wont disclose much about this, and robotics for a little bit.

Essays/LORs/Other
Don’t have an planned essay yet planning on writing it in the summer, but I have LOR from my AP/IB teachers like IB LIT IB ALG, CSP, and psychology/debate instructor.

Schools
(List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if unsure, leave them unclassified)

If a scholarship is necessary for affordability, indicate that you are aiming for a scholarship and use the scholarship chance to estimate it into the appropriate group below; also, for colleges that admit by major or division, consider that in chance estimate.

I done research if I got into UC or NU, I could possibly get a full ride suggesting I live in a 5 person house and we make below 100k

  • Assured (100% chance of admission and affordability):

  • Extremely Likely: EA UIC EA Loyolla

  • Likely: UIC

  • Toss-up: UIC

  • Lower Probability:

  • Low Probability:RD UC, RD NU, ED NU RD UC.

    Aditional INFO:

    My goal as of now is to go to UIC to fix my GPA, then attend UC or NU to transfer. Or use my UC ED0 option but my gpa is not getting that much higher so I am planning on transfering in my sophomore or junior year. I have spoke to students and admissions officers that have seen students with my kind of background and said that it is difficult but you still have a chance and to also work on my GPA.

  • Also I am neurodivergent (adhd and autistic

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Most schools recalculate weighted gpa’s because unweighted is consistent across high schools.

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As previously stated my old school did not transfer my data correctly I spoke to my counselor about rhis but because of this my gpa is ± what it really is. i understand it seems crazy to have all of these coincidences but I can assure you that I am telling the truth.

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You still need a safe option that is assured to admit you and is assured to be affordable.

Also note that University of Chicago has fairly extensive general education requirements in the social science and humanities areas.

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I applied direct opt in for wisconsin schools students with lower stats than mine already have been accepted to these programs so I already have it as a backup!

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You said you were a junior. Why have you already applied?

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Its like an early thing for Wisconsin students they encourage you to apply junior year