Can I Get Into Any Of My Colleges?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi! I’m kind of worried about getting in to schools, especially many of my top 3. I come from a white-collar Northeastern family, so theres a lot of pressure to go to some kind of nice liberal arts school. And I like nice liberal arts schools. They’re wonderful. But they’re really hard to get into and I, admittedly, do not have the most amazing record.
My GPA is pretty bad because of my school’s ludicrous weighting. Many students have emailed the superintendent about this before, but there is so much more credit put on math and sciences (and none on anything else) that while my GPA should have been a 3.7 last year according to ALL calculators, it was a 3.3! My first choice Wesleyan University, doesn’t require GPA and instead requests a transcript. Mine is pretty good, but not outstanding. There’s mostly As, some Bs, and through my whole high school career (Roughly 40 classes?) about 5 C+s. Ouch, I know. The good thing is, for the 3 that occurred sophomore year I have it noted in the recommendation from my guidance counsellor that there was very serious family trouble at the time that distracted from much of my academics and kept me from school. In my junior year, 1 C+ was in AP Chemistry and another in Advanced PreCalculus, hence the poor GPA weighting.
However, I test pretty well and am expecting around a 1420 on my next SAT (my last was a 1400 and I got a point shy of a perfect score on the essay.) My essay should be AMAZING (I have a really wonderful topic and great references) and for many of the schools I’m applying to, I have a full portfolio with 2 completed screenplays (107 page and 44 page), 3 short stories (all about 20 page), and 5 sketches (11-ish pages each). I also have a recommendation from a Professor at Tisch NYU where I took a class over the summer in addition to other recs from my teachers. For extracurriculars, I play 2 sports (Lacrosse and Soccer), and I’m in Model UN, “SHIP” (a middle school integration club), GirlUP, German Club (President), History Club, and World Language Honors Society (Officer). I also have my own very successful club that I am the president and founder of with 60+ members from multiple schools. For language I am also over a year ahead doing an independent study of 2nd year of college level German. OK. Now that all that is cleared, here are the schools I’m applying to.

  • St Lawrence University (I have a legacy here on both sides and from multiple cousins, uncles, and aunts as well as both parents and my step-parent)
  • University of Vermont (my grandfather is a legacy)
  • Hobart and William Smith Colleges
  • Bard College
  • New York University
    Here’s where it gets tricky…
  • Colby. My dad wanted me to apply because my grandma went there but I don’t think I’ll get in.
  • Wesleyan University. This is my first choice and I am applying early decision as well as interviewing here. I have 2 family friends as interview coaches (they do it for Duke and Dartmouth) so hopefully it goes well, and I am also overnighting. AND submitting my portfolio. I know my GPA is FAR below par but I am also turning in my transcript instead. I’ve seen scattergrams and I know that I am definitely on the worse side but people doing a bit worse HAVE been accepted in the past. This is more just a questionnaire to see what I should expand upon to get in. PLEASE HELP! And also let me know about my chances for those other schools…
    Thanks!
2

Also! My AP Scores that I’m sending in were 4 on AP Human Geo and 5 on AP English Language

3

Which schools do you think are your safeties?

Do you know what your budget is?

I wouldn’t worry about how your high school computes GPA. Universities will see your actual grades.

4

St Lawrence I would put as safety because they are pretty big on legacy, and then University of Vermont because people I know who did much worse than me in school got in. What do you think about the others?

5

I think you’ll have acceptances on that list. I think Wes is pretty unlikely, and Colby & NYU will be tough as well. The people with worse GPAs may have been hooked. But your list is not unreasonable.

6

I think you’ll be fine at St. Lawrence, Hobart & Wm Smith, and UVM. Wes is a reach, as you know, but worth a shot. NYU and Colby are reaches. I’m not familiar with Bard’s admission stats.

7

Whatever your school’s calculation system is, the problem is not so much the 3.3, but the 5 C’s, esp the 2 Jr year in AP classes. Wes, esp, will see that as you struggling at the academic level that they expect. Wesleyan is explicit that they look at 1) the rigor of your transcript (the only factor that is considered ‘very important’), 2) your grades (‘important’, same as class rank, LoRs & essay), 3) your standardized testing (‘considered’, same as interviews, ECs, etc). So, based on their criteria, good test scores are not likely to outweigh Cs in rigorous classes.

I don’t like being discouraging (and everybody knows of wild card outcomes), but it is important that you have other, more likely places you also love, so that if it doesn’t go your way you have alternatives that you are genuinely happy with.