Chance me for CEHD/CFANS? (OOS ORM yikes)

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Minnesota
1

Long time no type, CC!

I am a rising senior at a good, large (2700+ students) public high school that does not rank its students. I live in Northern California, and have dual Pakistani-American nationality/citizenship. I was born in Pakistan, and speak Urdu and Hindi with native fluency, and Mandarin with adept conversational skills.

I hope to major in something around the likes of environmental policy, human ecology, whatnot…
GPA/ Courses:

The hardest courses I could take in every subject besides math.

My 9-11 GPA was about 3.47/3.6

Honors track for English/History, “varsity” academics, highest GPA in school’s Women’s basketball program.
APs:
Soph: Euro.
Junior: Env. Sci, Lang, USH.
Senior (predicted): Lit, Gov, Psych, Stats, Bio, Chinese, Macro/Micro

Standardized test scores
SAT: Just took last October, 720 CR, 730 M, 710 W (9 essay).
SAT Subject Tests in Math 1, Lit, and USH.

Extracurricular activities, my pride and joy!

Elected to national rights council with major organization.
Founder and president of a club at school relating to social justice in an international context. 140+ registered members.
Involved in a political organization at chapter, regional, state and national level. Writing for major organizational newspaper.
Mentor/trainer for fifth graders.
Work 45+ hours/week during summer with art/science camp kids, youngest to be hired by the company.
Polyglot! I study Arabic and Farsi at home with my parents, Inuktitut on my own, Chinese at school. The only non-native speaker in the program.

Hooks? I’m unsure. First in family to attend school in the states. Identical twin. I like puppies.

2

High match to safety. You’re almost a certainty. We love bringing Californians in, and other than Swedes, there really isn’t an over-represented minority here.

Your numbers are solid for CFANS and CEHD, and I’d even say it’s likely you’ll be invited to Honors.

3

Thank you so much, I hadn’t even thought about honors… While you’re being all kind and helpful and whatnot, when do you suppose the application will open?

4

July.

http://admissions.tc.umn.edu/admissioninfo/fresh_deadlines.html

5

I don’t have an exact date… but my DS (who will be applying for CBS) was told ‘later this summer’. My guess is that means sometime in July.

6

@Mamelot Thanks! I actually called in (for other reasons) and ending up asking about the app, they mentioned it might not be until the 2nd or 3rd week of July. Regardless, it’s so close!

@khidhala Thanks again! Good luck to your DS :slight_smile:

7

Pssst! I totally sent my application in but left out a pretty significant special circumstance. Any admits, current students, parents willing to give advice? (I’ve also stepped up my EC game, and I’m so anxious for October)

8

@freezycool you should call Admissions and let them know your application needs to be amended. They should be able to give you any instructions on how to do so.

9

@Mamelot I actually know how to amend it (it’s by snail mail! aaaah!), but I’m not sure if I should necessarily include the info- I don’t know if they would take it as me throwing myself a pity party or a legitimate reason for my grades :frowning:

10

@freezycool if you believe it’s an important aspect of your application then you should by all means include the information. My D was a turnaround situation from horrible grades her sophomore year and she definitely included that information on all her applications. If there is something there that would otherwise hurt your chances for admission then providing the backstory will be a way to explain what happened and how you resolved it, rather than just looking like a pity party. IMHO. :slight_smile:

11

@freezycool totally agree with all that mamelot says. No-one in admissions will view special circumstances as ‘pity party’. Your numbers are great, but you know the specifics and if there is something you think needs explaining, by all means amend.

12

I would say a 3.47 GPA is not a disaster. Your SAT is a 333 ACT equivalent. Did you have a rough start in 9th grade as many students do? I would say your GPA should not be an issue for CEHD or CFANS.

13

It was actually a 3.86 but took a nosedive soph/junior year- and my special circumstances is related to that drop! (Also thank you all so so so very much for the help. Thanks to my being an immigrant, I haven’t had much college help, and trying to pull everything together would turn all my hair white if i didn’t have resources like this!)

14

@freezycool your stats alone should be good for CEHD/CFANS, especially the high SAT. As @Khidala mentioned your ability as a polyglot and your Pakistani heritage actually are likely to be an advantage for UMN. You have PM’d me regarding the special circumstance and I’m putting together a response for you so hold on a bit and you’ll see it . . .

15

Look at the below links. If you are in the middle 50%, probably a good chance of admittance.

http://www.oir.umn.edu/student/characteristics/term/1149/count/10644

http://www.oir.umn.edu/student/characteristics/term/1149/count/10694

16

@CyclonesGrad I thought I’d explored every nook and cranny of their website but this is new to me! Thanks a bunch! It looks like my SAT places me well into the top percentile, which is a huge relief- and my school doesn’t rank, but I elaborated on academic awards on my application. Thanks again! I really hope I can tack on an “Accepted!” post at the end of this in three months’ time.