This isn’t an asking of advice, and isn’t really about me or anyone I know, so don’t worry about answering in that way. I was wondering if a 3.5ish GPA+one or two extracurriculars max+high test scores+unique/interesting circumstances and essay is a situation where one can be accepted to higher ranked schools; Wake Forest, Notre Dame, Tulane and other institutions in that range and a little lower.
I know that that is a long and possibly confusing sentence and I apologize.
Bumpity
I think that WF and Tulane seem very reasonable given the circumstances. Notre Dame is just really hard in general, so that’s probably out of reach unless you get a 2400/36.
There are too many variables, but generally a 3.5 GPA is low for any top school, regardless of anything else. GPA is the thing that gets your foot in the door–everything else is extra after that. If you don’t have the GPA, you usually don’t have a shot unless there’s some major reason behind the low GPA or you have amazing ECs to balance them (i.e., recruited/nationally ranked athlete).
Would you believe that this also holds true for 3.6 & 3.7 GPAs?
Look up the Common Data Sets, section C, for the schools in which you are interested. They will tell you exactly what SAT scores and GPAs you need to be competitive.
3.6/3.7 is fine for tulane, maybe even for wake forest or anything lower
for notre dame or anything higher, it will hurt you more, unless something really really unique happened to you to cause that gpa (i.e. illness, just moved from another country, etc.)
My son got into Tulane, albeit without any merit aid, with an unweighted 3.3-3.4 GPA, 2060 SAT, and 31 ACT. He had a much higher weighted GPA, however, because he was in a full IB diploma program with some additional APs. He also had excellent “leadership” ECs. He did not apply to Wake Forest, but his best friend did with slightly lower stats. ND would probably have been too big a reach for him.
I’m kind of wondering about people with average GPAs and ECs that aren’t outstanding or even impressive getting into schools in Tulanes range. (With high test scores and unique situations as a factor).
I should also reiterate that this isn’t someone trying to make a college list or get chanced, this is purely from a basic interest perspective.
One last bump. Thank you for your current responses.