Chances and worries

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Tennessee
1

<p>Alright, so I don't know if anyone will reply to this, but I truly hope that someone will.</p>

<p>So, I want to go to UTK for a variety of reasons, the two main being that it is minutes away from my home and has THE Body Farm. As a senior in high school who very much wants to major in either cultural or forensic anthropology, this is a great thing for me. </p>

<p>The problem is, I'm not sure if I can really get in. I know that UTK has been wanting to become a more prestigious school as of late, so I'm...worried.</p>

<p>I have a 3.3 weighted GPA and a 3.1 unweighted. I took the ACT twice. The first time, I got a 28. The second, I took with writing, and received a 30 and 9/12 on the writing part. The second time I took the test, I got higher scores on every part of it, so the first one isn't needed. I have a low income family with two parents that are veterans of the Navy. </p>

<p>I have only a few clubs I've ever been in, for various reasons. I've been in the creative writing club for the longest period of time at my school and am currently in the science club as well(it isn't doing well). Every other club that I have ever joined has fallen apart after about two meetings, as the teacher in charge could never devote time to it and very few students participated. This ranges from Spanish Club to Theater/Debate Club. I've had one poem published, a couple of years back, but never really followed up, since poetry isn't my forte. I read constantly in my free time, ranging from older classics to Sci-fi to fantasy to non-fiction to reading articles and debates where I can find them.</p>

<p>I've taken AP Biology(got a 4 on the AP test) and am currently taking AP Chem. I've taken a few classes that I feel might relate to my major in college(Mythology/Etymology, Bible History, Spanish 1-3, Physics, Anatomy/Physiology).</p>

<p>I have made 3 Cs in high school, which worries me quite a bit. This year of high school, I am taking Physics, Econ/Gov, Hon.Chem 2, Driver's Ed, Out of School Experience, AP Chem, Eng 4, and AP Chem. My test scores usually are pretty good in comparison to my GPA. However, I am sick somewhat often, due to problems I can't control well. </p>

<p>So I'm in general just worried. Mainly about whether or not I'll be able to get in. Advice, mayhaps? Any help or ideas would be useful.</p>

2

<p>you are in</p>

3

<p>You’re most definitely in. The ACT score alone ensures it. Quite frankly I know a guy who made a 32 on his ACT and had a high school GPA of like 2.2 and was accepted. GPA and ACT are really the only two things UT is going to look at, unless you have a relatively average application everything else isn’t going to matter. You should still fill out the application with the fullest care possible, personal statement and all. In general if you have a combination of a sub 24 GPA and sub 3.4 GPA that there may be a reason for concern, however if you break above either one of those you’re pretty much set. </p>

<p>It’s true UT is getting more selective. UT and Vanderbilt are really the only two “selective” large schools in the state, and the selectivity of those two are not even comparable. UT has a freshmen class size it needs to fill, and it’s not going to drop below that just in the name of becoming more prestigious. What’s really happening is UT’s applicant pool is getting both larger and better, naturally allowing them to improve every year. When you think about it the class size is likely not fluctuating greatly, and if anything it could be getting larger. It’s the the size of the applicant pool that has a large effect on the admission rates you see. And naturally as a school gains more prestige and finds itself with higher numbers of well qualified applicants, it’s going to be able to turn away more and more people. This may be what UT becomes 10 or 20 years down the road, but for the time being UT is still a “more selective” school and not so much “full selective”.</p>

4

<p>Ah, really? I had heard about this, but wasn’t entirely sure. I’m somewhat lucky in certain regards, as I am good friends with teachers who are highly proactive in helping their students get into the colleges of their choice and am at or below 125% of the poverty level. Once I can fill out my FAFSA properly, I’ll know for sure, but yeah.</p>

<p>Thank you both for replying to this. I really appreciate it! This has helped me out a lot.</p>