Chances & Suggestion?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pittsburgh
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<p>Hi, I'm going to be a senior next year,
Same as most senior who view this page, Pitt is my dream school.
I know base on my GPA, It's impossible....
but it feels good to have a dream, and try to pursue it...</p>

<p>Here's my information, please chance me</p>

<p>GPA:3.0 UW...
-many things happened during my sophomore year and those are the main reasons for my low GPA.</p>

<p>SAT: taking it this Oct,
- I will try my best to show my passion.</p>

<p>ECs: the only good part in my application
-- 4 years Environment Care Club
---Cabinet (11th)---Vice President(12th)</p>

<p>--- 4 years Technology Club
--- Vice President(11)---President(12th)</p>

<p>--- 4 years Astronomy Club
--- Cabinet(11th)---President(12th)</p>

<p>--- 3 years Marching Band
--- Band Captain</p>

<p>--- 3 years Symphony Band
--- Advance Symphony Band(12th)</p>

<p>--- Over 300+ community service hours
(Q: How show/type my ECs to the admission office? in what format?)</p>

<p>Suggestion:
For next year 12th:
My original schedule:
1st-Marching Band
2nd-Gov Ap
3rd-Physic (H)
4th-Cal AB AP
5th-Advance Symphony Band
6th-English</p>

<p>the APs I can take:
-Econ AP
-Physic AP
-APES
-Comp Sci AP</p>

<p>Should I follow my original schedule or switch it with more AP classes?
If I take Physic AP I wont be able to take marching band anymore(both are in 1st period)</p>

<p>please give me some suggestion,(I want to major in Neuroscience/ Philosophy)?</p>

<p>Thank you</p>

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<p>My son was accepted with a 3.2 UW and the following test scores (ACT 25, SAT 1160/1670). Kind of low by Pitt’s standards, I think. </p>

<p>Things that worked in his favor, I think, were he showed interest early (attended a Ready, Set, Pitt program overnight in July and also submitted his application at that time), he wrote and submitted a very strong essay, and got all of his materials to the admissions committee (two teacher recs, ECs, SAT scores and transcript) by the third week in September. He received acceptance on Oct. 7th. I believe Pitt is truly rolling and I think if he would have applied even in, say, December with his same stats he most likely would not have been accepted. The earlier the better at Pitt. </p>

<p>To answer your specific question about submitting your ECs, after my son submitted his application online he just emailed his ECs in the body of his email with the subject line at the top just saying “Supplemental information-for applicant Joe Smith” (they will not open attachments so don’t send it as an attachment to an email). I believe the email address was <a href=“mailto:oafa@pitt.edu”>oafa@pitt.edu</a> but definitely double check that. They did send him an email saying that they received it. </p>

<p>Also, if you had some issues sophomore year that hurt your GPA you should probably address that either in your essay or some way. I can’t really speak to your class schedule. I guess only you know what you are capable of. As a point of reference, my son had no APs, only honors courses. </p>

<p>Hope this helps.</p>

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<p>This is definitely the best scenario for kids who may have a weaker application in some ways (GPA/SAT/etc.) Unfortunately it looks like the OP hasn’t signed up to even take the SAT until October, meaning he/she won’t get scores from the test until December. It’s pushing it by quite a bit. Either way, I’d suggest getting the rest of your application in now, and then just send the SAT when you can. I <em>think</em> people were accepted at Pitt conditionally assuming they had a certain SAT score once that got sent in. So…</p>

<p>–Definitely try to go to a summer session and turn in most of your application then
–See if you can write a good strong essay for Pitt. It would do to take a paragraph to explain the bad GPA if you think it will help
–Once you do that, email your ECs to <a href=“mailto:oafa@pitt.edu”>oafa@pitt.edu</a>
–Contact teachers for rec letters now (ask them if they would mind writing it during the summer so that you can mail it at the start of the school year). Once school starts in September, give them a pre-addressed pre-stamped envelope for them to put the letter into and mail out right away.
–Once school starts, go to your counselor or guidance office and get your official HS transcript sent to Pitt right away
–Study/Prepare for those SATs! Aim to do as well as possible in order to “balance” your low GPA score.
–As soon as your get your scores, mail them to Pitt</p>

