u/f-fishy

i know unweighted GPAs are based on a 4.0 scale. that said, do A+'s count as a 4.0 too or a 4.33? commonapp only has options for 4.0, 5.0 and others that aren't a 4.33.

in short, when reporting my GPA on a 4.0 scale, do i convert my A+'s to a 4.0 or a 4.33 (as my school does it). which one would also be considered unweighted, and which scale would colleges convert my GPA to? (4.0 or 4.33)

between brown and columbia, which uni has more leniency towards grades and emphasis on ecs/essays?

Astronomy/astrophysics major in general

Demographics

• Gender: F
• Race/Ethnicity: Asian
• Residence: MA
• Income Bracket: Middle class
• Type of School: Hyper-competitive public (might be a feeder)
• Hooks: None

Intended Major(s): Astronomy/Biomedical engineering

Academics

• GPA (UW/W): 3.79/4.00UW (this is where i messed up the hardest and i fell off in junior year)
• Rank (or percentile): Doesn't rank and only top 10% is reported, but I'm obviously not on there
• APs: AP Human Geo, APWH, AP Macro, AP Micro, AP Physics
• Senior Year Course Load: APES, AP Psych, AP Lang, AP Calc AB

Standardized Testing

• SAT: 1530 (RW 740, M 790)

Extracurriculars/Activities

1. Published a book on astronomy
2. Data science research internship at a top university
3. Led a medical non-profit---organized hospital visits and raised funds for 100s of surgeries in a rural part of my home country
4. Computational neuroscience research internship
5. Led another medical non-profit---organized hospital visits, raised funds for 45+ low-income families and sick children, hosted first-aid workshops in partnership with a top medical university at my home country
6. Astronomy blog with 20k+ reads and 5k+ likes
7. Astrophotography
8. Co-founded and led a tutoring non-profit in the U.S. and developed a STEM afterschool program that's integrated in several elementary schools
9. Piano and performed at numerous cafes

Awards/Honors

1. 2x finalist in an international astro comp
2. Featured on foreign national news
3. Semi-finalist for an international physics comp
4. Winner of a national poetry comp (2%)
5. 1st place in a Sudoku tournament

Letters of Recommendation

Junior yr AP Physics teacher: 8/10 (i obviously didn't do well in his class but i made really big efforts throughout the year to get his help)

Junior yr AP Econ teacher: 6/10 (im not too close with him but his class was pretty hard and i was one of the few people who did well in it)

Essays

a lot of my personal experiences are pretty niche and unique so i'll write about those? my home country is a big part of my identity as well so that's def going to be included

Colleges

Columbia (ED?)

NYU (ED2)

BU

Northeastern

Northwestern

Fordham

The UCs

(other suggestions?)

Notes

- my extenuating circumstances are just really basic. i'm a first-gen immigrant who moved to the U.S. after my sophomore year and spent a huge chunk of time helping out my parents who speak very little english.

- admittedly, i bit off more than i could chew and took on rigorous coursework that i obviously couldn't handle. The thing is, i had straight A's from before my junior year and still do now, except for my precalc and AP physics class in which i had gotten C+'s for in the first semester. now in the 2nd semester, i have a B+ and a B, respectively, in the same classes. the rest are A's. i'm also aware that this looks horrible considering i'm applying as a STEM major.

- i need to know if i'm delusional and that i'm just wasting my ED1 for Columbia. i'm def gonna ED NYU but i feel like i would have a greater chance at getting into a top school if i swap out my Columbia's ED slot for a more attainable school. also i have 2 spikes.......is that good or bad

I currently have her on 58cr and 260cd without her sig weapon. Playing in a freeze team gives her +15cr which would bring it up to ~73cr. Is this not enough?

Maybe this is stupid. It probably is, but no matter what I cannot get over the fact that life will go on regardless of whether I get into a good college or not. I don't think I'm ready to face years of hard work going down the drain if I don't get the results that I expect.