<p>I had a 2.0 in high school for some certain reasons, which I have a good explanation for. At community college I have approximately a 3.7 in 70 semester hours where I have taken Calc I and II, Physics w/lab, Chemistry w/lab, Elementary German I and II, Intermediate German I and II, and nearly all of the general education requirements I attend the University of Miami where I pulled a 3.3 with 15 semester hours for the one semester I was there. However, I had to leave due to something personal and the dean as well as the president said they are going to be writing me outstanding letters of recommendations to whatever school I wish to attend. I also have superior extracurricular activities, leadership positions held, president of clubs, and other significant letters of recommendations from professors and such. Do you think they will be willing to overlook my poor high school performance, and do you think I have a good shot for admission assuming I have good essays, etc? I have never had less than a B in college.</p>
<p>Firstly you need to understand something basic about general admissions: When a school lists what it wants from an applicant (GPA, SAT, EC, essays), it doesn’t let you pick and choose. When they say GPA, SAT, EC, essays, they mean GPA AND SAT AND EC AND essays, not GPA OR SAT OR EC OR essays. If you have an outstanding recommendation, then you’ve aced the recommendation portion. It doesn’t have a thing to do with your GPA.</p>
<p>That said, you were not specific about what you do outside of class. Please supply your information in the standard format. I don’t want to discourage you from applying, but you should know what you’re going up against. Of the 10 people I knew in high school who were admitted to Rice, 8 had 4.0s, 2 had one B. All of them took the heaviest AP courseload the school had to offer. Of the 7 people I knew in high school who weren’t admitted to Rice, all 7 had more than one B. From a logical perspective my data proves nothing. However, it does strongly suggest that Rice has a pretty strict view of grades.</p>
<p>As a prospective transfer student I gave careful consideration to the similarities between those I knew who were admitted to Rice and those I knew who weren’t. Going off that, I made a 4.0 first semester and did no EC. I merely entered in high school EC and awards. I found two professors to write me ridiculous recs, and then made lots of points on my application about why I know I should be in Houston and at Rice. I wrote one academic essay and one non academic essay. A few months later I was admitted and that’s all there was to it.</p>
<p>I disagree that they are THAT strict about grades. Yes, they’re strict, but if the rest of your application is really outstanding, a few B’s might not hurt you as much, especially if they are solid/high B’s in challenging courses.</p>
<p>It’s a hollistic process. I got in, and I’ve had 5 or 6 B’s in high school, a couple of them being low B’s (in BS classes like spanish and PE (I refused to wear the stupid uniform a few times))
Most of my B’s were early on in high school, though, and my grades skyrocketed junior/senior year when I actually started trying.</p>
<p>But it’s really a crapshot. Good grades aren’t a guarantee of admission, and less-than-perfect grades don’t mean automatic denial. </p>
<p>And I don’t know what the environment is for transfer students…</p>
<p>Really, I think it all depends on whether the admissions officer who’s reading your application got laid the night before.</p>
<p>“Really, I think it all depends on whether the admissions officer who’s reading your application got laid the night before.”</p>
<p>HAHA! Yes, I agree. I think that my admissions officer got laid, fell in love, won the lottery, AND won an all-expense paid trip to Hawaii which also included a free car with free gas for the rest of his life.</p>
<p>I got a “B” every semester in HS, except ONE semester in my junior year and the fall of my senior year. My SATs (regular and subject) were TRES horrible. The only thing I had going for me were my GPA, level of classes (my hardest classes had the B’s in them), the fact that I live in GA, and my essays! lol!</p>