Chances for a Junior?

Colleges & Universities A-Z George Washington University
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<p>Hi! :)</p>

<p>**3.86 GPA<a href="It%20should%20be%20a%203.9%20by%20next%20year.">/b</a></p>

<p>**29 ACT<a href="34%20English,%2033%20Reading,%2026%20Science,%2025%20Math%20//%20I%20was%20one%20QUESTION%20away%20from%20a%2030,%20taking%20it%20again%20in%20June%20and%20again%20in%20October.%20Also,%20I%20know%20my%20math%20and%20science%20are%20pretty%20low,%20but%20I%20took%20Algebra%20II%20last%20year%20and%20Geometry%20this%20year,%20so%20I%20hadn't%20learned%20everything%20I%20needed.%20I%20have%20no%20excuse%20for%20the%20science,%20I'm%20just%20not%20that%20good%20at%20it,%20LOL.">/b</a></p>

<p>No APs or Honors, because my school doesn't offer them, but I'm taking AP Psych next year, American History for college credit through LSU this summer, and Dual Enrollment Advanced Math next year, all of which are online. I've also taken regular courses that aren't offered at my school online - Intro to Psych, Web Design, and Spanish I. I'm taking Spanish II next year, also, which means I'll have 2 years each of 2 different languages. I also have taken/will take the most rigorous courses available at my school for all 4 years.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars/Awards</p>

<p>Varsity Band - 4 years, 2 years Parish Honor Band, 1st chair clarinet
Beta Club - 4 years
French Club - 2 years (only offered for two years)
District Literary Rally - 1st in World Geography, 2nd in French I, 1st in World History
State Literary Rally - 2nd in World Geography (I'm taking the World History test on the 17th, so hopefully I'll place again.)
Subject Awards (best average in the class) - World Geography, French I (anticipating World History and/or English III this year)
Tutoring
(and I'm currently looking for a job for this summer...)
I'm planning on participating in Parish Government Day next year.</p>

<p>Also, I would have a 4.0 GPA, but I switched to an advanced boarding school for the fall semester of 10th grade, and when I returned to my old school due to personal reasons, they refused to weigh my GPA, even though it would've knocked me back up to a 4.0. I also would've been 1st in my class. I plan on asking my teachers to mention this in their recs, because I go to a VERY small rural high school in Louisiana, and I'm currently ranked 5/34. :/ I'm hoping if I get it cleared up with admissions officers, it won't be too much of an issue. All of my teachers agree that the grades should be weighed, but unfortunately, they can't do very much about it.</p>

<p>Oh, and I plan on majoring in English or Psychology, but I tend to be indecisive, so this could change quickly. GWU is currently tied as my first choice with Tulane. My decision will depend solely on financial aid, because I refuse to spend more than $20k - $25k or so in loans for undergrad since I'm planning on going to grad school.</p>

<p>I'm sorry that this is so long, I just have some special circumstances that I thought should be mentioned, haha. Thanks!</p>

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<p>chance threads are dumb</p>

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<p>Hi Erbear. I am not good at chancing people, but if you look at this year’s RD stats it will give you an idea. Since financial aid is important to you, then you are best off applying RD to compare offers. Make sure to visit and interview if you are able, if not you can look up your local rep in the fall on the GW web site and connect with them.</p>

4

<p>chance threads are still dumb, but if you really want to go you can still apply ED. the contract is not valid if you are unable to attend given the financial aid they offer you. they will tell you that if you ask and a friend of mine ED’d to lehigh but now isn’t going being they didn’t give him enough money</p>

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<p>Yes. that is true, but if you turn down your ED school for FA then you can’t go back later and change your mind. RD lets you look at all your offers and decide. My own view is that RD is better for those that have multiple choices (like erbear, who say GW is tied with Tulane) and want to use FA in the decision. Another thing to consider is that, at least this year, it does not look as if ED gave the huge bump in stats that they did in past years (see earlier threads), so that is worth keeping in mind as well.</p>

6

<p>That sucks how you can’t take advanced classes because that is a disadvantage while competing with everyone else. I suggest you take the SAT I as well, and maybe subject tests to show your aptitude in certain areas. While your school does not offer advanced courses, you should still strive to take more challenging courses. Your essays are also extremely important. Keep up the good work</p>

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<p>Thank you for your input! I had considered applying ED because the acceptance rate is a bit higher, but I really don’t want to risk it if Tulane gives me better FA, as lightmom mentioned. </p>

<p>I didn’t ask for my chances in the Tulane board because as a Louisiana resident, I’m guaranteed admission with a 28+ ACT (with a 28 on the Writing, and I got a 31), at least a 3.5 GPA, and certain course requirements. I am also eligible for Tulane’s No-Loan Tuition program, but that still leaves around $10k per year in room, board, and other expenses. GWU’s FA seems to be better than Tulane’s, and although it’s ranked slightly below Tulane, I obviously can’t be guaranteed admission, which is why I asked for my chances here. I wasn’t aware that people looked down on chance threads.</p>

<p>Also, it really does frustrate me that advanced classes aren’t available to me. I talked to a Vanderbilt admissions officer a few months ago, and he told me that they look at your course rigor in relation to your school’s offerings. I’m hoping that this is the same for GWU. I’ve tried as best as I can to go above and beyond, so if I don’t get in because of my lack of APs or Honors, I will be extremely upset.</p>

<p>Oh, and I’m currently looking into the SAT. I wish I had done so earlier so I could have more chances to take it, but if my scores aren’t equal to or better than my ACT scores, I just won’t send them. </p>

<p>Once again, thank you for the input! :)</p>

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<p>Hi erbear - Best of luck with everything. All universities try to look at your coursework in relation to what your high school offers, but they aren’t perfect. As you can imagine, that’s a lot to keep track of. But on the whole if you point it out again to them in your application, you should be OK.</p>

<p>I wouldn’t worry at all about rankings, they are largely a marketing ploy by USNWR to sell magazines. To say the nicest thing I can about them, they are trying to quantify the unquantifiable. To say what I really think would get me suspended from CC, lol. The bottom line is that any school ranked in their top 100 can give you a fine education, and it is the other factors such as finances, quality of your peer students, food, dorms, location, sports, architecture of the buildings, whatever is important to you that would make you happiest to be at a place for 4 years that is important.</p>

<p>Many look down on chance threads, many do not. I tend to dislike them because the truth is we cannot know what the admissions people are thinking, what the quality of the other applicants will be that year, how many applications they will get, etc. Tulane is a great example. For an OOS student, stats that would have been a virtually certain admit only 2 or 3 years ago may now be iffy to no way, because not only have the number of applications soared, but so have the quality. So people that were chancing others and saying “no problem, you will get in for sure” look foolish when that student got rejected or waitlisted. Now having said that, there is value when a naive student is only applying to Ivies with stats that don’t have a prayer, and that can be pointed out. Or even if they do have a chance, if they haven’t applied to “safeties” that can be pointed out as well.</p>

<p>Obviously in your case Tulane is an exception since as you say you have a slot for sure. I really like that they do that to support Louisiana students, even though it does bring down the average stats somewhat. Not in your case most likely, but in many.</p>

<p>The real value that sometimes comes out of the chancing post, besides what I said above about naive students, is that differences between schools can be brought out that the OP might or might not be aware of. For example, the fact that GW is a very urban, concrete campus while Tulane is a much more “movie classic” type of campus. That would make a huge difference to some students, but they might be confusing GW with Georgetown as far as campuses go. Sounds silly I know, but it happens. Anyway, more than you probably cared about, lol.</p>