A student I know this year got into Penn State University Park with a 21 ACT. (Asian studying in Hawaii)
His gpa is like ~2.8. No hook, but his rich father hired people to write essay for him.
I just couldn’t believe he got accepted. (21 ACT SERIOUSLY?!) This is so crazy.
So everything is possible guys! Keep finger crossed.
Update: level 4 (3.12 unweighted, 31 ACT but 32 superscore)
Accepted:
Cal poly SLO
SDSU
CSUN
CSULB
CSUF
UCR
UCSC
WILLAMETTE(18k MERIT)
UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO
UIUC
WAITLISTED: PENN STATE UNIVERSITY PARK
REJECTED:
UCSD
UCD
NORTHEASTERN(AFTER DEFERRED)
3.8 uw gpa - strong leadership and interesting extracurriculars (fashion blogger and internship program with seventeen magazine) took all honors and total of 10 APs
accepted - Clemson, USC (Capstone Scholar), UTK (1794 Scholar), Ole Miss (Honors), Alabama (Honors)
deferred - SMU, NC State
rejected - UNC Chapel Hill (OOS)
waiting to hear from W&L, Cornell, U Penn, Columbia, NYU, and Vanderbilt
grades are important but definitely not everything, I took a really hard course load including 4 online AP classes because my school didn’t offer them (public school in WV)
Level 4 (3.33 UW, but 4.57 W; strongest courseload available to me with 11 APs and 5 dual enrollment courses)
Top 10% of my class – barely, though
29 ACT (34E, 30R, 27M, 25S, 29 Essay)
1320 New SAT (didn’t send to all schools: 670 EBRW, 650 M, 22/24 Essay)
URM
Very focused EC’s in my area of interest (Dev psych and education) including leadership, research internship at local university, and lots of volunteer work, Great Recs (esp from Guidance Counselor… “Best of my Career”), excellent essays
As you can see, all of the subjective stuff had to play a compensatory role due to my relatively low GPA and average/slightly below-average scores (for the schools I’m applying to)
In, so far, at: Boston College (Lynch with 4 years housing, which is designated for top 15% of applicants), New College of Florida, Fordham, Florida State, University of Central Florida (with Silver Knights scholarship – I think that’s what it is called), Rollins College ($34K per year in merit money)
Rejected: Swarthmore, Colby
Waiting on: A LOT… I applied to 20+ schools because, especially with my lopsided profile, I really cannot predict where I’ll get in. Mainly mega reaches and LACs left: UMiami, Oxford at Emory, Wake Forest, Davidson, Smith, Wellesley, Wesleyan, Williams, Amherst, Vandy Peabody, and Duke for good measure. We shall see!
Why are people with high GPA’s posting their acceptances on this thread? Go and brag on one of the gazillion other threads where applicants go on and on about whether to go to Yale, MIT, or Amherst. This is for people 3.7 UW(which is still a damn good score in my book) and UNDER. You know, regular folks. Let’s hear from the 2.8 GPA’s !
Hey, I’m applying to Amherst, but I definitely fit the sub-3.7 bill! Must be crazy! :))
3.6 and failed a class
UCSD, UW
reed oregon
There is hope!
update again :")
3.6 uw, 35 act
waitlisted at uchicago !!! (probably the decision i’m most proud of so far)
rejection at northwestern, ucla (oos), and pomona (expected tbh… i applied to a lot of pipe dream schools)
accepted at bu
from past posts:
accepted at ohio state (in state, honors + merit), umass amherst (cs + merit), northeastern (merit)
praying to get off of uchicago’s waitlist lol
UChicago has an enormous waitlist this year. Make contingency plans.
i know? i’m not banking on getting in off the waitlist???
@Chrchill how would you even know how big the waitlist is given that Uchicago hasn’t released the numbers?
And don’t bother saying college confidential because we all know that the applicants on this site skew to the top and are not indicative of the applicant pool as a whole.
an update:
level 4/5 (3.4 uw) (6.1/7 w)
28 ACT
No APs, all honors & dual enrollment
waitlisted at Fordham and Sarah Lawrence
previously accepted to:
Susquehanna University (merit)
Emerson College (merit)
University of the Arts (merit)
Fairleigh Dickinson University (merit and honors college)
University of Pittsburgh
Temple University (merit)
Ursinus College (merit)
Emmanuel College (merit)
And no rejections 
Fordham & SLC were my last to hear from!
I’ve chosen Pitt–anything is possible folks!
3.2 and 30 ACT got into BU
hey guys another update! (3.6 uw, 35 act)
waitlisted at georgetown (omg)
accepted at brandeis with president’s scholarship!
Update (3.65uw,35act)
Carnegie Mellon college of engineering and college of science
3.4 (barely) UW 32 ACT
accepted to American University, Boston University, University of Richmond, Lehigh University, Fordham University, Occidental College, Northeastern University, and University of Rochester
Rough Sophomore year when dealing with mental health issues (two C’s and a B- ) that really hurt my GPA but Junior Year earned nearly all A’s.
Good luck to everyone!! I remember searching for a thread like this when I was a sophomore feeling like my life was over after seeing the C’s on my transcript but I’ve been accepted to 8/9 of my schools and couldn’t be happier
3.7 GPA
1400 SAT
around a 670 math subject 2 and 1, 620 physics subject.
got into Carnegie Mellon for information science. DO NOT let your grades stop you applying for that crazy school. I didn’t want to, my self-confidence was low but with the push from my parents, I decided to write a compelling essay. If anything I believe that’s what got me in
3.3 GPA
31 ACT
Finance
Accepted: Tulane(EA), Boston University, Northeastern, UF, FSU
3.3 UW GPA (4.4 W GPA)
2070 SAT
Accepted: Wake Forest, Maryland College Park (Scholars Program), University of Miami (22k Per Year Merit Scholarship)
Level 5 barely, got into Ohio state , university of Virginia and deferred and still waiting for a decision at university of Michigan.