Chance Me For UGA, Smith College, Georgetown, and More For International Relations/ Economics! (please be honest)

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics: white, female, upper-middle-class, Georgia, goes to a not very competitive small private school (~100 students)

Intended Major: International Relations or Economics (pre-law)

Unweighted GPA: 3.84/4.0 (my school doesn’t calculate weighted GPAs)

Class Rank: N/A

AP/IB/Honors: No AP classes offered, Honors Math track (all 3 years thus far), Honors Spanish (all 3 years), 7 “Honors As” (my school has blocks that are 1/4 of a credit)

AP Exams (self-studied): Environmental Science (2, not submitting), AP World History: Modern (5)

SAT: Haven’t taken it yet, but on the last practice test I got a 1340 :sob: (680 EBRW, 660 M) (working on it)

ECs (so far):

Secretary of the Amnesty International Club (since 9th grade, will become the President next year)

Model UN (won 1 award, was on the executive board for two conferences, since 10th grade)

Taekwondo (will get my certified black belt soon, since 7th grade)

Fiveable Founding Member (helped develop the service Fiveable, summer before 11th grade, 22 service hours)

Hope Education Project (helped tutor refugees, 38 service hours)

Global Nomads Group (it’s a club at my school)

Member of Student Council (since 10th grade)

Student Ambassador (since 11th grade)

Habitat Youth Leaders (a role where I help teach students about life skills, since

11th grade)

Awards:

Best Position Paper (Model UN)

Safety Schools: Georgia State, Auburn, Agnes Scott College

Target/Match Schools: UGA, Fordham, Mount Holyoke College, American University

Reach Schools: Georgetown University, Emory (main campus), Emory at Oxford, UVA, USC, Smith College, Wellesley College, and Georgia Tech

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Maybe UGA but will be tough.

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I have heard that UGA in-state admissions are really competitive. I don’t know what’s the difference between in-state and out-of-state acceptance rates there. I know my SAT score is kind of lacking but I am working on it. It is still in the middle 50% and I am sure my weighted GPA is probably in the middle 50%. You have said that UGA is hard to get into even with a 4.0.

People have said that I have good ECs. My stats are kind of meh, though. At least I am not applying for a math major (sigh), as that was what mainly caused my GPA to dip below 4.0 (and physics, but those are mostly -A grades).

What do you think about my chances at the other schools that I mentioned? I would say that I have a decent chance at Fordham, Mount Holyoke, and American.

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Where are you in GA? UGA says they don’t do it but depending on where you live might help you. Also have you calculated your UGA GPA? The others schools aren’t a gimme but you have a good shot.

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Do you have any idea what percent of your class have GPAs equal to, or higher than yours? Many schools that don’t rank, do send a letter that says what percentile of the class have which GPAs. WIthout this, one’s GPA gives the college no idea of how well you’ve really done in school. For example, at some schools, a 3.84 UW would put a student in the top 5%. At others, it would put a student in the bottom half of the class.

I’d encourage you to try for the best grades you can get this semester, and keep prepping for the SAT, since it’s the most bang for one’s buck that one can get, to improve one’s application late in the game. I suspect that you will re-do your college list after you have your grades and SAT scores, over the summer. Right now, I think your reaches might be a bit too high, but a high SAT score and straight A’s this semester might bring them within reach.

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Have you considered Mercer? I used it as a safety along with the fact they had the Special Consideration Program for Medicine. They also have a program for Law. I received 20k to start and then asked to interview for med program and another large scholarship. I received my ED acceptance prior so I never got that far.

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My UGA GPA is a 3.8. I live around Atlanta.

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Same. So keep that GPA up and crush the SAT or ACT and you should be in the hunt. Hopefully it’s not as crazy next year as it was this year.

1 Like
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No. My school doesn’t rank. I would say I am in the top 20-25% of my class though. My class is only around 20 students (very small).

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Oh. So it’s not a class of 100 - it’s a SCHOOL of 100, with 20 in your class.

If you are in the top 25th% of your class, I think that you’re going to have a tough time getting into schools that have acceptance rates of 30% or lower. You’re going to be competing against students who are in the top 5-10% of their class, who have a string of honors and tough AP classes. I think that Mount Holyoke is a reach, not a match, and American is a low reach. But I do think you’ll get into Fordham and U Georgia. I think your reaches are mostly very high reaches.

In your case, an outstanding standardized test score can confirm your “story”, that you went to a tiny private school with no AP classes, and no chance to show what you can do, but that you definitely have the ability to shine at the highly competitive college. So if I were you, I would take a practice ACT (there’s one on the ACT website and many retired ACT tests are legally in the public domain, findable on the internet. Reddit is your friend!) Plus take a practice SAT. If you do much better on one than on the other, focus your prep on that one.

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I like your list of ‘reach’ schools. If you have the time, are a decent essay writer and end up with an SAT of 1400+ then I would suggest applying to any school that interests you.

The top 60 schools (on whatever ranking list you want to look at) will have space for roughly 5-6% of the incoming freshmen. You may have a 5%-25% of admission to any single school (assuming a 1400+, comparable essays and good LoRs) from Georgetown / USC / UVA and down, but the different essays, different readers, different school admissions metrics / rubrics should make it worthwhile to apply to many to find a mutual fit.

All you need is time. Thinking about this now puts you well ahead of many. :slight_smile:

Good luck.

1 Like
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Like I said, my school does not have class rank. I have mostly A’s and I have never been able to score above a B+ in that class. My college counselor also told me to not worry about rank, since my school does not have it, and many schools are retiring this practice. Like I said, do not quote me on my estimated rank, and it is not taking into account rigor and stuff like that. If rigor was taken into account, I probably would be in the top 15%. I am not the best at math, so do not quote me on my estimates.

Please remember that coursework rigor is determined relative to the school that one has attended. It would not be fair to compare someone who has taken 12 AP classes when 14 was offered to someone who has taken no APs in a school that did not offer AP/IB courses and judge them on the exact same basis for coursework rigor.

I am actually going to cross a few of these schools off of my list (they are primarily reaches though).

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Don’t quote me on this!