chance me? (JUNIOR)

notjoe
Wed, 06 May 2015 00:18:54 +0000

At first glance, your GPA is very low for top schools. However, when I do a little back of the envelope calculating, and I subtract our your freshman year grades, it appears that your sophomore and junior year are very near to perfect.

Am I doing the math right? Is that the case? Is there a particular reason for the bad first year? Or just adjusting to high school? If there are special circumstances, your guidance counselor should note that in the material he/she sends to the colleges to which you apply.

Just looking, it appears that your curriculum has been fairly rigorous. How does it compare with others who attend your school? Will your guidance counselor report that your curriculum is the most rigorous possible for a student at your school? That will be important.

Your SAT is on the low side for several of the top schools at which you’re looking. But you’re not far off. If you think you can improve that score by much (even by 75 points), it would be worth a retake.

There is nothing thrilling about your extracurricular activities, but you may be able to expand on the activities you mention in the gifted program, especially if any of the competitions in which you participated led to honors or awards beyond your school. I don’t know whether your NHS chapter is particularly active, either. At my sons high school, the NHS was the primary student service body, and active participation in it was meaningful. At many schools, it’s not meaningful at all. How much time do you spend on the cancer fundraising?

In applying to competitive schools, essays and letters of recommendation with be important for you. A particularly memorable essay, or a once-in-a-career letter of recommendation would go a long way for you.

In summary, the low GPA hurts, and makes admission to places that otherwise might be safeties somewhat problematic. But if, as it looks, you had nearly perfect grades since your freshman year, then all is far from lost.

I think, especially for the Ivies, it’s an uphill battle for admissions for you. But if you apply to all the schools you mention, there is more than a small chance that one of the better schools might accept you.