Before I sound like the usual stuck-up College Confidential user, I just want to state that my school is a very, very competitive high school with many students who join thousands of clubs and overload themselves with dozens of AP classes to appeal to colleges.
I am currently a Junior with a 3.99 weighted GPA (counting only sophomore year). I participate in a handful of clubs, and do not have the most special vibe about me. I am studying hard for my SAT scores and am expecting around a 1500. I do plan to take on many, many internships and summer programs as well as other experiences to allow me to stand out a bit more. I am a very strong writer when it comes to essays, and am expecting that the writing portion of my resume will be what will stand out the most.
At my school, a 4.0 GPA is really the norm. Everyone fills their schedules with AP’s in order to get into Ivy Schools, but I was never as interested in my education because of how standardized everything was. I fooled around freshman year and got a 3.7 weighted, and had to make up sophomore year with a 4.2. This year, I am expecting at least a 4.43 GPA (all A’s but 2 B’s). A 4.11 GPA is pretty low at my school, and I know that as of now, I rank in the top 20% of my class.
My ultimate dream is to major in Columbia for journalism. I know that my grades right now aren’t Columbia-worthy, but I am aiming at schools such as Northwestern or NYU to notice my potential in writing. I have found a new motivation to work hard to achieve this dream, and I was wondering if I could have some realistic feedback on whether it is possible or not to boost my specs in time of early applications. I like to think of myself as somehow who has the capacity to do better but is too lazy to, but because of this newfound value in my education, I know that I can achieve the full potential of that capacity if I give more effort. However, I would really like to know your true, realistic opinions on whether it is possible to be accepted at Northwestern if I start working hard, and maybe advice on what can help me along the way. I thank you for your time in reading this!