<p>So I'm applying to various art schools/animation programs, including USC School of Cinematic Arts, Emerson, and Carnegie Mellon CFA (the rest are art schools that basically only look at your portfolio). Obviously the quality of the portfolio is a big part of the admissions decision at any art program, but that is entirely in the hands of admissions. What I want to know is how my academics will affect the decision. Will these stats weigh me down/prevent me from being considered even if I would otherwise be accepted me based on the merit of my portfolio?</p>
<p>Asian, F
GPA: 2.84 on a 4.0 scale</p>
<p>SAT I:
Total 2170
Math 650
Reading 800
Writing 720
SAT II:
Math 620
Literature 710</p>
<p>AP Courses Taken:
Literature
US History
Spanish
Psychology
Language and Composition
Studio Art
Calculus AB</p>
<p>ECs
- 400+ hours of high school drama, including acting and tech, 3 years
- International Thespian Troupe Officer, 1 year
- Young Shakespeare Workshop, acted in several Shakespeare plays, 200+ hours 3 years
- Officer of school's environmental activism club, was there from the beginning
- Volunteer work: cleaning litter on streets, weeding out invasive species in parks, painting/set-building in theater (all of those consistently for 3 years), teacher assistant at a Chinese school (2 years), day camp counselor (2 summers)
- Environmental/LGBT Rights related political activism (e.g. raising awareness and organizing demonstrations), 2 years
- Band, 2 years
- Amnesty International, 2 years</p>
<p>Other Notes
- Dealt with clinical depression throughout my high school career, resulting in my current cumulative GPA.
- I'm mostly worried about my awful GPA... my SAT IIs are pretty low too, but they aren't required for applying to CFA/SCA I just took them for the sake of having the option to apply to non-art programs. I did hear of a CMU School of Drama student who had a 1400 SAT (not out of 1600; 1400 out of 2400) and other CFA students with similarly low GPAs and test scores who still got in, so I'm hopeful.*</p>