So my nephew is a high school senior, here are his stats and at the end I will be listing the schools he wants to apply to.
GPA= 3.2 unweighted, 3.9 weighted (goes to top magnet school in his state and has been on an upward trend ever since the start of his junior year, ranks 35 out of a class of 82 students). He started out slow his first 2 years at a magnet school.
Test Scores: 800 math, 790 reading and 780 writing. He scored that on his second attempt.
34 on the ACT and he made the following on the subject tests for the SAT
US History: 710
Biology: 740
Volunteer Hours: About 40, 12 of them spent on cleaning up a lake and the rest spent in a hospital working with doctors.
Extra Curricular activities: Soccer Team member, a fitness program captain at his school, HOSA member, Tennis Player, Ecology Club member, started his own SAT Club to help students raise their scores, Academic Decathlon team captain, and he won governor’s honors in Social Studies (US History), Economics and Math.
Other special things: Won an essay competition for the Bantam Classic company in his local area and as a result he was recognized by a congressman from his state. Also he won an essay competition in his school, as a result he had to read the essay out loud in front of everyone in the gym.
State of residence: GA
Colleges on his list (he already applied to his safeties and matches, now he has made his reach school list):
University of Virginia at Charlottesville
Harvard University
Yale University
Princeton University
Columbia University
Brown University
Northwestern University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Georgetown
Boston College
and Johns Hopkins
Does he have a chance at ANY of those universities or does his GPA basically eliminate his chances at the top schools?
asked this on college confidential and I did not get any good replies, all were insults hurled at my nephew and it was a waste of time
Likely YES:
University of Virginia at Charlottesville
Northwestern University
Boston College
Johns Hopkins
Possible YES:
Brown University
Georgetown University
Likely NO:
Harvard University
Yale University
Princeton University
Columbia University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
If I was advising him, I’d suggest he apply to Virginia and Northwestern as his reach schools.
November 29th, 2009 at 4:49 am
UVA = he is a lock, knew a kid who got in with SAT scores well below his and GPA in the 3.5 range.
Harvard = probably not going to happen, it is rough and over 95 percent of the students there graduated in the top ten percent of their class. Best bet is to convince him to pick an easier college, do good there and go to Harvard for grad school, same benefits and plus doing your undergrad at Harvard can be STRESSFUL.
Yale and Princeton are basically the same as Harvard.
Columbia = a reach but I think with his statistics he has a chance.
Brown = a reach but his SAT scores might get him in.
Northwestern = a pretty good chance because of his SAT scores and his ECs which outweight his extra curriculars.
MIT = sorry to say but he has a low chance, I say apply anyways because that 800 on the math MAY get him a spot but the best case scenario here is wait list.
Georgetown = maybe, that is because of his SAT scores.
Boston College = match, it is not even a reach, problem is that the financial aid is terrible and it is 50k per year to attend. Not worth it for your undergrad.
Johns Hopkins = if he is going into the medical field I think they may end up accepting him because of his volunteer hours and his time spent on the essays.
Best bets on the list: Columbia and Johns Hopkins.
PS: College Confidential is a waste of time.
References :
November 29th, 2009 at 4:56 am
well as you probley know his sat’s are amazing, but his gpa and class rank are average. He probley has a shot at any of those schools, but that would be only if he wrote killer essays. I wouldnt get his hopes up, but if they are just for reach schools, i’d say pick 3 favotires and you never know…
References :
November 29th, 2009 at 5:17 am
Likely YES:
University of Virginia at Charlottesville
Northwestern University
Boston College
Johns Hopkins
Possible YES:
Brown University
Georgetown University
Likely NO:
Harvard University
Yale University
Princeton University
Columbia University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
If I was advising him, I’d suggest he apply to Virginia and Northwestern as his reach schools.
References :