<p>Hey, I am a junior from an average Colorado public school outside of a major city. I am interested in Michigan, but I'm not sure how much of a chance I have. I want to major in political science or international relations.</p>
<p>Stats:</p>
<p>3.6 UW 3.9 weighted
AP/Honors Classes ( Will have 7 APs out of the 11 offered at my school)
32/400
27 ACT, still waiting on SAT scores</p>
<p>EC's</p>
<p>Speech and Debate 9-12, going to be a captain next year, state semi-finalist in extemporaneous speaking plus a lot of awards from other tournaments.</p>
<p>Founder and President of my school's human rights club 11-12</p>
<p>VP of NHS 11-12</p>
<p>Chair of my city's youth commission 9-11</p>
<p>200+ hours volunteering at local hospital, where I am a junior volunteer supervisor.</p>
<p>So what are my chances? Any other schools I should consider?</p>
<p>blackpen2008 is probably right. It’s a reach, but not a huge reach; you’d be on the low end of admitted students. I wouldn’t expect merit aid, and out-of-state tuition will probably make it as expensive as any private school.</p>
<p>Therefore, are you considering second-tier private schools with national recognition (e.g., Syracuse) where you are more likely both to be admitted and to get financial aid?</p>
<p>for what its worth my michigan gpa would actually be a 3.7</p>
<p>I’m looking at large public schools ( e.g. Wisconsin, Colorado, etc.) So Michigan would be my reach. Although I would be open to some private schools where I could get merit aid, just not Syracuse. What other schools should I think about?</p>
<p>even with a 3.7 you are still a reach. if you can retake the act in june and get a 30+ (study really really hard) and that would boost your stock significantly.</p>
<p>I would say slight reach. Your gpa is low but not very low and considering that you took 7 AP courses, I would say that makes up for your gpa. Get a good SAT/ACT score and apply early and I would say you have a chance at admission. Also, last time i checked, UofM does not have an international relations major.</p>
<p>I agree with blackpen2008. You probably either need to raise your GPA a fairly significant amount (to around 3.7 or 3.8), or raise your ACT to around 30 to have Mich become more of a fit.</p>
<p>You should apply. You have a top 10% class rank if I read that correctly, APs will help. If you could boost the GPA even one-tenth by working extra hard and put in good last marking period junior/first marking period senior grades I think you have a shot. Most importantly do the Early Application process.</p>
<p>Some private schools that offer similar benefits to Michigan such as national reputation, major conference sports, and a wide variety of majors include:</p>
<p>I listed these in the order they appear in the U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings, just to give you an idea of what kind of school fits the bill. There are many others, of course, depending on how flexible your expectations are.</p>
<p>Just to be clear, I’m emphasizing private schools not because they have any inherent educational or social advantage over public schools, but rather because they often end up being more affordable that out-of-state public schools, due to the high cost of out-of-state tuition coupled with the fact that state schools naturally tend to give their most generous aid to in-state students.</p>
<p>USC is not a private, it is public and it actually is very competitive and is similar to michigan in admissions (because so many people apply)
Boost your ACT, take SAT IIs, don’t slack off your senior year or now</p>
<p>I was referring to the University of Southern California (private), not the University of South Carolina (public).</p>
<p>From Southern Cal’s website: “Located in Los Angeles, a global center for arts, technology and international trade, the University of Southern California is one of the world’s leading private research universities.”</p>
<p>And yes, it is very competitive and just as hard to get into as Michigan. However, being private and not beholden to taxpayers, USC is free to give its financial aid dollars to anyone regardless of their state of residence. This is why I recommended the OP look into it.</p>
<p>Hard to say, but in general, one C won’t kill your chances, but if it becomes even close to a trend, then you’re looking at Ohio State instead of Michigan. :)</p>
<p>lol. yeah its deff. not a trend I have As in the rest of my classes. oh and thanks for the list of the private schools i’ll for sure look into some of those.</p>
<p>Umm C in pre-calc is (sorry to say) but bad because pre-calc is one of the most important classes. One average people who go to Umich are strong math, science and/or english people, they are very strong in math usually and do well on the Math ACT/SAT</p>
<p>@Suzuki,
Sorry I actually did not know that University of Southern California is a private school, but now I do, thanks</p>
<p>Yes. You need higher test scores and a higher grades most likely. 50th Percentile this year was 28-32 ACT and 3.8-4.0 GPA. It’s getting more competitive each year.</p>
<p>But, still take a shot at it. You never know. 2 years ago, my friend got rejected with a 3.8 GPA and 34 on ACT! But this year, a track teammate of mine made it in with a 3.4 GPA and 26 on his ACT. So…it goes both ways =P Don’t lose hope</p>
<p>I am still waitlisted at UMICH. lots of ECs, lots of APs, 3.85 gpa, 30 ACT. My friend got in with a 27 ACT, no ECs, about the same gpa - but she has a rich daddy.</p>