Chances for an Unlikely applicant

Colleges and Universities A-Z Georgia Institute of Technology
1

<p>This is going to different... (please read entire post before replying it will make a difference)</p>

<p>Gender: Male
Race: Indian( born in India, lived there for 9 years, learned English at 8)
**Location: **NC</p>

<p>Unweighted GPA: 3.200, same after senior mid- year</p>

<p>Weighted GPA : 3.88 – b/f senior year, senior year mid- year 4.17</p>

<p># of AP/IB/honors courses: 10 AP ; 10 HN</p>

<p>Grade Scale: 93- 100 A, 92- 85 B, 84-77 C… </p>

<p>Freshman: (VA school, moved from Illinois) – not so competitive school
HN English I
World History
Earth Science
Algebra I
Graphic Communications
Health/ PE
French I</p>

<p>Sophomore: (NC school moved for parent jobs)- competitive school
HN English II
HN Civics and Economics
HN Biology
HN Geometry
French II
JROTC
Health/ PE</p>

<p>Junior:
AP US history
AP English Lang
AP Human Geo
HN Chemistry
HN Algebra II
HN French III
JROTC</p>

<p>Junior Summer:
French IV HN</p>

<p>Senior: (plus Midyear grades)
AP STATISTICS- C
AP COM SCI A- B
AP COM SCI AB- A
AP BIOLOGY- C
AP PSYCHOLOGY- B
AP EN SCI- B
AP GOPO US- A
HN English IV- B</p>

<p>Class Rank: 26.5% before senior year, senior year 17.6% ; class size: 450</p>

<p>ACT: 25</p>

<p>AP scores- didn’t submit any... please read on </p>

<p>**
ECs/ Awards/ Honors- as stated in app**
National Honor Society- 12; 1 Hour per week, 34 weeks per year; School Year; Certificate of Membership</p>

<p>National Science Honor Society- 12; 1 Hour per week, 34 weeks per year; School Year; Certificate of Membership</p>

<p>Interact- 9-12; 4 Hours per week, 34 weeks per year; School Year; Board member-10, Vice President-11, President-12, Chairman Grant Give a heart- 11,12</p>

<p>SADD-9-12; 3 Hours per week, 34 weeks per year; School year; Vice President-11, President-12</p>

<p>JROTC- 10-11; 15 Hours per week, 34 weeks per year; School Year; Drill, Color Guard, Orienteering teams; Colonel, Platoon Leader; Awards- Let service (2), JROTC Athletics, personal appearance, proficiency, drill team, Orienteering ribbon, orienteering cord, drill team cord, adventure training (2), Commendation (2), Good Conduct (2), Parade (2), Recruiting (2), Citizenship (3), Service Learning (2), Squad leader, Assistant S1,Excellent Staff Performance, Honor Unit with Distinction, Academic excellence, and Academic achievement</p>

<p>Triad Bio-summer- 11; 60 Hours per week, 2 weeks per year; Summer; Intern; Awards- Certificate of Achievement </p>

<p>Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center Volunteen Program- 11; 16 Hours per week, 12 weeks per year; Summer; Adviser; Awards- Certificate of Achievement </p>

<p>Key Club- 9-12; 2 Hours per week, 34 weeks per year; Treasurer- 11,12</p>

<p>Academic Competition- Science and General Knowledge-11-12; 8 Hours per week, 12 weeks per year; School Year; Lettered, Captain Science</p>

<p>YMCA SWIMMING- 9-12; 2 Hours per week, 34 weeks per year; School Year; not for competition</p>

<p>APPALACHIAN LEADERSHIP WEEKEND- 11; 72 hours per week, 3 days; School Year; Certificate of Achievement</p>

<p>JROTC JCLC SUMMER CAMP- 10, 168 hours per week, 1 week per year; Summer ; Iron Man, Best Land Navigation, Platoon Leader, Sergeant]</p>

<p>*RECS: * GREAT nothing really negative</p>

<p>Essays: Excellent but not spectacular </p>

<p>Additional information- MOST IMPORTANT wrote two essays</p>

<p>In my junior year I had to take care of my brother – 1st grade, mom worked out of state due to economy in the housing market, dad had to work evening hours until midnight – lasted until April- GRADES effected big time, effected AP scores- everything went bad to turn it around- I took 7 ap classes 1 hn senior year, 1 hn class over summer w/ 2 programs. </p>

<p>I also have stuttering which affects me everyday- this should make me stand out…</p>

2

<p>Honestly, you're a really, really long shot. Your ACT scores aren't anywhere near Tech's 1st quartile numbers, your GPA isn't anywhere near Tech's 1st quartile, you're not taking AP Calc, you didn't do well in AP Stats, EC's are nothing spectacular, etc. </p>

<p>I would be really surprised if you were even wait listed.</p>

<p>And yes, I did read your essay topics - but having to watch a sibling at night doesn't really come across as that big of a deal. The way it's written above, it seems like just an excuse, and a not-that-uncommon excuse (I had a similar situation). Perhaps your situation was more extreme than normal, but the way it's listed above doesn't seem that way.</p>

3

<p>Thank you for your honest opinion!</p>

4

<p>Your EC's are extremely good. You look like you are really involved. However here is where you are going to run into problems. One your GPA is relatively low for GT. Its not back breaking low but its low enough where you need something to compensate. That could be done in two ways and you have done neither. </p>

<p>One is with your rigor which at a glance is good. However once looked over is actually not that amazing. Yes you have a good number of AP's but you are pretty behind in Math not having taking Calc yet and not doing well in Stat. Also science wise you are also behind in that you won't have taken physics once HS is over. Also a decent amount of your AP's are what are known as "easy" AP's. All of this combined adds up to the admissions person seeing sub par work in science and math classes which are important for admittance to a Tech school of GT's quality. Also you look to have no sort of trend which isn't a negative but could have been a positive. However you do look like you tried to challenge yourself. </p>

