Top Colleges with 3.72 GPA?

College Search & Lists
1

I am in the midst of searching for colleges to apply to this fall and I am attempting to remain reasonable about my chances in getting accepted into top schools.

I attend a highly competitive, top ranked high school and I have a 3.72 UW GPA and a 32 ACT (36 E, 34 R, 31 S, 28 M, 36 W). I have taken the most rigorous course catalog with mostly honors and AP courses. Our school only allows for juniors and seniors to take AP classes- I took Biology, English language, and US History. Next year I am taking AP Stats, AP Environmental Science, AP Literature, AP Gov, and an independent study in advanced psychology with prep to take the AP test.

I am heavily involved in theatre at my school, having a few lead roles under my belt and have participated in every show. I was also a founding member of our improv troupe my freshman year and coached my own team. I also have leadership positions, such as President of the German Honors Society and Treasurer of Mock Trial, as well as being in NHS. I have a lot of volunteer hours, with many going towards being the captain and on the board for Relay for Life, this year organizing an improvisational show to raise money for our team. I also started my own satirical magazine online.

I have undergone immense financial issues the last few years with my family, and as a result I also work two jobs which infringes on my free time.

I write very well, as it is one of the things I am looking to do in college, so I don’t foresee my personal statements being an issue. That being said, am I being too unrealistic about applying to the following colleges: Brown, Bowdoin, USC, UCB, Pomona and Northwestern
Those schools are obviously my reaches, with other schools I’m applying to being Emory, Tulane, Colgate, William and Mary, and UMich.

Am I being too unrealistic with my reaches and if so, what are some better options for me, specifically considering my interest in writing and theatre? Thanks everyone!

2

Have you run the online net price calculators for any colleges on your list? If so, have you discussed the estimates with your family?

If cost is a major concern, then you may want to avoid out-of-state public universities … unless they guarantee big merit scholarships for students with your stats (example: http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out-of-state.html).

LACs that offer good need-based aid and that are about as selective as Colgate (or a little less so) include Colby, Bates, Grinnell, and Macalester. Kenyon also offers relatively good need-based aid and has a very strong English department.

3

choose a school based on fit not on name brand.
cast a wider net ! and no mater where you go with a positive attitude! ( not… oh this is my safety…you will be unhappy and people around you will not like the negative vibe about the school they go to)

also look at lafayette college,rollins college and muhlenberg college too.

4

Looks to me like you have a pretty reach-heavy list of schools. I’d look for some match/safety schools. Try the supermatch function to the left, get your hands on some college guide books (ex. Fiske, Princeton Review) and expand your list. You can probably find these books in your HS guidance office or the library.

If you need aid, run the net price calculators to be sure schools on your list appear affordable. if you want merit aid look at schools where your academic stats put you in the top 25% or so.

5

Your list is a bit reach-heavy. There’s tons of great schools with acceptance rates near 40-50%.

6

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have undergone immense financial issues the last few years with my family, and as a result I also work two jobs which infringes on my free time.


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Does that mean that your parents can’t pay much/anything for college? Are your parents low income? Do you have a non-custodial parent?

What is your home state?

7

The list is very reach heavy. I do not see a true safety on your list. The easiest school you stated was Tulane, and that is not a sure thing. The difference in selectiveness between some of your reaches and the other schools you said you were applying to is not that big. Despite lower acceptance rates, USC and UCB have roughly the same average test scores as Emory and Colgate and are not much higher than William and Mary and UMich. At my semi-competitive high school, it is just as hard (if not harder) to get into Emory and Colgate as UCB and USC. Though, I do agree that William and Mary and UMich are slightly easier to get into (definitely still not easy, especially if out of state). I understand these things vary by schools.

The only thing I’ve noticed was that bigger schools tend to be more random. I’ve seen UCB and USC reject top applicants and accept “average” students. The smaller schools tend to be slightly more straight forward and accept those qualified as long as they have everything else going for them. It is also easier to redeem yourselves with the smaller schools because they pay more attention to you as an applicant. I suggest getting a couple of lower ranked and less selective national universities and liberal arts colleges.

If you tell me what you want to study and the characteristics you are looking for, I’m sure I can give some suggestions. I just finished the application process, and I’m set to attend a Top 20 LAC. It was considered one of my reach schools. I also have a lot of experience with several of the schools you mentioned either because I applied there or my friends did.

