Chances for OOS Application - Political Science or History Major

Colleges and Universities A-Z Clemson University
1

Hello,

My daughter applied to Clemson mid-August. She fell in love with the school after visiting this summer. She attends a highly ranked high school in a suburb of Minneapolis Minnesota. She listed Political Science as her first choice and History as her second choice for majors.

Her stats are:
ACT: 28
U/W GPA: 3.64 (our high school does not calculate weighted GPAs)
Our high school also does not provide class rankings after being sued a few years ago.

Her extra-curricular highlights are: Club Soccer (year round, Captain), High School Soccer (Varsity, Letter), Student Council, Manager for Girl’s Ice Hockey Team, Key Club, and Link Crew (mentoring underclassmen). She is a Youth Leader at our church for a confirmation class.

She has been accepted to TCU, Auburn, and University of Minnesota Twin Cities (College of Liberal Arts). TCU is a close second choice to Clemson and Auburn intrigues her, but we have not visited campus yet. Minnesota is a safety school for location and in state tuition.

We understand from looking at the data set that she falls within the 25-50 percentile from last year. We just aren’t sure how other factors, such as being OOS and her choice of majors affect her chances. I understand OOS applications are more competitive, but also believe I read Engineering and Nursing are the most competitive majors. Political Science falls under the College of Business and Behavioral Sciences and History falls under College of Architecture, Arts, and Humanities.

Thank you for any insight that you may be able to provide as we wait for February 15th. Go Tigers!

2

I should have also added she has taken/is taking the following AP Classes: AP US History, AP European History, AP Human Geography, AP Spanish, and AP Language and Composition. She has received a 4 on her AP tests taken so far.

3

War Eagle! I assume you mean the Clemson Tigers (Go Tigers!) but Auburn are the Tigers as well. My son did not apply to Clemson but had visited it his senior year for a competitive academic event. Clemson and Auburn are similar but different. Clemson is more rural, Auburn is small but not really rural - there are a lot of shops and dining outside of the campus (although it is not a big party school and not a lot of bars). Either place you go you will have good football and a nice atmosphere but I do hope you get the chance to visit Auburn…stepping on campus actually changed my sons mind about a number of other schools. Also, not that this is a deciding factor but just for convenience being out of state, there are approximately 12 shuttles that run from Auburn to the Atlanta airport every day…it’s about 1.25 to 1.5 hours from the Atl airport to Auburn - 1 road, I-85 straight south.

4

Thank you so much @threeofthree for your reply! I did mean Clemson Tigers, in light of the National Championship coming up on Monday! :wink: We enjoyed watching the bowl games for all of her prospective schools, plus the Armed Forces Bowl as my son is at the Air Force Academy. Your reply helped us understand that visiting Auburn should be our top priority. You provided great information about the similarities and differences between the schools. The information about the airport shuttles is very helpful too. She is convinced she wants to go to a southern school, but wants to know she can get home relatively easy if needed. Thanks again for taking the time to reply.

5

Who let an Auburn tiger in here? ; ) Let’s get back to the Clemson discussion.

Regarding your question on admission, it would seem she has a good chance.

I am sure they recalculate everyone’s GPAs to put them on a common scale. It might be interesting to know if your HS guidance counselor submitted anything that would indicated what level courses she took, which would help with that process.

I have an OOS son sophomore at Clemson. Our son adores Clemson, and unexpectedly we have gone “All In” as a family and all love Clemson!

So, what makes it special? For our son, it was a mid size school (not easy to find), diverse academic opportunities (in the classroom, through on campus – and off-- internships and creative inquiry research opportunities), a beautiful campus, and a wonderful culture. Clemson is family. When we see people with Clemson gear anywhere we travel, we can always count on a big hello and exchange of information about connection with the school. The president of the university (recently hired) has done a great job of continuing to be very accessible to students and visible on campus.

Clemson family does a lot for each other and a lot for the community. The alumni network is among the top few in ratings of colleges and universities. We constantly read about community service activities on and near campus. Ranging farther afield Clemson organized a community service event in the Miami area at the time of the Orange Bowl. I know they did this at the bowl game last year as well. There is also a large and very active chapter of Fellowship of Christian Athletes at Clemson, in which many students participate.

Off campus, Greenville, a small city about 45 mins away, is charming with lots of restaurants and festivals plus a lovely riverwalk and waterfall. Our son has gone hiking in SC, NC and GA (all reasonably close to Clemson) to enjoy the natural beauty of the area. But, with Lake Hartwell right there, kayaking and sailing are conveniently available to students. (And, it’s the south, so weather starts turning nice in March!)

Of course, there is tremendous excitement with the athletics… obviously football, but men’s soccer came in #2 nationally this year, and the school fields highly competitive teams in several other sports. Students have convenient access to go and see games.

Finally, for transport, Clemson does organize shuttles to GSP (Greenville airport). In addition, many students have cars on campus and from what I have heard it is not overly difficult to get a ride there, or even to the Charlotte NC airport.

Good luck with the rest of the search and we’d love to welcome your daughter to the Clemson family! You’ll need to learn the cadence count – C - L - E - M - S - O ----- N!!!

6

Don’t forget Clemson is only 4 hrs to Charieston and the beach as well.

7

Hello! My daughter is a Freshman at TCU. I’m on this site because I have a son starting his college search. We have visited all the schools you mentioned and know kids currently attending all of them. Let me know if you have TCU questions., etc…