I would like to know what my chances are for the following colleges: Wake forest University, University of Richmond, Tulane University, College of William and Mary, Elon University, University of Texas at Austin, George Washington University, Boston University.
Major: Political Sciences
Gender: Male
Economic: Upper class
Race: White
Cumulative Unweighted GPA: Approx. 3.35
— I did poorly in Sophomore year with a 2.7 due to difficulties in Chemistry, I failed the class and then retook it and got an A. I stepped it up in Junior year and got a 3.6. Predicted for Senior year is 3.8.
ACT: 31C with 8 writing
SAT Subject Test: 720 on French
Taking mostly honors classes and AP:
AP US History - 5
AP French - Not taken yet
AP Government and Politcs - Not taken yet
Other:
Opera singer, performed at Jordan Hall and other famous locations. Main characters in Operas and whatnot.
Worked at a food pantry every week for the past two years.
Republicans Club
Mock Trial Club
Videogame club, Play for school esports team (lol)
Active in my Church, (Teacher assistant and public reader)
Worked at a restaurant for a year
Interned for a biotech company
Interned at Statehouse for the summer.
Hook: I have a physical handicap so many surgeries and difficulties. Had to switch schools in last year of elementary due to bullying, affected the beginning of high school (bad freshman and sophomore year due to depression and other things)
Tri-national. Bi-lingual
There are a couple problems with the list. You have all private or out of state colleges. You need to have a talk with your parents and see if your parents can seriously afford these schools. Most parents don’t have a wad of 250k cash lying around.
Second, your GPA is too low to have a realistic shot in any of these schools. You’ll need to readjust your expectations on what schools you can get into.
Thank you for responding! Money is not a concern at the moment. I understand that my GPA is a little low for these schools but I am also attending one of the best High Schools in my state, so I was hoping that the rigor, prestige, and upward trend would allow more leniency. When I interviewed with William and Mary I explained in detail why I had a low GPA and they said they understood. @coolguy40
What state are you from? I am guessing Massachusetts based on “Jordan Hall”, but it is possible that there might be more than one Jordan Hall and likely that out of state students might get to perform there from time to time.
What countries are you a citizen or permanent resident of? Is French the other language that you speak well (along with English)?
I would not count on the prestige of your high school making much difference. At least in my experience at a highly ranked university a lot of the students came from very ordinary or mediocre high schools – but they had done very well at their mediocre high schools.
I am a citizen of both France and Canada, I am getting my American citizenship in 2 months. I am also applying to University of Toronto and McGill, as they are each very good and less than $8,000 a year, I know I can get into University of Toronto and pretty sure I can get into McGill. I do live in Massachusetts (good catch) but I am not very interested in any of the state schools to be honest.
Let me know if you are interested in smaller universities in Canada. We are also from New England, and my daughters and I have dual US/Canadian citizenship. One daughter wanted to attend a smaller school (close to what we would call a liberal arts college in the US) and so we visited most the best ones in eastern Canada, along with some well known (and expensive) LACs in the US. What we are paying in Canada for a full four years is a bit less than the cost of one year in the US. Given that graduate school is looking likely, having some college money left after she gets her bachelor’s degree is likely to end up being useful.
The University of Ottawa is quite a good school and is officially bilingual, and has a significant tuition break for bilingual students (which is in addition to the tuition break for Canadian citizens). Some politics does occur in the city of Ottawa ;-).
One thing that I thought I should mention: McGill and Toronto are excellent universities with well deserved strong reputations. They are however both quite large (particularly Toronto) and academically very stressful. One former very strong student I know who went to McGill (and loved it) said “you have to want to do it”.
Thank thank you so much for the detailed reply! I am also looking to go to Law school so going to Canada would be preferable for the financial reasons you stated. I only know of McGill and UofT, as well as their demanding level of work. I feel that I’m ready for both of those schools but would also be open to looking at other Canadian schools. Do you have any recommendations for Canadian schools, preferably ones that are strong in the humanities? Thanks once again. @DadTwoGirls
“Do you have any recommendations for Canadian schools, preferably ones that are strong in the humanities?”
Unfortunately humanities is not my strength (music being a partial exception), and I probably know even less about political science. You might want to start another thread in the “Canada” forum to see if others can give suggestions. There are a lot of schools that you could consider.
Coming from Massachusetts, you might want to look at Concordia which is just up the street from McGill in Montreal. We liked Dalhousie in Halifax (a short flight from Boston on a relatively small plane). In Ontario there are a lot of schools. Queens and McMaster come to mind (in addition to Ottawa and Toronto), although there are lots of others. I have heard that Carleton in Ottawa is also good at political science but I do not know much about it. Way out west, UBC, Simon Fraser, and U.Victoria are all very good. UBC is a large university with a very large campus. Getting to British Columbia from Boston takes pretty much all day by plane (with a change in flights somewhere in the middle).
Among small schools in eastern Canada, you might want to look at Mount Allison, Acadia, St Francis Xavier, and Bishop’s. Mount Allison is usually the top ranked small university in Canada. When we visited it was easy to believe the ranking. Acadia probably has the strongest music program (and is also very good at Biology and several other fields). Bishop’s will be quite a bit closer for you and is a good small school and very good at languages. We did see the theater when we were there which is used by their drama program. For D2, the hardest part was choosing from among these four very good small universities.
I might add that depending how strong your French is, there are good French language schools in Quebec with the University of Montreal being the highest ranked, and the largest. I know very little about the French language schools.
How odd that you bring that up as I am actually applying to Sciences Po… However, I do not think my grades or test scores are within reach for Columbia. @NYC2018nyc
@Chris2002 , I think you have a good chance at Elon. Yes, your GPA is not the highest, but your test scores are very good and should make up for that at Elon. Your personal story story is positive. Also your family’s ability to pay will be a personal boon if Elon doesn’t provide a large scholarship/grant.
My son is also interested in Elon and we have visited there several times and talked with the Admissions staff twice. I am no expert, but from what I’ve read and heard from Elon staff, I like your odds there.
You and my son share interest in some of the same schools, Elon, Wake Forest, George Washington, and Richmond. With your interest in PoliSci, I would add American University to your list. From what I understand, they are very interested in demonstrated interest, so if you add them to your list, you should try to make an official visit. Also, if you’re interested, create an account at their Future Eagles web site. I think your stats align promisingly with AU.
Wake Forest would be a more difficult reach. One way to improve your odds? According to the Wake Forest admissions web site: “Early Decision applicants are given some preference in the admissions process.” WF stipulates that ED applicants have no other ED applications at other schools and that ED applicants and parents sign a contract agreeing to enroll at WF if accepted during ED, so make certain you and your parents are comfortable with that.
Congratulations on all the hard work, and Good Luck