8

These online articles can be helpful for identifying colleges with strong writing programs/traditions:

“The 10 Best American Colleges for Writers,” USA Today

“The 10 Best Colleges for Creative Writers,” The Freelancer

“The 12 Best Creative Writing Colleges and Programs,” PrepScholar

“The 25 Most Literary Colleges in America,” Flavowire

USNWR lists additional schools in a subcategory, “Writing in the Disciplines.”

9

Does your school subscribe to Naviance to get an idea of students from your school with your stats and where they have been accepted? Schools where your stats are not even in their 25% would probably be a waste of time and money to apply to unless you have a hook for that school (athlete, legacy, URM, special unusual skill or circumstance). You did not say if your class ranks. If they do and you are not in the top 10% that will make all of these reach type schools significantly more difficult to get into. Pick maybe 2 academic reaches that the financial aid calculators say you can afford, 3-4 good fits that you can afford, and at least 2 safeties that you know you will be accepted AND are very affordable (like you would qualify for automatic merit). I know among my son’s friends this year who all had close to 4.0 UW and higher scores none got into UCB, Northwestern, or Brown. 1 got into Michigan but got no aid so couldn’t go. Our school is instate for William and Mary so I checked naviance and our average is a 30 ACT and 4.32gpa so OOS stats would be much higher. From the plot I can see that they have taken a number of students with lower test scores but they are less forgiving on gpa.

10

No safeties or true matches. Without wishing to be a pessimist, I think you will have a hard time getting into any of those. There are plenty of other great colleges that would love a kid with your stats. WillI and Mary is super hard to get into OOS. If you aren’t in VA, put that in the same category as Brown, etc… Your list is all over the place, what with U Mich and Colgate, UCB and Pomona. I very much feel like you are just prestige-hunting, and colleges often don’t like that. They can spot the applicant who really wants to be at their college, versus the one who just wants the name.

11

If you’re taking the most difficult courses at a highly competitive, top ranked high school, then your 3.72UW GPA may be considered quite high. It is above the USC average unweighted GPA and a little below Northwestern’s and Pomona’s (according to collegedata.com numbers).

I would think USC, Colgate, Emory, and Tulane are all within reach. Brown, Bowdoin, Pomona and Northwestern are reaches for nearly everyone. Use Naviance if it’s available to check results for applicants from your school with stats similar to yours. Regardless, you still need to identify more match and safety schools.

12

My D2 got into UChicago, Swarthmore, Mudd, and Carleton with a GPA like yours. BUT, she had a 2380 superscored SAT, subject tests of 800 Math II and 800 Lit. And some fairly interesting/unique ECs. Your problem will likely be that you don’t have anything to offset your low-ish GPA for top schools. Kenyon could be a match, and they are a great school for writers.

Be sure to run net price calculators (on the college websites) for all the schools on your list.

13

If finances are an issue then perhaps out of state publics like Michigan and William & Mary (even though they are great schools) may not be the best option considering they offer limited aid to out of state students. Perhaps Kenyon like another user suggested or Hamilton (which places a heavy emphasis on writing) could be options

14

@Lindagaf I don’t care about name or prestige, I’m just all over the place with where I want to go haha. I can’t decide between small and large, small west coast LAC or large public school in the west. I just need some suggestions with some better safeties and matches. I know very well that a lot of my reaches are very, very far fetched. At the end of the day, I think I’m just too intrigued with too many aspects of different schools and I can’t exactly decide what to narrow down on. I based my list off of the stats from kids at my school, so maybe that’s why the list is a bit skewed. Could you recommend some matches? I’m looking for a school that’s in warm weather and has a good writing and theatre program.

@dcplanner Yes, we have Naviance. I made this list based off of the stats of acceptances/rejections from my school. For some reason the average accepted GPA for W/M from my school is a 3.62, which is why I categorized it as a safety (even though it very well may not be)!

@californiakid17 Yeah to be honest I based my list off of Naviance stats and word of mouth from my school. My school counselor said that Tulane would be a safety because the average accepted from our school is a 3.56, but then again that’s just inside the realm of our school. Could you suggest some better safeties and matches? I really am trying to narrow down and apply to more realistic schools.

