3.2 gpa but very high test scores and strong ec's?

Parents Forum
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<p>I’m kind of wondering that myself as CMU’s strengths are mainly hardcore STEM subjects in the engineering/CS/math areas or Dramatic Arts. Heard from many CMU alums themselves that the humanities and social science departments didn’t compare and actually discouraged their kids from applying if their interests laid outside of those strengths. </p>

<p>NYU’s econ department is respectable, but here the question is why NYU considering there are many other colleges that are comparable or even stronger in that/related fields and yet, won’t be so miserly with FA/scholarships. Some of them are probably located within the Californian public university systems. </p>

<p>Also, their econ department tends to be very quantitatively oriented so if you prefer writing to crunching numbers or are otherwise more qualitatively-oriented…may not be the best department for you. A similar issue in a related social science department is one major reason a college classmate refused to consider NYU for grad school. Also knew of a recent undergrad who switched out of poli-sci for history after a year because he felt their quantitative-orientation was too narrow and blinkered philosophically.</p>

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<p>Regarding UMD College Park, I just pulled info. From their website. Avg. GPA of students admitted for fall of 2012 was 4.11 weighted, and the 25 - 75% range for SATs was 1250 - 1400, and avg. ACT was 28 - 32. I was told my an admissions person that only 32% of applicants were admitted directly to the engineering college, and those admitted had an average weighted GPA of over 4.2, and math SAT scores averaged over 700. It seems to be getting harder to get in each year. My son was accepted this year, but I worry that my younger son, currently a junior, may not be accepted with similar stats, and it’s currently his 1st choice (and our state flagship and where I attended, so I’m hoping one of my kids attends there).</p>