I’m a junior in high school and I’m very interested in Florida State University, but I’m unsure if I have a chance of getting in. I live in New York and I know that out of state applicants have more difficult standards than someone in state. My grades from eighth grade, freshman year and sophomore year are disappointing for me personally because I feel that I didn’t realize the influence they would have when I apply to colleges until this year. I have held about a 3.4- 3.45 gpa and this year I have maintained around a 3.5 gpa and am a full IB student (But that is my unweighted gpa). I am a varsity soccer player and did lacrosse for two years and track for junior year ( I plan to do it senior year too) in order to stay consistent for college. I am also a part of atleast 3 or 4 clubs and hope to be a president of one next year. I haven’t taken an SAT yet (I’m taking my first in March) but I have a tutor and I’m hoping to get AT LEAST 1200 (totally random goal because I don’t really have a range to guess around) but hopefully higher. I just want to know an outside opinion on my chances at admission and if there is anything I can do to make myself stand out or improve my application. Thank you !!
The Florida universities (including FSU) really like IB, so I would say focus on getting your grades up this year. Your weighted GPA should put you within FSUs range.
A 1200 SAT will not get you into FSU. They had a record number of applications this year (the second year in a row at least), and it’s likely they will break that record again next year. The middle 50 percent of accepted students in the first round had SAT scores ranging from 1290-1400 (https://news.fsu.edu/news/university-news/2018/02/06/florida-state-receives-record-breaking-number-admissions-applications/). My recommendation here would be to keep doing the SAT prep and plan on taking the test again in May. You should be able to get a rough idea of what your score could be by looking at your PSAT score and taking some of the practice tests available.
Beyond SAT prep and getting your grades up for this year, I’d recommend taking the time this summer to work on your essays and resume (FSU accepts a resume) and make sure everything shines.
Focus your resume on quality rather than quantity for your ECs. A long list of ECs that you barely spend any time on will not resonate as much as a small set of ECs and jobs that you devote a significant amount of time to. Use the resume to call out accomplishments that aren’t necessarily tied to being president, vice-president, etc. Make sure that your guidance counselor gets a copy so that he or she can provide more details in the GC documentation that FSU may require.
Determine which teachers you would like to write letters of recommendation now, and let them know of your request before the end of the school year. It’s simply a matter of respect to give the teacher a heads-up and plenty of time to work on it. Given them a copy of the resume you put together to help them add depth to their letters.
I don’t remember when the Common App and Coalition App release their essay prompts, but I’m pretty sure that it’s early summer. Start working on your essays then rather than waiting for September. Make sure you get reliable people to review your essays for content and any errors.
Most FSU admits have weighted GPA’s over 4.0. If you are over 4.2 I would say you are well in range.
For the SAT you definitely want to be over 1290. If you can get even higher you could actually get an out of state tuition waiver. I know two students from New York who pay in state tuition because they had ACT scores over 32.
@esaturn55 The OOS waiver is a great deal. I think their was a pretty big jump this year in the threshold for it. In previous years, an ACT score of 30 got the full OOS tuition waiver. I believe 32 was the cutoff this year. It’s prudent to expect the threshold for next year to be even higher.
OP didn’t mention needed merit aid, but another great option that FSU has for getting in-state tuition is the FYA program (First Year Abroad). Students spend their freshman year at one of FSU’s foreign campuses (Fall, Spring, and Summer) then spend their remaining time in Tallahassee. They get in-state tuition when in Tallahassee, and the cost of the FYA is ~$8K less then spending 3 semesters at the Tallahassee campus.