<p>Good Luck!</p>

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<p>i was accepted with a 3.0 UW GPA in fall 2009 for nursing. so it can be done. I, too had a dilemma my soophomore year and I used my essay to explain what was going on and how I have grown from the experience to push me further in my career. So definitely write a very good essay, you can never start too early. Make sure you have good teachers write your reccommendations. What do you want to do with your neuroscience degree? Do you want to go to med school? If so, get someone within the science department (anatomy class?) to write a reccommendation. The neuroscience major here is very challenging and a few of my friends who went that route study 24/7 (we all do here). Also, showing a lot fo interest in the school would help A LOT. maybe if you come to visit try to schedule and interview or meeting with addmissions counselor, they will be able to help you figure out what you need to do first semester of senior year. Definitely apply early. I applied the earliest I could. Make sure to do very well in your senior year first semester. Do not slack off and get the senioritis. Also, do you plan on doing marching band or some kind of band in college? If not, maybe you might consider taking the AP physics instead of marhcing band. Thats your call though. The more relevant EC’s to your major and career plans always help a ton.</p>

<p>Do well on your SATs, take them more than once and superscore them. Also I’m not sure if youre instate or out, could possibly help. I personally took the ACT because it has a science section and i was going for nursing. I believe I was admitted because I had a very decent score on the ACTs. Deifnitely something to consider. Sorry this was all over the place. I was just thinking and typing away at the same time haha. But definitely don’t count yourself out. when i got my acceptance letter, i thought it was a joke. i called to make sure i actually got in. talk about self-doubt. good luck, and dont hesitate with any more questions!!</p>

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<p>Just my two cents…If you are doing something in sciences, you may choose to take college physics again rather than applying AP credit. If you love band, I would stay with band and take regular physics.</p>

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<p>Oh I totally forgot-- you can only get college credit for AP Physics if you take AP Physics C (That is, you have to take the Mechanical AND Electrical/Magnetic parts of the exam). Elsewise, don’t bother. But I also agree with MD Mom, you might end up taking Physics here again even though you took the AP. </p>

<p>And contrary to what people might say-- Do the ECs that you love/want to do. Colleges like it when they see that you pick an EC and STICK WITH IT for the 3-4 years that you do it. Especially if you’re a section leader/Drum Major/etc. They love to see you do something you’re passionate about and have leadership experience. If anything, it shows what a well-rounded person you are!</p>

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<p>I’m attending “Ready set Pit” this August 6, what should I bring with me,if I’m applying during the sessions? Is the applying process same as the one I did at home?(I send a mail to the FA office,but did not get any reply…)
And really thank for all your replies.</p>

<p>I will tell my story later,
Its a long story and I’m outside right now…replying by my phone</p>

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<p>Bring your essay, know your SAT scores if you’ve taken it, other than that, know your vital information (GPA etc.) I’m not sure if you can turn in teacher Recs then (if you have them) so you might have to wait on that. Once you submit the app there, you can email <a href=“mailto:oafa@pitt.edu”>oafa@pitt.edu</a> with your list of ECs.</p>

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<p>Submit there? what if my application was incomplete? wait for it?</p>

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<p>can submit it even it’s not complete? I thought the admission office will not read my profile until it’s complete?
another Q, will I be able to change my application after I submit it?</p>

<p>Thank you</p>

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<p>This is true, but the more stuff you put in the closer it will be to complete. The acceptance letters don’t get mailed out until late September for the first batch, I believe. It’s just easier (and cheaper) to start your application at Ready-Set-Pitt because they waive the $40-$50 application fee. So bring as much stuff as you can with you. But until your official transcript and SAT scores are sent in, yes, it’s considered incomplete.c</p>

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<p>I think you can. Your best bet would be to contact OAFA and tell them what you need to change and why.</p>

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<p>hey, i was wondering if anyone here could guess my chances on admission to pitt engineering. pitt is also my dream school, so any thoughts would be helpful.</p>

<p>GPA(UW) - 3.2 — this seems to be the biggest weak point in my application. freshman year i didnt exactly try and plan to explain this (with of course better wording) in my essay.</p>

<p>SAT - 1470/2130 — 670 cr, 800 math, 660 writing</p>

<p>ECs - they are not nearly up to par with most CC kids, but i plan to have one of my bosses from a past job write a letter of recommendation.</p>

<p>APs - Calc BC, Physics C, Stats</p>

<p>also my other recs should be really good. my physics and calc teachers from junior year really liked me and were very willing to write letters. Thank you for any comments.</p>

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<p>How do you plan on wording this in a better way? Short of having some sort of family problem/personal issue, I can’t see the admissions committee “buying” any explanation for this. Trust me, they’ve seen and read everything. </p>

<p>Luckily, your SAT is pretty good (high math = EXCELLENT!) and you’ve taken some really good APs! Do you know your scores from that yet? Or are you planning on taking those this coming year? If so, keep in mind that Pitt Engineering doesn’t accept AP Stat credit. Something I did not know before I took the class and got a 5 on the AP…for no reason. Oh well.</p>

