How do people with low grades get into top colleges?

Applying to College
21

<p>What do you mean hooked</p>

<p>Sent from my LG-P999 using CC</p>

22

<p>Well, Brandeis is a Top 40 national university (#31) according to USN&WR and about 8% of their freshman class had a GPA of between 2.5 and 3.24. I’m sure most if not all had “hooks” of some kind but there might have just been a few kids who struck a chord with admissions officers.</p>

23

<p>Hooked Meaning: recruited athlete, parent who is a huge donor to the college, very unrepresented minority (full native american, etc.), etc.</p>

24

<p>According to navience, a kid to into Harvard from my hs with a 1650. Since 07 6 kids have gotten in with under a 2000. I think it’s because I go to a high school with some of the best athletics in the northeast. Colleges look for the perfect class not the perfect student. They try and balance things.</p>

25

<p>Post #24, they are “very hooked” then.</p>

26

<p>Sometimes, maybe other things like stellar sat and act scores, an impressive and memorable essay, real world accomplishments and awards, or a genius iq score may make a college want you in spite of you. Grades aren’t everything and I’ve met some very smart kids who couldn’t care less what their grades look like, while some are real “grade hounds”. I suppose top schools would be looking for straight-a kids, but some raw talent as well.
But if there are bad grades, there would probably have to be a big achievement to offset that.</p>

27

<p>Op, just tell them your grades dropped because you’ve spent every waking hour obsessing over your work on…I don’t know…some ingenious invention. But then, of course, you’d have to come up with an ingenious invention. But who knows, it might work.</p>

28

<p>Also, you might fill a need the school has. If they have a reputable orchestra that they pride themselves in, yet they find themselves needing a trombone player, and you, the best trombone player in the state have your application siting in front of someone who understands this need…
Same goes for majors, if you are insanely good at EE and the schools engineering dept. needs a boost than who knows</p>

29

<p>For OPs purposes, the take away is that lightening does strike, but if your college admissions strategy is to stand on a hill during a rainstorm, the only thing that is likely to happen is that you will get wet.</p>

30

<p>It depends on how your GPA holds up to the rest of your school. People in my school get into universities like Cornell, Wesleyan and Northwestern with high 80s to low 90s. 4.0 GPA in a zone school means next to nothing when compared to a 4.0 from a magnet school, in which teachers expect more out of students and thus grade harder.</p>

31

<p>$$$$$$$$$$</p>

32

<p>hello everyone,
I’m new to CC and would like to know my chances of getting into univ of chicago, UT austin,
UCB, UCLA or any other reputed college.</p>

<p>I’m an Indian and I completed my sat, sat II, toefl. my scores are as follows:
sat=2320(800-M, 770-CR, 750-W)
SAT II=800-MATH II, 790-PHY, 790-CHEM
TOEFL=110
SCHOOL GRADUATION PRECENTAGE=89%
I am a student who comes from indian ghetto or slums. I have to work everyday for 7 hours to earn money to go to school and high school. I was told by my school professor about eduaction in US UNIV with financial aid but my SCHOOL GRADUATING PERCENT is not high but if i explain my situation can the universities understand and accept me?? </p>

<p>my family cannot afford my higher education but can i get accepted with scholarship??
I also won state science project competetions, art competitions</p>

<p>thank you.</p>

33

<p>idk if this is the right place to post this, but I’m pretty sure you will get into UCLA. I know someone who did, and he has less qualifications than you do. Good Luck.</p>

34

<p>Krishna, this isn’t at all the right place for your question. It belongs here: [What</a> Are My Chances? - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/]What”>Chance Me / Match Me! - College Confidential Forums).</p>

<p>Also, your question is far more complicated that yanaj1 seems to understand. First of all, because you’re from India, you won’t be in the same admissions pool as people yanaj1 knows. You’ll be in the pool of international applicants, which is usually highly competitive.</p>

<p>In addition, you’ll have a harder time getting need-based aid to attend a university in the U.S. than an American would have. Unless you are a U.S. citizen or a legal permanent resident, you will not be eligible for government student aid, and it’s not always easy to find American universities that will give enough aid from their own funds to make them affordable for international applicants who are not from wealthy families. I am far from an expert in these matters, but you might want to start by reading this thread: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/international-students/1245918-financial-aid-loans-internationals-looking-study-u-s.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/international-students/1245918-financial-aid-loans-internationals-looking-study-u-s.html&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;