Yale has been one of my dream schools for as long as I could remember, but I think that my unweighted gpa (3.5) will be one of my downfalls.
I’m very curious as to whether or not anyone with a 3.5 uw gpa has been accepted to Yale, or any ivy league really…
Yes, but they were probably seriously hooked.
George Bush and he went on to a successful career in politics.
What do you mean by, “Hooked”?
Hooked means you go as a recruited athlete – they are about 1000% more likely to be accepted than other hooked people, like URMs, poor kids, artists, or science whizzes. But not more than the kid whose parents donated $20M for a new building.
Each college is free to define what it considers a hook and decide (where allowed by law) how much of a bump (if any) each hook is in the process. In general the major hooks are:
Some others that may be hooks to some colleges
Now that you know that, let me explain what I mean by “serious hook.” I mean recruited for a revenue sport, i.e. football or men’s basketball, or your family donated $10MM+.
A plain old hook, like black female recruited for soccer, is not a serious enough hook to get into Yale with a 3.5, IMO.
I’m a first gen and urm, does that help?
You asked a similar question last month. Some colleges have more flexible GPA requirements than others. Your local state college may weigh test scores or some other attribute heavily enough that a point or two on the GPA doesn’t matter. The Ivies aren’t among those schools. I don’t think being first generation and/or URM will be enough to tip the scale at an Ivy. I agree with posters in your other thread. If you broaden your search you’ll find a lot of great schools where you can get an excellent education.
MODERATOR’S NOTE: Since this question is so similar to OP’s other thread, I am closing this one. Here is the link to the other thread: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/2125834-is-it-possible-to-get-into-an-ivy-league-school-with-a-3-5-unweighted-gpa.html#latest