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<p>Eh, I wouldn’t really bother, unless the job was this great awesome volunteering gig/teaching gig/Community Service-related thing. Lots of kids have jobs in high school and college, and the admissions committee wants to know how you’ll fit in academically and socially here, not whether you can get a job down the street and do it well.</p>

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<p>Stick to these two. These are really good teachers to get recs from. Especially for Engineering.</p>

<p>By the way, if the low GPA bothers you, apply early (like…now). Contact the teachers, have them write the letters. When school starts, send in your transcript ASAP. Send your SAT scores and essay in now too. The earlier you start this, the fewer people the admissions committee will have to compare you to when they read your application.</p>

<p>I guess out of curiosity, what ECs have you done? Anything in depth (i.e. for a few years?). Anything with leadership? It might be helpful to pull something up, to kind of offset the low GPA along with your SAT and recs. Mainly because you can always say “Yes, my GPA is low, but look at everything I was juggling”. Just a thought.</p>

<p>One last thought: Which classes brought down your GPA? Was is just bad overall freshman year, or were the humanities classes your lower grades? Since you’re applying to Engineering, it might be a good idea to point out that your math/science grades have been consistently higher than say English or History if this is the case.</p>

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<p>the better wording is basically gonna be something about not knowing what i wanted to do with my life. the low gpa was a 1.9 freshman year and 3.8/4.0 for sophomore and junior year. one question that i’ve never had a clear answer to was whether that freshman gpa will hold me back significantly.
and the ECs were making skateboard videos for freshman and sophomore year, which seems like it could sound cool to anyone but a college admissions counselor, and junior year i was working like 30 hours/wk. so no volunteer work or clubs, mainly because i didnt get involved freshman year.
thanks for the feedback. very helpful
EDIT: also, i already applied, theyre just waiting on my transcript/essay/letters, which i plan to send in within the next week. i attended an engineering school visit and a regular visit, so i might mention that interest in the essay</p>

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<p>I think you can make a case for your admission based upon the turnaround that you made and your great soph and junior year grades, and assuming that you get a good SAT score. I would also try to take some AP classes to show that you are not slacking off senior year.</p>

<p>Pitt may want to wait to decide until after seeing your senior year first marking period grades. I also know of a student who was accepted to Pitt with a GPA under 3.0 but was offered admission to the Spring term.</p>

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<p>This is really good. Upward trends (especially such a BIG improvement) are always a plus.</p>

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<p>Hm…I dunno. I guess since your GPA is low, go ahead and explain it, but I just don’t see you getting much sympathy from the admissions over something like that.</p>

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<p>I think this is the most likely thing to happen. If CoreyW can keep his grades up, I think Pitt will see a student who got a grip on life, figured out what they wanted to do, and made a turnaround.</p>

<p>One thing I will suggest, CoreyW, if you come to Pitt: Get involved in some activities! You never know what your plans for your time AFTER Pitt will be, so make sure you consider research and other interesting clubs/etc. while you’re at Pitt/in college whereever. :)</p>

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<p>I would stick with your planned schedule and not try to “bite off more that you can chew” with too many APs. Taking Gov AP, Calc AB AP and Honors Physics is enough. Better to take what you can handle and get decent grades, then continue with your ECs and interests. Plus you’ll have to get ready for the SATs. A strong essay and the appearance of being a well-rounded kid will help - it worked for my son who did not have a stellar junior year because of the difficulty of his classes, but wrote a good essay and was involved for 3-4 years in several ECs. Pitt seems to like that. Also apply early, early, early!</p>

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<p>Unfortunately, I will not be able to apply early…even I’m attending the campus tour on Aug 6…
My school.(CA), do a grade change for AP test…but the grade will not be change until around January…which is totally useless for college application…
I grade for my AP was pretty bad…but I got a 5 on test…so I really need that change…</p>

<p>and thank for all the information
really thank you.</p>

<p>I guess…SAT is going to be the major factor</p>

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<p>Well colleges are going to compare applicants based on an UNWEIGHTED GPA anyways, so even if your school does give a GPA bump for APs, it doesn’t matter. Pitt is going to recalculate your GPA without it. Best bet is to keep your senior year grades high, especially the first marking quarter.</p>

<p>As a side note, your post was a bit difficult to read due to typos, could you make sure to read over your own post and correct any errors you see before you put it in the thread? Thanks! :)</p>

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<p>Thanks Awesome…I will check it next time…</p>