CHANCE ME Please!

Colleges and Universities A-Z George Washington University
1

<p>Hi, I am a female from Louisiana applying ED1 for Fall 2011.</p>

<p>My ACT is a 28, unweighted gpa: 2.85 (really low, but i goofed off freshman and sophmore year).</p>

<p>I played JV Soccer: 9th grade.</p>

<p>Member of:
Girls Community Service Club: 11th and 12th grade.
Aviation Club: 11th grade.</p>

<p>I won:
English IV Award: 11th Grade
US History Award: 11th Grade</p>

<p>I have a job:
Have been working as a party organizer and planner for 5 hrs/ week since July 2009.</p>

<p>I have been flying planes since age 13.</p>

<p>I have visited and toured GWU twice, interviewed once.</p>

<p>Please tell me if I have ANY chance off getting in to my dream school! Thanks!</p>

2

<p>I think that GPA will kill you. It’s below their 25th percentile. Sorry. From <a href=“http://voices.washingtonpost.com/college-inc/2010/05/a_banner_year_for_gwu_admissio.html[/url]”>http://voices.washingtonpost.com/college-inc/2010/05/a_banner_year_for_gwu_admissio.html&lt;/a&gt;
“The SAT average for the incoming class is 1,960, which is about 650 per section and also an all-time high.The average student ranks in the 91st percentile of her or his high school class.”</p>

3

<p>I do not disagree that the GPA is an issue. However, the class ranking stuff is really unreliable. Please note that many competitive HS started to NOT report class ranking out of fear of disadvantaging their students. When you read fine prints, in many cases, only a portion of the admitted/enrollled students reported their class ranking. I recall that in top private schools, it was very common to see only 1/3 of the admitted students submitting class ranking. I seem to recall that roughly half of the GWU admitted students reported class ranking. I am not sure though - I don’t recall exactly. </p>

<p>In my S2’s high school, parents can choose NOT to have the class ranking reported. You can bet that only those students who are ranked high will choose to have the class ranking reported on their transcript. It is also very probable that in “uncompetitive” (read: not as high performing) high schools, the school administrator will make sure to include class ranking number as a way to boost the stats for their top students who may still score considerably low on standardized tests - comparatively speaking - compared with students from competitive public and private schools. </p>

<p>Any way, unlike SAT or ACT, class ranking stats are grossly exaggerated.</p>

4

<p>Johnson,</p>

<p>your stats puts you below 25% marker for GWU. That said, ED, and your geography help you. If your junior grades are good though over all GPA is low, that also helps you. Did you take any APs? Are you an URM? First generation college student? If so, all this will help.</p>

<p>One thing that intrigued me is your flying experience. I have the feeling that there is some interesting life experience/story behind it. you can use that to present yourself as a candidate who can bring unique experience and facet to the campus. Think about how to “market” that aspect of yours. Here are a few things you can do increase your odd.</p>

<p>(1) are you taking another ACT or SAT in October? If you can increase the score, that will help a great deal. I called them to ask if they will use Nov SAT, and the answer was “very iffy. the scores may not arrive in time”. </p>

<p>(2) would you consider ED II? If you do ED II, you “buy” additional time to prepare for better SAT/ACT scores. I don’t know about ACT schedule, but for SAT, Dec test results will be in well before the deadline of ED II.</p>

<p>(3) If you do well in this fall semester, and if your school can be ready with the mid year grades by middle of Jan/2011, then this can also help if you apply ED II. Even if official results are not in, you can ask your guidance counselor to write a letter to the admission committee to report your excellent progress. </p>

<p>Get to know your regional admission director. Start communicating with him/her via email, etc.</p>

<p>Final piece of input - food for thought for you. Applying ED is one important advantage you can use only once and only for one school in an entire admission cycle. If you are not an URM, and think that your test scores are not going to improve, you have not taken any AP, and your GPA this semester is not likely to improve much, and the story behind flying is not that exciting, then even with an ED advantage, you may still not cross the threshold of the “admissibility” at GWU. In that case, you may want to use the “good for one time only” card for some other university/college where you have a much better chance of getting in that otherwise in the RD cycle you may not have been able to get in. Did you consider American University, if the location of DC was your thing? AU’s ED admission rate is much higher than GWUs. </p>

<p>Good luck.</p>