What is the biggest weakness in my application?

Applying to College
1

3.88 GPA, UW
2190 SAT (690 math, 710 reading, 790 writing)
Subject tests: 800 US history, probably 700 in literature
AP tests: Language and composition (5), us history (5)
Senior course load: AB calc, AP bio, AP gov, AP spanish, journalism III honors, writing
EC’s: managing editor of school newspaper, junior leader, captain of varsity basketball, a lot of community service.

Major: International relations (from Israel with mostly Brazilian family)
White and hispanic female with no legacy or other hooks
Applying to top tier schools (ivy, top liberal arts)

2

Where’s your passion?

3

i’m passionate about a lot of things, international relations being one. i wrote about my family in israel and the arab crisis and how that inspired me to go into this field

4

Mediocre GPA and SAT for top schools.

5

I agree with @billcsho that your GPA and scores are unremarkable for top schools, but I believe the biggest weakness is the fact that as an international applicant you’ll be competing in a highly competitive pool

6

SAT’s a bit low for international applicants. GPA is a bit misleading as we don’t know the class rank.
Obviously there’s much more to the application than those things. Essays, interviews?, recs, supplemental questionnaire (I think it is underrated and many students do not take this seriously)

7

If someone didn’t read your essay, how would they know that?

8

I’m not from Israel, I’ve lived in America for the past 11 years haha. I see that SAT should improve but my GPA is unweighted, how is a 3.88 low?

9

A lot will depend on your class rank & your high school’s “track record”. Ask your GC where past students at your school, with stats similair to yours have been been admitted to. In addition, try taking the ACT, with your relatively stronger reading / writing skills, you may score better on that than the SAT.

10

It depends on your school profile AND the school you are applying to. Do you know your class rank or how many GPA 4.0 students from your class? In general, uwGPA 3.88 would be around or slightly below average for top schools.