<p>stressed: he mentioned schools which have tough competition in general AND for his major, as they are among the top schools in the country for PS/PP and IR. Their adcoms do not need to stop to take a chance on kid X because, okay, his junior grades are great. </p>
<p>And, he has described “participation” in a few things- he has not described any real responsibilities or anything challenging he works on. “Leading” a fundraising team is often just a way an org gets some people to commit a few more hours. Where I live, they call around asking people to start a neighborhood team. (I also don’t know what it means to be on the board of directors for a state.) This all has to be clearly thought out for the Common App- and maybe something impressive added this summer and fall, something that shows vision, committment and willingness to do “the hard stuff.” That won’t change the grade situation, but may present him as a stronger candidate at other schools he likes.</p>
<p>To those who are stressing my grades- my gpa isn’t bad, at all! Yes it has been low, and yes its not the highest it can be, but I brought it up, and the grades from this previous semester will probably bring it up to a 3.8/4.1</p>
<p>@lookingforward
“I’m involved with the governing body of my state (I’m on the board of directors).”
how many kids can say that? it shows influence in the community. and his classes are pretty challenging. you guys are saying that an f and some d’s is an automatic reject, and though I agree it will have a real negative impact on his app., these are HOLLISTIC admissions. they’ll consider the app as a whole.</p>
<p>stressed: what does it mean to be on the “board of directors” for a state? Is this perhaps something international? But more important, how is OP involved??? Attending meetings? Or implementing some project related to teens? Does he listen to speeches or make them? Does he work should-to-shoulder with adults- or sit with them? Get a copy of a report, to read- or write a portion of the report? See the diff? Just mentioning it does not show “influence in the community.” The only thing it does show is that someone (but who?) trusted him enough to give him a seat. That’s not bad. It’s not enough. The explanation is still missing. It’s OP’s responsibility to let us know, not ours to guess. This is a common issue in college apps, too. And, what makes his classes more challenging than the same APs at another school? We don’t know that. </p>
<p>Holistic means they look at the whole. It doesn’t mean they skip some real issues on the record. I am involved in all this, as an adult.</p>
<p>The board of directors that I am on is my states board of directors for the states governing body in swimming. I was elected by the athletes, and I serve as a liaison between the board, which makes all the decisions in the sport in that state, and the athletes. So I attend meeting, work with adults, talk with swimmers, create any legislation or proposals to the states swimming…etc</p>
<p>Stefan, right now you need some thinking time. This liaison thing is good. I don’t know what it says that you didn’t originally mention it in a more straightforward way. It begs a few questions. Are you able to realistically self-assess? What else have you done and not mentioned here? Do you have GC support? Or, is he/she being discouraging? What’s up?</p>
<p>Sometimes, the best way to pick a college is to seriously assess your style and strengths, as well as any needs or weaknesses. Rather than knee-jerk going for a “top-name” school, go for a “top-Stefan” experience. If you could do so well jr year, surely you could be a top performer at a great LAC and later get into a fabulous grad program (which is pretty mandatory for a career in PS/PP or IR- and is, so to speak, the “maker of men.”) You could be a winner. But, you can’t find that great list of undergrad alternatives until you open your mind to them. </p>
<p>Cornell, Brown, Penn, etc, can sit back and cherry pick. Any applicant, when he/she sets sights on one of these, has to be deadly realistic. You have no idea how stellar the pool is, after the first big batch of pretenders has been eliminated. Their grades are more consistent, they used summer school differently and their EC’s are lengthy. You don’t need CC to encourage you, you need some time to find the school where you can excel. As I said before, look at course catalogs, profs’ backgrounds and projects, study abroad and how the school helps you find internships. Start with that USNWR rating list, if you have to. Good luck.</p>