Hello, I’m a OOS junior from Florida, please chance me for CSU- Boulder!
My stats:
3.5 unweighted GPA ( hoping to raise to a 3.6 by the end of this semester )
4.35 weighted GPA ( hoping to raise to a 4.4-4.5 by the end of this semester )
In a competitive magnet program at my school ( 62/580 top 11% hoping to move to top 10 )
Courseload:
Freshman: 1 AP, 3 Honors
Sophomore: 1 AP, 2 Honors
Junior (currently) : 2 AP’s, 3 honors
Senior year ( next years schedule ) : 3 AP’s and 4 honors
In total by the end of senior year : 7 AP’s, 12 honors
(AP Human Geo, AP World History, AP Bio, AP US History, AP Psych, AP Econ, AP Stats) by the end of senior year
ACT: 24. 30 Reading, 25 W, 19 Math, 22 Science ( this sucks I know, I’m retaking in April ): )
Lots of EC’s
Co-Founder and Historian of Creative Writing Club
Spanish National Honor Society
Deca class secretary
Key Club
S.H.A.P.E
Golden Volunteer at MODS
Volunteered at BROWARD Hospital
JV Lax co-captain
Doing varsity next year
Mu alpha theta
200+ CS
Chances me for acceptance with low ACT?
Also does CSU use weighted GPA or unweighted?
Bump.
Hi there. One important data point you left out is – what do you plan to study? When you apply, you will need to designate your desired major. The degree of competitiveness varies based on the major you are seeking. For example, engineering and business majors are more competitive for entry, at both schools. If you do apply for a competitive major, such as business, and are not accepted into that, the University may still accept you into, in CU Boulder’s case, the College of Arts & Sciences (about 80% of CU Boulder students are in the College of Arts & Sciences, which has a host of majors within it).
But if you are not going for a competitive major, then your current stats give you a very good chance to be accepted at both schools (but it would probably be the College of Arts & Sciences at CU Boulder). Applying very early in the process helps at both schools (my OOS son applied to each on the first day that applications for admission opened up, and he was accepted to both schools, with not much better stats than yours – though he had a 25 in Math and 26 in Science). One bit of good news is that both schools will superscore the ACT (and SAT), so if you take the test a couple more times, and shore up your Math in particular, you can readily achieve a pretty good superscore. So you should take the ACT in April as planned, and again (at least once more) early in the Fall of your Senior year. If you haven’t already, you might consider taking the SAT – some students just tend to do better on the SAT than the ACT.
So with some good test prep for the ACT, I’m confident you can improve your ACT score a bit (particularly once it is superscored) and you should be in good shape for acceptance at both schools. You’ve probably seen that both schools have an acceptance rate of about 80% – so not too hard to get in – but the de facto acceptance rates for competitive majors, like engineering and business, are much lower. To be in decent shape for engineering or business, you would probably need to get your ACT score up in the 28 to 30 range (or better).
Hope this helps.
@lakeviking thank you! I have bought two prep books and I do plan on taking the ACT again. My intended major is nursing, but CU Boulder does not have a nursing program so I will most likely go into the College of Arts and Science to complete my pre-reqs. What date did your son apply / when did apps open?
@Emily1MartinezU Look at U of Northern Colorado for nursing. Its a very good school in Greeley, and the nursing is considered the very best in the state of Colorado:
http://www.unco.edu/nhs/nursing/
Also look at U of Wyoming in Laramie, just north of Fort Collins, CO for nursing:
http://www.uwyo.edu/nursing/
It may not make sense to attend Colorado State or CU Boulder if you want to be a nurse.
NEITHER CSU or CU offer a nursing degree, and it may cost you a lot and get you no where at all, although if
you were to change you mind and want to consider occupational therapy , Colorado State does offer that major, and
a lot of health related majors. That would be a stepping stone to a nursing career, maybe, but It may make
sense to apply to nursing programs straight away.
I really like both U of Wyoming and U of Northern Colorado, they are outstanding universities, with a lot of individual attention and may serve you much better than CSU or CU.
UNC and U of Wyoming also have outstanding general education and some scholarships. Wyoming in particular every student gets a scholarship there, as former VP Cheney has endowed the school, as well as the oil and gas industry in Wyoming, funds every student at that school.
CSU is in Fort Collins and Unversity of Colorado is in Boulder. 2 totally different school. We looked and both schools and my son will be going to CSU. I would go and visit both schools. Totally different vibes