Hi all. I’m a neurotic overly-involved Mom of triplets who are all hoping to be accepted into Clemson’s Class of 2023. I have a few questions that I was hoping to get input on…
We are OOS (Philly area). Are the admissions standards higher for OOS applicants?
I keep seeing things like middle 50% SAT range 1230-1390. Does this mean that 50% of accepted students have an SAT score in this range? Does it mean that 50% have lower or higher than this range? If my kids are in this range, does that mean their chances are pretty good to get in?
I have heard that Clemson is a school that wants students who really want Clemson. Is there any truth to this? Does visiting, going on tour, meeting with Admissions Office really increase your chances of being admitted? Bear in mind, it's a 23 hour round-trip drive for us to visit Clemson (which we have done ... TWICE!).
Can someone please clue me in on what majors accept more students? My three are thinking about bio, nursing (which I know is limited and competitive), sociology, psychology, journalism and marketing. Would they be better off putting undecided as their second choice major?
My kids go to two different highly competitive, private, college prep high schools. That said, I am seeing people with GPAs of 4.3 and 4.6 and those kinds of GPAs are impossible - literally not able to be achieved - at my kids' schools. All courses are considered college prep and the number of honors and AP courses you can take is limited. You cannot even take APs freshman year so how on Earth you can get a cumulative GPA above 4.0 boggles my mind. An A in an AP course at one school gets you a 4.7 so in order to have an overall GPA of 4.7 you would have to only take AP courses all four years (can't be done) and get straight As across the board. It's not physically possible!! It's frustrating to see my child come home with straight As junior year, taking honors classes, and have a cumulative GPA of 3.74 and it's considered weak!! Are my kids doomed because their GPAs are below 4.0???
Clemson admissions are driven by stats. They look at GPA, test scores, rank and rigor . Demonstrated interest and ECs are weighed very little in admission. They are more important to Calhoun Honors applications. Nursing and engineering are very competitive for admission. I have heard that there is going to be a shift towards more instate acceptances next year. You may want to look at the threads regarding wait list, rejections and acceptances for this past year. Each year acceptances get harder. We are instate and have seen many high stats kids get offered the Bridge Program.
@DCNatFan Thanks for the link. The OOS applications really shot up last year, and hence the admit rates dropped below 40%. I expect that it will get harder to gain admission in the future for OOS kids. Great for the school, not so good for high school seniors.
@4n2yrs Most colleges will take class rank into account, which in some ways addresses the grade inflation issue you speak about. As far as the 50% SAT range, that figure describes where the middle half of the students’ scores lie. So 25% of the students have scores that are higher than that range, and 25% are below. I would expect that for OOS kids, that number will go up as it seems that Clemson is becoming a more popular choice.
I can speak to how competitive admission is for our instate students . My DS16 was offered provisional acceptance as a junior. They are no longer offering that. I’ve watched as instate students with similar stats as siblings that were admitted just 2-3 years ago get waitlisted, bridged or rejected. The monetary award of scholarships offered to both instate and OOS has also been reduced .
Each high school has their own gpa calculations and colleges are well aware of this. Some schools adjust the applicants gpas and others do not. Your children have some idea where they stand in their respective schools compared to their peers and what kinds of schools their graduates have been accepted to which gives you a sense of what schools are likely matches.
Many state schools tend to favor instate students for obvious reasons. Hence, generally speaking instate students tend to have an advantage ut not always the case
Please remember your children have not even seen Clemson yet, they may find its not for them on a visit. Its also very possible not all three of them would get admitted to the same college.
Your kids should apply to the major they intend as no one could possibly say its easier to get in with this major or that major. Generally speaking a match school is where your stats fall within the 50% range of admitted students. Whether one gets accepted while being qualified is anyone’s guess for any school.
My OOS daughter will be applying on 8/1 when the application opens. She’s fallen in love with the campus and we’ll be watching this discussion closely in the coming weeks/months. Go Tigers!
I am also OOS (Virginia) and will also begin applying in less than a week. I’ve got a 1400 SAT and am applying to the business school, but I am afraid of how competitive it has become. I am trying my best not to get my hopes up, but it’s hard not to get a little excited. Any extra tips/advice means the world! Does anyone know wether or not choosing a certain major would increase your chances?
@RightyRiper You can try emailing the admissions officer for your area and ask whether the school has any impacted majors. Every school I’ve dealt with has been pretty up front about that. Some schools will also post that information right on their websites as a heads up to applicants.
@4n2yrs, My DD18 was admitted to this coming fall at Clemson. That middle 50% seems to be the safe zone where students will be regulars at Clemson without much in additional scholarships. We are in-state, so it was easier to get in with her stats (4.1, 1270 SAT, 28 ACT, 14% rank). My DD18 has mentioned that she has classmates with lower scores and grades get fully accepted into Clemson, and the bridge students accepted (at least from her high school) had even lower grades/scores (under 3.5gpa and 1100 SAT). Again, these are all in-state students so the bar may be lower, but I believe if your kids are at least in the middle 50%, then the odds are at least on your side. Clemon’s not holistic, so ECs didn’t matter because my DD18 did not have a lot of ECs at all. Good luck, and let us know the results as I have a DS20 that wants to apply to Clemson next August.
@DDclass2018 Does Clemson follow a rolling admissions process? If so, do you know how long it took your DD to hear back after the application was submitted?
no rolling admissions. Most will not hear back until Feb/March. A small percentage receiving Merit will start to hear in a few waves in late September/October through early January
D19 was working on the Clemson application this afternoon and texted me to ask if she needed to complete the Candidate’s Comment (Optional Section). The information button stated:
Write a brief essay (one or two paragraphs) in the provided text field. Focus your remarks on any points you believe to be important in the evaluation of your application, including your academic background, other achievements, educational objectives or career goals. If you are an international student, briefly describe your educational objectives in the United States and your reasons for choosing Clemson University.
Any thoughts on whether this should be completed. Everything I have read about Clemson admissions is that it is all stats based so not sure anything she writes here will help.
BUT, it won’t hurt. You show that you’re a hard worker who is not looking forr the easy way out by writing the optional essay. One Admissions director at another school told us that “optional” should never really mean optional to the applicant and we took that advice to heart. If you’re OOS, you need to pull out all the stops. Good luck!
Does anyone know if Clemson has quotas? In other words if Clemson limits how many students they accept from certain high schools? I’m applying out of state and like 20 other kids from my school are applying also