@mom2collegekids We live in CT in an affluent area solely for the public schools. My family cannot afford to live here in the slightest due to unemployment. We won’t be able to contribute much to colleges so I am going to have to apply for a lot of scholarships in the fall and pray for some good financial aid packages.

Thank you all for the advice anyone!! I’m open to any suggestions with schools to look at.

15

http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/library/college-choice/The-10-Best-Colleges-for-Writers
http://flavorwire.com/409437/the-25-most-literary-colleges-in-america/25

The ones with the mildest winters are Emory, Mississippi, Pomona, Sewanee, Texas, and Vanderbilt. Try Googling for other lists of “best college writing programs” (or some such). Cull out the ones that look interesting and are in warm weather states. Then run the online Net Price Calculators on them.

16

Warm weather? Have you looked at a map? Sorry to sound snarky, but you can eliminate Brown, Bowdoin, Colgate, Northwestern!!!, and U Mich!!! Sure, it’s warm at all those schools, in the summer, when you won’t be there. Every single one of those schools will have absolutely frigid winter weather. It even snows in the winter at Will and Mary, so cross that off too. That leaves you with Emory and Tulane, UCB and Pomona.

You are all over the place. You CANNOT just look at Naviance and assume that where your classmates got in with THEIR scores and grades is where you will get in. Please get a book like Fiske or Princton review and find colleges where your stats will work for you. There are millions of,threads and internet posts about how to find match and safety schools. Good luck.

17

If you are prioritizing warmer weather, even the difference between Northwestern and Bowdoin approaches significance:

Average January Low Temperature

Evanston: 18°

Brunswick: 12°

18

We have Fiske and the Princeton Review books and they don’t offer any data comparable to, let alone better than Naviance. Not even in the ballpark. Those books are great and accounts for other things beyond the raw data, but if you have enough years of data and pick schools with enough former applicants, nothing touches Naviance for relevant data accuracy. Looking back with all the results of our S and his peers in hand, it’s actually amazing how good a predictor Naviance was with hindsight. My S was really strong on EC’s so that basically bought him 0.15 on his GPA and if you add and compare it to the average RD GPA of accepted students you can pretty much draw a line and know exactly where he was accepted and wasn’t. Same with his friends but most without the EC GPA boost. I remember parents of older students giving us the advice to “respect Naviance” because that was their experiences too and pretty much those who hoped to beat the odds with their reaches are disappointed.

The trick is does your school have enough students, enough years of data and are you looking at the data critically enough? Our school has 8 years of data for about 400 college bound graduates a year. Most schools have in excess of 100 data points. If a school only had a dozen, it will be less reliable. And you need to look at the specific ED or RD data not the overall average, and at the scatter graph to make sure you can identity to what extent the data is skewed by outliers from athlete recruitment, etc. The scatter graph is the real place to see if your stats will work for that school.

And your sfateies should be WAY below the averages. My S’s safeties were about .45 below his GPA for the most part.

19

Paradigm shift needed here.

If finances are tough, that has to be the number 1 criteria at this point. You have worked hard and have good scores and grades, but you are going to have to focus on schools where you are in the upper 10% of applicants that give good merit and/or financial aid.

Have you visited any schools? Schools look intriguing “on paper”, but you might find strong preferences/dislikes when you see them in person. The big/small, rural/suburban/urban, LAC/Research choices are important to sort out.

You mention writing, but what is your intended major, if you know? That also would help sort things out as well.

Good luck!

20

I have to agree with @tk21769 on your GPA. If your high school is truly very highly regarded, then a 3.72 is very strong. You are right to use Naviance to get a sense for what type of gpa you need for specific schools. It is impossible to compare gpa from different high schools, and most colleges calculate gpa their own way anyway. The gpa data from naviance will be more informative then gpa data from a guide book.
Your ACT is also very strong, and while you do have a lot of reaches on your list, I do think you have some solid matches. Matches don’t mean you will absolutely get in, but your stats put you solidly in range so if the rest of your app is good, you certainly have a reasonable shot. Tulane can be a safety if you show interest. But you should try to find a few more safeties to explore. Muhlenberg has an excellent theatre program and would be a true safety and also give you merit aid.