<p>I have a pretty solid art portfolio after being in three years of art, including AP, and am wondering if this could help my admission chances. I have a 3.4 uw gpa, 3.65 w, though I got to a very challenging public school outside of Chicago. My ACT is 31 w/o any studying/prepping. I'm aware these stats are on the low side of even possibly being accepted, so am looking for anything that will help. I'm just wondering if the art will help..</p>
<p>Besides that, I just graduated high school and am taking a gap year to intern for a human rights org in D.C and then teach in Nicaragua. I have also been extremely involved in human rights orgs including Amnesty and Invisible Children, and I think these things could possibly help.</p>
<p>Explain who you are and how your interests all tie together (if they do). WashU is looking for strong students who have a lot of passion in their studies and can contribute to the WashU community in some way. It helps if you’ve visited as this indicates a lot of interest. Your best shot of acceptance is to apply ED, if you are certain that’s where you want to go.</p>
<p>Your art portfolio may help, or it may do nothing. Are you applying to their art school? Can you explain how your interests and artistic skills, your intended major, and your gap year may have some common thread? That might help.</p>
<p>I’ll second limabeans. Definitely send it in (even if you weren’t planning on doing anything in art) if you’re proud of the work. Worst case scenario, they ignore it. Best case, it sets you apart from the standard cookie cutter applications they get (25,000 this year? could be wrong). I highly, highly doubt it could hurt.</p>
<p>As to the ACT, since you’ve taken it twice, it might actually superscore out to higher than 31, based on individual breakdown.</p>
<p>It doesn’t, unfortunately. I ended up getting six points higher on reading (I really messed up my timing the first time) which brought my score up, and my only section higher on the first one was math by two points, which doesn’t make my super score higher than a 31.</p>
<p>I feel like I have an okay chance though. Thanks for the feedback!</p>
<p>If you plan to major in Art, you will be applying to Art School (even if you will be pursuing a major or a degree at A&S as well), so submitting a strong portfolio would definitely make sense, and may help with admissions. If you change your mind about majoring in art later, it is very easy to switch over to A&S.</p>
<p>If your art portfolio is really good, I’d apply to the art school since they will take it into consideration more so than any other division. Switching between schools is just a matter of filling out a form, so even if you choose not to do art it’s no problem.</p>