Hi, I have a fairly low gpa in high school (3.875 weighted). However, I have shown a huge improvement in my junior year and the low gpa is due to having to deal with chronic migraines. Additionally, my lowest grade is in Latin, but my teacher wanted to write a rec for me and she actually likes me a lot. I take hard classes such as Computer Vision and Parallel Computing. I have also gotten a1550 on the SAT and a 35 on the ACT. I am interning at the National Institutes of Health (data analytics) and I volunteered overseas in China (I am Asian). I am also captain of my varsity swim team (we are 5-year conference and regional champions).
Colleges I am thinking about:
Reach: Cornell, Brown, and Columbia
50/50??: UVA, UMichigan and Uchicago
Safety: William and Mary, UIUC and Virginia Tech
Do you think I have a legitimate chance in my 50/50 and reach schools?
Any help would be helpful!!! Thanks!
As others have pointed out, the first thing you must do is re-evaluate your list of schools. Your 50/50 schools are all reaches I’d say (UVA and UMichigan are very tough out of state, and UChicago is obvious), and your reach schools are very high reaches. Your safeties aren’t actually safeties – schools in the 60+% acceptance rate range are safeties.
Once you throw in safety schools and actual matches (40-60% acceptance rate based on your stats in my opinion), you will be in a much “safer” position.
Next, you must understand that schools like Cornell, Brown, and Columbia are looking for the best of the best, and a 3.85 weighted GPA (which likely means you have around a 3.4 unweighted GPA) doesn’t come close. Your test scores are excellent, but the disparity between those and your grades is concerning. Further, the EC’s that you have are pretty strong, but you don’t have many.
Your chances at the Ivy League schools and their counterparts are very low. Unless you can convince them that there is something special about you despite your poor grades, then you don’t have much of a shot. That said, you can find ways to convince them of this in your application, and you should certainly still apply. Demonstrate your interest and convey the passion you have for your EC’s and what you want to study, and you might get lucky.
Create a more balanced list and be prepared for rejections – even though you have a lower GPA, you still have a chance for many great schools. Ensure that your expectations are where they should be, and you will end up at the school that’s right for you. I wish you the best of luck!
cc8912’s post covers everything I would have said. You have good stats test scores and decent ECs so all that’s left is to re-evaluate your school choices and shoot for the stars.
I’d take a look at schools like UCLA, Tulane, and Boston University - based on what you seem to want in a school and where your stats seem to be, those schools might be possibilities for you to consider. I don’t mean to sound negative, but schools like UChicago are incredibly competitive, and I’d say they’re a reach for pretty much anyone. I’m sure you have a lot going for you, but so do all the other students applying. Sometimes it comes down to being a fit for the university, and when so many people apply to such competitive schools, even those who have done well shouldn’t count on those acceptances. If you get them, that’s awesome, but I just think you might want to consider your list and make sure that you can find a school that gives you proper matches that you’d truly enjoy if you went there.
Thanks for all the feedback. What schools would you suggest for someone like me then? I’m hoping to study either finance/economics or computer science. What schools are attainable?
Agree with the others. Your list is overly aggressive. Your 50/50 schools are really reach schools and your safety schools are closer to match schools.
How are my safetys not safetys? My gpa, sat and act are all in the range on websites like cappex and prepscholar? The acceptance rate into Willam and Mary from my high school is like 95%? Also, money is not an issue.
Just because your GPA and test scores might be in the range of a certain school, it doesn’t mean that such a school is one you can consider a safety.
For example, say someone has a perfect 4.0 GPA and a perfect 1600. While these stats are certainly beyond the 75th percentile for schools like Stanford and Harvard, can such a person consider Stanford and Harvard safety schools? Of course not.
The same type of logic applies to you. You can only consider a school a safety school when admission is near guaranteed. This means a very high acceptance rate and GPA/test score ranges that your stats well exceed (since I can assume you have about a 3.4 UW GPA, then schools with average GPA’s of 2.9 might be safeties for you).
No one here is trying to put you down. Admissions are very unpredictable, so unless you have a good number of actual safety schools, your chances of getting into college at all are much smaller. Further, what I am saying here does not mean that you don’t have a good shot of getting into, for example, William and Mary – it just means that such a school is not one you can depend on for admission.
I would die for a 3.8W GPA that’s pretty amazing. On CC there’s so much emphasis on having a very high UW GPA but really, a 3.8 W is incredible.You have a really high ACT/SAT score which I think will balance out any issues w/GPA, if you are worried about that. What state are you from? If you live in Virginia that’s great because you’ll get more aid/have a better shot @ W&M and UVA. If not add at least a couple safeties that are in-state that you know you can get into. Also, UChicago is on par with Brown and Columbia, it should be a reach as well. If you are interested in CS check out CMU as well, if you haven’t already. Also what’s your FA situation? That may be a factor in what colleges you choose, especially if you are OOS at some of your schools
The disparity between test scores and GPA makes your situation a little more challenging to navigate. For example, by VT’s own 2016 data the 25% GPA of all entering freshmen was 3.78, and CoE 25% comes in at 3.97. So you’re on the low end or below the GPA line for VT, one of your safeties.
The 2016 data reflects old SAT numbers, but overall the 25% was 1630 and CoE was 1780 (75% was 1950).
I think the above shows why many are questioning the idea of what a true safety might be for you. You may need to apply more widely than you were initially thinking in order to have choices you’d be happy with in the end.
good luck!!!