<p>The other way to balance out the GPA would have been with high SAT/ACT scores. Your ACT is very low for GT and you have no SAT score so they are seeing sub-par standardized test scores.</p>

<p>Basically you need to rock them with the Essay, EC's and any hooks you could have. </p>

<pre><code> Also I agree with Burdell. Colleges I think have stopped carrying about what they consider "sob stories". In fact it would be better to just take the burden on your shoulder in the essay and talk about how you could have done things differently and about how you admit that you screwed up your grades and how you have changed to do better without making the whole thing sound like a plea to get in or an excuse for a decent GPA.
</code></pre>

<p>Keep in mind that I wrote this based on what others have told me about my chances. I have been told by most that it will be a high match-medium reach with about the same GPA as you but with an upward trend and a harder rigor when it comes to math and science classes. Also with good standardized test scores. However EC wise you really do shine on paper and hopefully your essays will too. </p>

<pre><code> The question I have is why didn't you take a science and math class over summer instead of French? It would have helped you out a lot.
</code></pre>

5

<p>I had a limited choice of summer courses to take, i took it online. I had no choice for any AP level math, or science, it was just basic math courses. Thank you for giving me your opinion, i see what you are saying, i forgot to add this but i'm only 17, i turned 17 1 month ago- i kinda of skipped a grade. Will this help?- this i why i'm kind of behind in math and science. Also, i heard that college look at AP classes as AP classes- they don't separate saying one is easy or not- it could be a different story at any school right depending on the teacher?- for example my ap comsci ab is easier than ap comsci a- see mid year grades- isn't this math?.. I wish tech would take teacher recommendations.</p>

6

<p>I'm with you on the recommendation thing but when I visited last week the admissions person said that they just think all recommendations will glorify the student so theres no point in using them.</p>

<p>Also that skipping a grade thing is a twist. I'm not sure how that could be used at all to help or if it is a hook but it might be seen as adding to rigor because your basically taking classes a year ahead of you. I'm not sure how they will look at it though.</p>

<p>Also when I mean easy AP's I mean compared to others and some of them are seen as "self study AP's that don't require too much work. For example a lot of people see Psyc. as a relatively easy AP. Also for most tech schools the reasoning is Calc>Stat. However other than that there is no difference between AP's. They will all count the same weighted, etc.</p>

<p>You sound like an interesting case and I could see the admissions person taking a longer look at your app. just because you are unique in a few ways.</p>

7

<p>Skipping a grade will probably not help. The question is how well will you do at Tech next year. That's dependent on your performance in high school and your preparation today, not a theoretical preparation if you didn't skip a grade. Now, if you skipped a year of high school (and thus were presenting coursework from three years of education), that would be a different situation.</p>

<p>Not taking AP Calc will put you behind in any engineering college. Performing poorly in Stats, which is seen as an easier course than Calc, indicates a major problem when transferring to an engineering school and taking Calc (you're behind + you don't indicate an aptitude for math). The humanities and social science AP's are nice, but they don't support a the idea of being a strong math / science candidate. That's what Tech wants to see: every major at Tech is heavy on math / science.</p>

<p>What's your intended major? Maybe there's another school that's a better fit with your humanities / social science strength. One problem with Tech is that the school spins every major to be math / science heavy (even humanities majors).</p>

8

<p>Jeudi14,</p>

<p>I see that you posted the exact same comments under the Virginia Tech section, also seeking the support and reassurance that you will be accepted and/or considered to VT from the other posters on CC.</p>

<p>Just out of curiosity, what other schools did you apply to (ED, EA or RD)?</p>

<p>To date, have you heard from any of them with any decision (accepted, deferred, denied, wait-list)?</p>

<p>Did you consult with your high school counselor (and even your parents) in order that they might provide you with any degree of guidance and/or recommendations, thus directing and helping you to focus on the best possible school choices for your situation?</p>

<p>What is your intended major at those schools? If indeed it is some type of engineering (AE, ME, CE, etc.), GP Burdell may be expressing the most honest evaluation of your chances (at least in regards to Georgia Tech), if nothing more than considering your basic GPA & ACT scores which are important when considering applicants (according to the GT guidelines).</p>

9

<p>I made this comment in his other thread..</p>

<p>GT: ACT (mid 50%) 28 - 32, GPA (mid 50% UW) 3.62 - 3.97 - high reach
CWR: ACT (mid 50%) 26 - 31, GPA (no reported) - reach
VT: ACT (mid 50%) 25 - 29, GPA (avg UW) 3.5 - slight reach
NCSU: ACT (mid 50%) 22 - 27, GPA (mid 50% UW) 3.35 - 3.75 - match
Clem: ACT (mid 50%) 25 - 30, GPA (avg Weighted) 3.89 - match </p>

<p>W&M: ACT (mid 50%) 28 - 32, GPA (avg UW) 4.00 - high reach
Wake: ACT (mid 50%) 28 - 32, GPA (no reported) - high reach
UNC: ACT (mid 50%) 26 - 31, GPA (avg W) 4.44 - high reach</p>

10

<p>I think he was ok chances</p>

11

<p>I really hope you fleshed out on that reason for not doing that well (the whole brother thing). From the way I am reading it it looks like a kind of weak excuse--and if it truly is a weak excuse-- you have to have really SOLD it. Did you say anything like "i was thrust into responsibilities which surpassed my maturity level" or something like that?</p>