Chances for an in-state, with a lower GPA, who used to live abroad?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Davidson College
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<p>I am an american citizen, but lived in France from age 7-16. My 9th and 10th grades are therefore in France, where education is very tough and I had poor/average grades.</p>

<p>My cumulative GPA is therefore 2.91, and this is explained while most likely describing me as a studious and strong student, in my Counselor Statement which was sent with my transcripts.
The GPA of my Junior year in US high school is 4.1 weighted, and my senior year grades are pretty much the same so far. So there is a huge upward trend. My classes are all Honors this year with one AP and Journalism. Last year they were 2 APs, 1 Honors, and others were CTE classes.</p>

<p>AP Tests:</p>

<p>French: 5
Psychology: 5
AP European history: taking this year</p>

<p>SAT I: 1900</p>

<p>CR:660
W:720
M:520</p>

<p>SAT II:</p>

<p>French:800
Literature:640</p>

<p>I have two strong teacher recommendations, one from my AP Psych' teacher, the other from a teacher who was my Honors English teacher last year, and is my Honors Humanities and World Cultures teacher this year.</p>

<p>ECs:</p>

<p>Work: Babysitting (a loooot of hours), French Tutoring (for a mother and her sons)
Volunteer work: Habitat for Humanity, a small organization to help give dogs shelter in my town, and The Salvation Army (approx 50hours overall)
Other: I'm in my school paper as the photographer/web designer. I'm involved in paid portrait photography as a hobby. I was lead actress in drama class 9th grade. French Club and FBLA club junior year. Piano student.</p>

<p>My list of books read in the last year has around 30-40 major books, a mixture of american/english/french literature.</p>

<p>My essay (It's about educational/political protests in France and how I was involved, etc, there is a minor change in the beginning sentence of the essay): <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/13717693-post8.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/13717693-post8.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Opinions on my chances?? I'm applying in the field of "foreign languages, literatures, and linguistics".</p>

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<p>Anyone? I was thinking of calling admissions for an opinion, but I figured CC would be better…</p>

3

<p>Well GPA isn’t as important as it used to be, that’s for sure. With all your other accomplishments you should be fine! I skipped a year, which the admissions office said was bad. I had no AP classes, my ACT was average (28), and my GPA was okay like a 3.7. My entire essay was about how/why I skipped my junior year. Just make sure that you state clearly why your application looks a little funky (all of the places where it asked me about 11th grade I had to skip) and you should do great!</p>

4

<p>I had the chance to skip Junior year as well when I first came to the USA! :slight_smile: though I declined because I didn’t feel prepared enough.</p>

<p>My counselor statement explains the GPA, and in the “additional info” part of my application, I briefly talk about the circumstances of my education in France, and how much I invested myself when I moved to the USA (AP and Honor classes, ECs, jobs, etc)</p>

<p>I really hope I have a chance, it would be amazing to go to Davidson…</p>

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<p>Anyone else?</p>

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<p>a 2.9 is really low. of course, they will be pleased with the progress you are making. but it is pretty hard to justify that GPA at a school like davidson, where most acceptees have a GPA above 3.75</p>

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<p>Well it is solely due to my 9th and 10th grade years in France, and there’s my counselor statement that explains it + additional info document in my commonapp. I called Davidson admissions about this, and they of course said that one thing wouldn’t ruin my chances of getting in. Thing is, I’m wondering if everything else is seemingly “good” enough or interesting enough to Davidson.</p>