<p>Hi i’m finishing junior year right at the moment, and will probably end up with a 4.14 gpa for the semester. I’ve taken mostly honors and AP classes throughout high school. My unweighted gpa is around a 3.6/3.7 because I messed up my gpa freshman year. I didn’t get lots of A’s in honors and AP classes, mostly high B+'s. I’m not planning on applying anywhere ED, so could senior year grades boost my applications to selective colleges for RD? I’m planning on applying to UC Berkeley, Northwestern, Duke, Vanderbilt, Stanford, Case Western, Rice, and University of Michigan. My ACT score is a 33, but I plan on retaking it to get it higher. I’m also out of state for all of those colleges. I live in Florida. Also, my extracurriculars include soccer for school and club all 3 years so far, science olympiad, junior class council, senior class council, isa treasurer, model UN, spanish honors society. I also plan on taking a weighted class over the summer, and applying to a medical internship at my local university. I know my cumulative gpa is low, but could outstanding first semester senior year grades help turn this around in time for RD applications? Thanks.</p>
<p>How much can your family afford to pay each year for college? </p>
<p>Will you be applying to Florida schools as your safeties?</p>
<p>My parents don’t have any problem paying any tuition. It’s just my grades that may be the problem. And I’ll probably apply to two safeties, but i’m really hell bent on going to the selective colleges I listed above.</p>
<p>Berkeley figures GPA differently–you’ll want to use their so-called a-g requirements and recompute to find your UC GPA. Honors courses aren’t counted, but neither is freshman year. That said, I think your money can be better spent. </p>
<p>Case should be a good bet, and they have Early Action. If you’re accepted EA, that can become your safety school. If you’re rejected, then you can quickly add more in-range schools to your list for RD applications. </p>
<p>Yes, your senior year fall semester grades will help for RD. Is this the reason that you’re not considering ED? If there was a school that you loved above all others, then in some cases applying there ED might mean more than waiting an additional semester to show an upward bump in your grades. </p>
<p>I sense that you’re not too enamored about your Florida safety options, so you really do need to spend some more time looking for more schools in match and safety territory. Have your school counselors made any recommendations? Would you consider smaller schools (liberal arts colleges), or do you want larger schools for sure?</p>
<p>Your chance depends on your rank. Your GPA is meaningless.</p>
<p>I know that I am in the top 10% of my class, but our school got rid of class rank years ago.</p>
<p>@SlitheyTove: So does that mean the other schools besides Case are too big of reaches for me? And if I really like NU should I just apply there ED even though the pool for ED is much more competitive than RD, and I would have better chances with RD with better grades after first semester senior year? Also, I might consider applying to U of I as well, as my uncle lives in Illinois and I could use his address for my applications. If I were in state for some of these schools would I have a better chance?</p>
<p>The privates on your list will have thousands of apps from kids who scored high on standardized tests and DID get get lots of A’s in honors and AP classes. The more selective the school, the more they need to know you challenged yourself AND achieved the higher grades. Apply if you wish, sure. But, find other schools that you can love as much.</p>
<p>And, chances are you cannot pretend to live in IL.</p>
<p>Your grades are a little light, but not so low as that you shouldn’t apply. You could get into any of the schools on your list, but also could get rejected by all of them.</p>
<p>Add a couple of ‘lower’ matches and a couple of safeties, and you’re good to go.</p>
<p>take my advice with a grain of salt, as I am also a current junior, but we have similar stats (and Rice is my dream school). I believe that great senior year grades can help, but also maintain a rigorous course load. </p>
<p>But I believe the most important thing for people in our situations (lowish GPA) to do is to write outstanding essays. They can really help one stand out in the admissions process. There are hundreds of success stories on here of people who really feel that their essays is what got them admitted to these great schools. I know many of the schools that you are applying to consider the essay either important or very important, so just make sure that your’s is great. Also, show interest in schools, as I know places like Rice consider this.</p>
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<p>This. The essays are your best chance to stand out and give colleges a reason to admit you despite a low GPA. </p>
<p>And about senior grades, I don’t think they will make much of a difference. My 1st semester grades were decent, and I don’t think that my final admissions results would have been any different if I got straight A+s for first semester.</p>
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<p>This idea is simply a non-starter, sorry. See this link ([University</a> of Illinois > University-Wide Student Programs > Residency FAQ](<a href=“http://www.usp.uillinois.edu/residency/res_faq.cfm]University”>University of Illinois > University-Wide Student Programs > Residency FAQ)), especially this part:</p>
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<p>The only ways I know to become independent of your parents for residency, tuition and financial-aid purposes are to get married, to serve in the armed forces, or to be legally emancipated by a court. And if your parents are paying your tuition, you can’t be declared independent of them because you’ll be dependent on them! Having an uncle in Illinois is of no consequence. (And it didn’t work for me when I was a graduate student in Virginia, either!)</p>
<p>Also, I agree with everything Slithey Tove has said so far. I think CWRU is the only college you’ve named so far that I would not consider a serious reach. I think unless you’re 7 feet tall, Duke, Vandy, Northwestern, Cal and Michigan are all pretty unlikely. (I left Rice off that list only because they’re going to be even less interested than the others in whether you can dunk with two hands.) But Case is a good university, and it has some peers, too, that might also make good targets for you. Do you have any idea what you want to study, or what kind of non-Florida location you want to be in?</p>