I have a killer list of over 500 hours of community service, got accepted as a semifinalist to a US youth ambassadorship study abroad program, I’m heavily involved in the arts (hoping to audition for a choral scholarship), and I’m in leadership positions with 8 clubs this year along with more participation, my SAT is an 1850 and my ACT is a 30…
however my GPA is less than par.
I have a 3.7 weighted and a 3.1 unweighted…which is completely off from what a Bryn Mawr student should be.
I want this school more than anything I just really screwed up sophomore year. Is there a somewhat a good chance for me if I write a kick butt passionate essay and apply early decision I?
Also, I wrote my essay on being greatful and how that’s guided me through life with passion and determination. Should I keep with that theme or should I switch to explaining why I didn’t do well sophomore year? I don’t want to seem like I’m making excuses because I don’t want them to think I’ll make excuses for mistakes while at their school.
I’m coming to visit their school in a week, does that help at all? I’ve heard at some schools it does because it shows you’re serious.
Also, if I check no to financial aid (which I’ll get 3,000 at most), will it improve my odds? Will I still be able to get merit scholarship?
Thanks in advance for your inputs!
What you might wanna do right now is to study real hard for the SAT and retake it in October. A 2100+ SAT could really help pull that 3.1 unweighted GPA. Also, Bryn Mawr is one of the schools that do track students’ interest, meaning they’ll note if you visit campus, do interview, etc. so you could prepare for an interview when you visit the school, it’ll mean something. And from my POV, I doubt that using your personal statement to explain your bad grades in sophomore year would be a good investment. As long as you show a trend of your grades increasing year after year, don’t worry about it too much. About financial aid, asking for it or not isn’t a make or break factor, but let’s say you and somebody with a similar profile are both on the edge, they’ll more likely take the one that offers to pay full tuition (or the one with really high SAT-- because they wanna raise the SAT average) so definitely study hard for the SAT.
I’m also applying to Bryn Mawr ED1. Good luck to both of us! 
I wouldn’t worry about the SAT. You did better on the ACT so if you want to get scores up, focus on ACT. Yes, do visit and interview. It will show interest. Sounds like you’ve shown improvement since sophomore year which is a positive for your application. The best thing you can do is apply ED if Bryn Mawr is definitely your first choice. It will increase your odds of getting accepted.