<p>I’m getting really nervous because people keep telling me I’m a reach for every top 30 school. I’m not sure if this is just a conservative habit of CCers. My #1 school is UMich. I applied EA, I have the first generation college student hook, I’m in state living near the campus, and low income without much support from my parents. I have a part time job that helped me get to a more rigorous course load (summer school costs money for advancement) and achieve opportunities in my school. My GPA ended up as an overall 3.4-3.5 and an upward trend. I screwed up freshmen and sophomore years due to a late diagnosis of a learning disability and many, many family funerals. On the bright side, as I have stated previously, my GPA stayed at a 3.8 UW during my junior and current senior year and as an upward trend. Here are my awards:</p>
<ul>
<li>Questbridge finalist</li>
<li>InvestWrite Essay Contest winner (free trip to NYC and Wall Street)</li>
<li>Congressional Recognition from Thaddeus Mccotter</li>
<li>Physics Bowl (1st place state championship)</li>
<li>DECA (2nd place)</li>
</ul>
<p>There are some more, but these are the primary ones.</p>
<p>The admissions people will need to be convinced that the 3.8 GPA of junior year is what is indicative of your performance and that the lower GPA of freshman/sophomore years can be explained and attributed to things that will no longer bear on your academic performance. The awards will help support this but the awards in and of themselves will not offset the low GPA. I hope you shared this with the high school guidance counselor before he/she wrote the evaluation for the application because this would be a good place for this information to be shared. Some of your hooks may also help. I hope you have thought of good back ups because I would consider U-M a maybe rather than a match but there are lot of good schools that you would be considered a match for.</p>
<p>Kalamazoo comes to mind. You’re a match for MSU. You may be able to get financial aid packages from private schools that would be more attractive than OOS publics.</p>
<p>What do you mean by “Top 30?”… You are instate so i agree with Res Ipsa, if you are also looking for money hopefully you have Michigan State and K on your list. You DO know you need a mix if you are looking for admittance AND money. You’ll find out in December what happens with Michigan and most likely with whatever other colleges you consider “Top 30.” The in-state helps as Michigan will “know” your school. Your GC should have the best answer regarding your chances for Michigan. Best of luck.</p>