Have I ruined my chances with my G.P.A.?

Colleges & Universities Stanford University
1

<p>Recently, we visited Stanford, and it was beautiful! I’ve never given much thought to where I’d like to go to college or university, but Stanford seems like…an amazing place. I would like to know if I even have a chance of getting accepted into such a prestigious school. Thanks! (And Berkeley too, please!)</p>

<p>G.P.A.: 3.6727 (Unweighted) / 4.0364 (Weighted), 3.7 UC/CSU G.P.A.</p>

<p>Haven’t taken SAT or ACT yet</p>

<p>Classes taken (grade for semester):
Biology 1 Honors (B/B)
English 1 Honors (A/A)
English 2 Honors (A/A)
Chemistry 1 Honors (C/C)
Spanish 2 Honors (A/A)</p>

<p>Next year, most likely (hopefully) enrolled in:*******
English Language and Composition AP
Environmental Science AP
Psychology AP
Spanish 3 at a community college, so counts as an honors class (?)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
9th grade:
Band (Marching season and concert season)
Interact (28.5 hours first semester, 70+ hours second semester) (total 100+ hours)
Key Club (20 hours first semester)
Freshman Class Council
Red Cross Club (3 hours)
CSF (Active member 2nd semester)</p>

<p>10th grade:
Band (Marching season and concert season)
Band Council
Interact (40 hours first semester, 60+ hours second semester) (105+ hours total)
Interact Board
ASB
School Site Council
CSF (Active member 1st semester and 2nd semester)
Red Cross Club</p>

<p>Achievements:
9th grade:
SCROC “The Exciting World of Engineering” (A)
First chair flautist in Concert Band
Best Freshman Musician
Most Outstanding Musician (Concert Band Only)
Interact Member of the Month (October)
Book Buddies 15 hours of service award
Principal’s Honor Roll (1st semester and 2nd semester)
Perfect Attendance (1st semester and 2nd semester)</p>

<p>I’ve had perfect attendance since 1st grade (10 years), but that’s probably not even worth mentioning</p>

<p>10th grade:
First chair flautist in Wind Ensemble
Principal’s Honor Roll (1st and 2nd semester)
Perfect Attendance (1st and 2nd semester)</p>

<p>Leadership:
10th grade:
ASB Sophomore Class Historian
Interact Historian
Band Historian/ICC Rep</p>

<p>Next year:*******
ASB Junior Class Historian
CSF Board Historian/ICC Rep
Interact Board C.S.C. (Community Service Coordinator)
Interact District Board Executive Aide
Band Council Flute Squad Leader
Band Council Historian</p>

2

<p>You haven’t “ruined your chances.” You still have a year and a half to bring your gpa up, and colleges love seeing an upward trend. Also, high standardized test scores will help you a lot. You have good extracurriculars, try to gain more depth on them. You definitely will have a chance at Stanford, but it is extremely competitive and a crapshoot for everyone.</p>

3

<p>If your school uses Naviance or another website that tracks the stats of college applicants, you should go onto it and see how your stats compare to the stats of students from your high school who have been admitted to Stanford or schools like it.</p>

<p>Also, more important than your GPA is your class rank. Try to be in the top 10% of your class, and you’ll be a competitive applicant.</p>

4

<p>Stanford doesn’t look at freshman year, and they count every A- as an A, every B- as a B, etc. This also means that B+ counts as a flat ‘B’, too, so be careful.</p>

<p>Anyway, if it makes you feel any better, I got into Stanford this year and my GPA was similar to yours. I got a 3.33 and a 3.45 freshman year, but after that I started getting 4.0 (save a 3.5 beginning of my sophomore year) and I got in. My SAT was 2200 (I think), so nothing spectacular. And I’m a white female from a middle class background, so it wasn’t my race. I really do think that essays are much more important than GPA.</p>