<p>My first post here, just found the website recently and have been doing some searching on here looking at information on different schools etc.</p>
<p>A little background information I have a junior at strong college prep public school in the Chicago suburbs. I have a 2.7 GPA, top 75% rank because of the large number of students with well above average GPA's, and just took the ACT for the first time and scored a 24. I obviously will be taking the ACT again and plan on increasing my score to the 27-30 mark which I feel confident I will be able to do.</p>
<p>The reason I ask this question is because I am putting together a list of college's which I would like to visit this summer during my time off from school. I just am trying to see if it's worth the visit or no chance...</p>
<p>I noticed on collegeboard there's 8% of current students admitted for the fall of 2009 that have the 2.5 - 2.99 range which is the range I am in... Just wondering is it common to accept someone with my credentials?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for the help.</p>
<p>If you can get you ACT up to the 26-30 range, you’ll have a decent shot. It’s sounds like you’re connected at a prestigious school too, so that should help you.
The GPA will hurt you, I’m not gunna lie. If I were you, I’d really push myself to get it up because with your current stats it’s probably going to keep you out.</p>
<p>Yeah, the GPA I know is the killer at most schools. It is mostly my freshmen year keeping it down, I had around a 2.5 freshmen year, a 2.7, and a 3.2 sophomore year, then I just had a 2.8 this year so far. I am hoping for over a 3 this semester, then I am making my schedule for senior year right now which I am going to take as many AP and honors courses as possible to show more rigorous coursework, and also to push my GPA up.</p>
<p>I am fairly confident that I can get in the 26-30 range, my first shot at the ACT was without any prep classes of any sort so I think that after taking the prep classes that I signed up for the 26-30 shouldn’t be to difficult. Since what really killed me was time management and having to fill in 5-10 bubbles randomly at the end, or at least rushing through the last 5-10 questions.</p>
<p>I am hoping I can end up with a 2.8-2.9 which is not quite the 3.0 or higher that most schools require/are looking for, however I think with a better ACT score than the average it might balance it all out.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply.</p>
<p>The average GPA of admitted students is about a 3.5. The fact that you went to a prep school will definitely be considered, but a huge percentage of the students at SMU went to prep schools, so just make sure you have other things on your application to distract them from your low GPA. GOOD LUCK! :)</p>