Is a weighted of 3.84 and an unweighted of 3.75 even a possibility for schools like Berkley, Stanford, or any of the UC?Answered
For context, I am a junior. I know my GPA is low, and my chances based off of that are slim to none, however, I was wondering if there is anything that can "make it up", even slightly. I am focusing heavily on my extracurriculars. Please give me your advice and insight, will they help me at all? If so, how much? What other things could I do to boost my chances, even if it is slim?
I have currently won in 5 international competitions in piano, and I plan on participating in more. Some of these are quite notable in the music community, others not so much. If I remember correctly, it is: second place, first place, gold, gold, third. I currently have two results waiting from another competition. Because I scored gold and first, I performed for an album and at Carnegie Hall. I have been playing the piano for 12 years as of now, if that is useful to provide as well.
I have also won numerous local competitions and competitions like Junior Festival, which I believe is hosted nation-wide, averaging to about 3-4 local competitions a year.
The issue is, I am not pursuing music. I will more than likely go into a major tech-oriented like software development or computer science- all very competitive majors.
I do have some tech ECs to include, such as Gold in cyberpatriot, NCL (both of which I have only started doing this year) and I will look into other national competitions I can join. I have and am working towards certifications from the University of Michigan and Google for Python coding. I will likely pursue other certifications as well. I want to start a project that can tie both my music interest and tech interest in one, which can hopefully be released and be a tool for other musicians to use.
Lastly, I have always had an interest in art, but I haven't competed for it yet. I do have an art account, with around 20K followers and I have done commissions as well, where either partial or all profits went to charity. I do have service hours and I am in a fundraiser group, but it just started and I am not sure what will become of it.
I'm so sorry for this being so long, there may be a couple more EC's I can add, but I can't think of it at the moment. All in all, do my extracurriculars matter? Are they good enough to make up a little of my poor GPA? Is there anything else I can do? Thank you so so much for reading all this, I really appreciate it.
This was actually incredibly helpful! Thank you so much Sarah!
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3 answers
Hi @jaydenli!
A 3.75 GPA doesn't disqualify you from getting into top schools. Your extracurriculars are impressive and do partially make up for your low GPA. What's also important is your course rigor. If you have a 3.75 with AP and/or honors courses, it's better than someone with a slightly higher GPA who has taken only regular courses.
Try your best to improve your GPA. If available at your high school, take AP or honors classes. You're doing fine with EC's, so no need to worry about them.
Hope this helps!
As others have said, your GPA will not hold you back from getting into top schools. A 3.75 UWGPA is great GPA all around. Admissions officers do not let in students just for having perfect grades, since so many students have those. Rather, they are looking for your academics to be good enough to show that you will be academically successful at their school. Any GPA above 3.7 shows that.
Your ECs are also very impressive! Just participating in national and international competitions is not something that many applicants do. The intersectionality that your profile demonstrates is also admirable - having great achievements in CS, art, and music will make you stand out.
While your GPA is good, you could improve your academic profile by scoring at least a 1500 on the SAT or 34 on the ACT. These scores will make even more of a difference if you submit them to test-optional schools.
Hope this helps!
Hello. First of all, I am very amazed by your extracurriculars. Secondly, yes your GPA is low but you must try your luck and never lose hope before applying. I am a personal statement expert and as you know I assist people in their successful admission to the desired institute. I have seen many cases similar to yours. You now have to focus on your studies as well as extracurriculars. Many universities give admission on the basis of your other activities. You just have to describe yourself amazingly. I wish you all the luck.
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BTW - I know you want to go into tech, but /saying/ that you'll do music on your application will make officers focus more on your amazing piano awards, and they (usually for US schools) can't make you do music once you're in. hope this helps!