Hi! I am a Junior looking at University of Michigan and I am planning on going into Biology. I have a 3.71 unweighted GPA and a 4.5 weighted GPA. My ACT score is a 32, but I am retaking it and am hoping to increase it one or two points. I am in all the honors or AP classes that my school has. I will also be taking the SAT in March.
My EC’s are okay. I have over 100 hours of volunteer work from an animal shelter. I also participate in my church’s youth group and I tutor both in school and for about 8 hours a week outside of school. I am in Model UN, Student Council, National Honors Society, JV lacrosse, the Suicide Awareness Committee, and I will be doing a summer internship with a doctor who is doing a diabetes study.
I don’t know if this makes a difference, but I am Cuban, which I hear can boost me a little with colleges. I also hear that it is good that I am a female minority going into STEM, again I don’t know if that makes a difference or not. Overall, what are my chances in getting into University of Michigan? They have a great Bio program so I would love to be a part of that! Thank you!
Yes, you have a chance. Your UW GPA is a bit low, but if raise your ACT score and put a lot of time and effort into your application, you should have a decent shot.
Your UW GPA is too low. They care about that one because that is the one that is less likely to differ from school to school.
You don’t need a ton of ECs. You just need to be able to talk about the ones you are involved in substantially. Trying to participate in an activity just to lengthen your list, but then not being very committed does not reflect positively on you.
The average GPA for UM 2015 entering class is 3.85. How can a GPA of 3.71 be considered TOO low? I also fail to see how GPA can be “less likely to differ from school to school.”
What I mean is the algorithm which high schools use to calculate unweighted GPAs is less likely to differ from high school to high school. And I know that with 3.85 being the average GPA for entering students, that means there are students above it and there are students below it. However, keep in mind that they do admit athletes with substantially lower GPAs (sometimes even below 3.0). The typical student should still be expected to have at least a 3.8 GPA if they want a decent shot at getting admitted.