I applied to Umich, UNC chapel hill, and university of Wisconsin- Madison out of state EA without knowing my senior year quarter grades. They just came back and I got a B in regular English and a B- in AP Psych (I also got an A in physics and 2 choir classes, and an A- in AP Stats, regular calc, and AP Music theory). I don’t have any grade lower than a B+ (and very few of those) on my semester grades, however, it’s common for me to have lower quarter grades. With a 33 ACT and good extracurriculars, will this B and B- significantly lower my chances of being admitted? Thank you guys so much!!!
Do those three schools require counselors to send quarter grades for EA applicants?
I think so. Also, I talked to my dean, and she said since there are other people from my school applying, it would look weird for one kid to not have quarter grades.
The short answer is no. Michigan doesn’t use weighted grades so there are no +/- A =4, B=3 and so on…
They will request Midterm grades but sometimes schools send what they have…
It really comes down to your overall unweighted GPA but Michigan does like good Senior grades and students that don’t take it seriously can falter. They assume like most schools that your preparing for college at this point. Getting C and Ds won’t accomplish that.
In short, your fine. Keep in mind even with perfect scores being OOS is tougher these days at any of these schools.
Good Luck
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thank you so much! That’s very helpful.
What was your unweighted/weighted GPA at the time that you applied?
Before these grades came in, about a 3.75 UW total but 11th grade alone was 3.9 UW
ALSO UPDATE! The B in English got changed to a B+ but the B- in AP Psych won’t be changed.
UMich and UNC are going to be hard, I believe. That is a fairly low unweighted, IMO, but how does it compare to your senior class? What is your rank(even if not provided, your school will likely provide a profile to colleges that indicates what % are above a certain gpa, or in a certain range). What is the normal gpa range that gets accepted to these schools, from your HS?
Speaking about UNC particularly, my daughter’s lowest grade in high school at a high powered pubic high school in CA was an A (no A-s), she had many A+s, took 12 AP and honors courses, had 1560 on the SAT and perfect scores on her subject tests, phenomenal ECs (both performing art and multiple sports, major awards, among other things), teacher recommendations that said things like “best student in my 18 years of teaching”, and 3 of her relatives went to UNC. She was waitlisted – which is essentially a rejection from most schools – when she applied EA (well, she was also admitted to some UNC program where you have to study in the UK for your first semester of college). She ended up at Princeton. I really don’t know what it would take to get into UNC out of state, unless you are a recruited athlete. I am sorry to be a party pooper. I would set your sites on Wisconsin and Michigan.
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Got it. I have no color on UNC (not many people from my HS go and I was told it would be hard from the beginning). My school doesn’t have class rank so I’m not sure where I am. For UMich I think 3.7-4.0 are typically admitted, and from what I was told, UMich looks for more good grades and a good SAT/ACT score (I have a 33) than AP/honors classes. Thank you for your help!
Completely understandable! Yes, UNC out of state is a tough battle and I’m frankly happy for her that she ended up at Princeton and hope she’s enjoying it. My school doesn’t have A+ but I think the point is clear that I probably have a very low shot of getting in from NY with mostly A-'s and some B+'s and a B- now. I mean there’s no point in pulling the application but I’ll hope that Michigan or Wisconsin work out and am also planning on applying to many schools RD. Thank you for all of your insight!
Got it. I have no color on UNC (not many people from my HS go and I was told it would be hard from the beginning). My school doesn’t have class rank so I’m not sure where I am. For UMich I think 3.7-4.0 are typically admitted, and from what I was told, UMich looks for more good grades and a good SAT/ACT score (I have a 33) than AP/honors classes. Thank you for your help!
How about your weighted GPA?
3.8 for 9-11th grade (I didn’t do any honors 9 and 10th and only 1 AP 11th but that’s normal given my school) and then senior year 1st quarter alone 4.0 Weighted 3.5 UW
^^ also idk if this makes any difference, but my school doesn’t report any sort of GPA to colleges (they just list out the classes and the grades received).
I am more familiar with OOS applicants to UNC-CH than Michigan or Wisconsin. For unhooked applicants, the successful OOS applicants to UNC had ACT scores of 33 or above, and usually around a 4.5 weighted GPA. So you may be at a disadvantage in that regard. Also, be aware (if you aren’t already) that UNC caps the number of entering first-year students to 18% of the first-year class; when you consider that about 2/3 of the 40,000+ first-year applicants are from OOS, you can appreciate that admission is difficult for OOS first-year applicants to UNC (unless one or both of your parents attended Carolina, in which case your chances are slightly better).
Michigan is also tough for OOS applicants, as other posters have noted. I think that you are in good shape for Wisconsin.
In case you weren’t aware of it, the Common Data Set for universities and colleges can be a wealth of information. For example, Section C7 lists academic and non-academic admissions factors and tells you how they are weighted by the school (UNC places more emphasis on standardized test scores than GPA, whereas Michigan is the reverse); Sections C9-C11 give some objective data for matriculating students in a given academic year, which may be helpful to you for comparison purposes with your own information.
Best of luck to you!
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It may depend on the school or the specific state. Multiple kids get into UNC OOS from 2 of the private schools in our area, and plenty are non-athletes/legacies, nor are the tippy-top kids in the class. The ones I know did not have off the chart scores either
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got it. if you don’t mind me asking, what state do you live in? I go to private school in NY. Thank you so much for your insight!
Thank you so much! The info about the Common Data Set is really useful. If UNC places more emphasis on test scores than GPA that may be in my favor, but it’s still a long shot and knew that all along. Although OOS, I go to a Michigan feeder school, but the grades may bring me down I guess, but thank you for letting me know I’ll be in ok shape for Wisconsin. I also intend on finding an ED2 and applying to many schools regular decision. Really appreciate all of the help!