It is true that course rigor will be important. Also a few Bâs in tough courses or courses outside of your main area of strength will not be a big problem. As one example, universities like to see that a student has challenged themselves.
An issue is that different high schools in the US calculate weighted GPA in wildly different ways. This makes it very difficult for us here on CC to even know what your weighted GPA means. University admissions will however see your detailed transcript and they will know what it means.
This is unfortunate. I can see how this might happen at a very large high school.
Your ECs do not need to be through your high school.
I like the approach to ECs recommended in the âapplying sidewaysâ blog on the MIT admissions web site. As I understand it, it recommends that you do whatever is right for you. Whatever you do, do it well. Then do not worry about it. If a student belongs at MIT, then doing whatever is right for them will turn out to also be right for MIT admissions. If a student belongs somewhere else, then whatever they do that is right for them will also be the right thing to help them get accepted somewhere else.
1540 is already a superb SAT score.
Do what is right for you. Then look for universities that are a good fit for you.
I will give you two examples of specific students. One is from a long time ago. The other is more recent.
The first example is me. I remember exactly what I did for the purpose of university admissions. I took the SAT test. I filled out the applications (which included asking for references and getting my transcript and SAT scores sent to the schools). That is it. I did nothing else for the purpose of applying to universities. Instead I did what was right for me. This got me accepted to the two universities I applied to (my safety was McGill in-province, my reach was MIT which is where I went). MIT was the highest ranked university that I was accepted to, and actually is often ranked #1 in the world for what I majored in. However, in retrospect I am not sure whether it was the best fit for me. I might have been better off at my safety (McGill). Ranking is not everything, and a higher ranked university is not necessarily âbetterâ than a slightly lower ranked university (and of course McGill and Rutgers are both very, very good universities).
The other example is my older daughter. She had an unweighted high school GPA which was very close to what yours is. Mostly likely her unweighted GPA was slightly higher than yours and her weighted GPA and SAT were slightly lower. She applied to schools that were a good fit for her, including at least three safeties. She attended a university that was not the highest ranked university that she got into, and was ranked lower than Rutgers, but which was a good fit for her, was affordable (with no debt), and that has a good pre-vet program. There she completed the requirements for her major (animal sciences) and also completed the pre-vet requirements. She then worked for three years, and applied to DVM programs, getting four acceptances including two âtop 10â programs. She has since been doing very well in her DVM program.
Since you are specifically seriously considering Columbia I might also note that I know someone very well who got her bachelorâs degree at a university ranked in the 100-130 range, and who then got two related masterâs degrees at Columbia. She has since said that the quality of education that she got was just as good at the school where she got her bachelorâs.
One point that I am making here is that an unweighted 3.7 GPA might not get you into a top 20 university, but it can get you into a university where you can get a great education, and that can prepare you very well for very good (and highly ranked) graduate programs, or for a good career.
Another point is that the highest ranked university that you are accepted to is not necessarily the one that will be the best fit for you.
Take the classes that are appropriate for you. Participate in the ECs that make sense for you. Have confidence that this will work out one way or another.
I think that you should indeed try to do well in your course work for the remainder of high school (and in university). I think that you should look for universities that are a good fit for you. Do not think of âtop 20â universities as âbetterâ, because there are hundreds of very good colleges and universities. In some cases âtop 20â universities are more academically demanding (and stressful). When you are applying to universities, then make sure that you apply to safeties and keep your budget in mind.
I think that this frustrates a lot of us. The university admissions process in the US is indeed complicated, difficult to predict, and does appear to be based on more than just academic excellence. However, a strong student such as yourself will be accepted to many very good colleges and universities as long as you make sure to apply to solid safeties.