So I attend a competitive private high school in Pennsylvania and am in the top 20% of my high school. It seems like many people not in the top 10% are getting rejected? However, according to my schools Naviance, the average gpa of people from my school accepted is 0.3 lower than mine. If I have a decent act(28-30), do I have a chance of acceptance?
P.s. I’m a junior not a senior
Bump
My S has a 35 ACT, 3.6U, 4.02 wgpa, with 11 APs and got exploration because his class rank at the time was 37%. Very competetive school. They said it was due to his gpa and rank. It’s gone up again to 30% (big upward trend starting as a jr) and he asked for reconsideration for COE but they said no.
It seems (mostly from data posted here and what I have seen elsewhere), one needs higher ACT if they are not in top 10%, but in 25%. Probably 31. in ACT. No idea if out-of-state makes a difference, or being in a competitive private school makes a difference.
In the last 2 years, 61-62% of all enrollees were in 10% of the class, and nearly 95% were in top 25%. So, Ohio State prefers top 10% of HS, but is clearly admitting many who were not.
@s16182125:
Data I recently posted showed that 98.2% of engineering admits (as compared to around 95% of all admits) were in top 25% of their HS class (in the Fall 2015 class). May be this year the goal is 100%. Honestly it is silly – average ACT of engineering admits was 30.4, so 35 in ACT is a stellar student for OSU (engineering). It almost appears that they do not even bother to look at upward trends, no. of AP classes etc.
@osuprof @s16s18s21s25 thank you both for the quick response. I am hopeful since I will not be applying to the COE. Do either of you know how competitive the college of arts and sciences is? Also, how does applying to different majors within the college of arts and sciences affect the decision? For example, international studies vs neuroscience.
I do not think art and science is anymore competitive than the entire university. I am not sure how much consideration they put on intended major, but it is possible that neuroscience is more competitive.
Outside of biology and neuroscience (and some others like Psychology and Political sciences) most of the programs in art and science are looking for more students …
See:
http://oesar.osu.edu/pdf/admissions/NFYSxPlan.pdf
(On the other hand, this data also shows that students aren’t getting admitted to, say. Geography, just because there is so little demand).
I continue to be thankful that our high school doesn’t rank. We are OOS and my son has 1450 CR+M, 4.08 WGPA, all Honors/5 AP curriculum but would likely not fall into even the top 25% of his class. He was admitted to the Exploration Program in the College of Arts and Sciences on 12/18.
I was admitted into the School of Engineering with a 3.65UW GPA and 1980 SAT (710M+660R+610W) and am in the 23rd percentile of our class. I got in with the first wave of applicants.
I was accepted in the first wave for Public Health, my school doesn’t rank. My GPA was 3.4 UW, SAT 2160, lots of ECs.
OSU looks for top 10% and top 25% almost exclusively. It would be difficult to get in if not in the top quartile
I really don’t think the above is true for out of state students. I only rank in the top 50 percent of my class and I was accepted. I think it depends on the competitiveness of the school one goes to.
Thanks to everyone that responded! I just talked to my GC and even though they tell us our class rank, they don’t report it.
My sons HS does not rank. It is a very competitive HS in the Philly area. They share where students who have similar GPA and scores have gone. Students dont seem to have a problem getting in.