Gettin into CS with average (below cut off) grades but a great amount of extracurriculars

College Majors Math/Computer Science Majors
1

Hello everyone,
I am trying to get into a university program such as Software Eng or Comp Sci, however i am afraid that due to my overwhelming schedule i have let my grades drop below.
I should still finish with around an overall 90 as a final mark though, here are some examples of grades i am getting currently this year:
physics 90, chem 84, calc 82, comp sci 96, adv func 83, graphics 99, french 97

The cut off is usually 92 overall with over 85 in each science/math, meaning i will be 1 or 2 percents short.
I am doing a such a ridiculous amount of ECs though:
i have a black belt in martial arts and teach it 5+ times a week, do demonstrations monthly, win multiple provincial&national competitions/awards every year, in highschool i am/was in volleyball, badminton, tracks, crossfit, & tennis teams, for 2 of which i won mvp awards, i also played in a rep league for volleyball outside of school and used to horsebackride weekly, i take violin&theory lessons, practice violin 2-3h a day, win multiple competitions every year, won a provincial competition not too long ago, I am also in my region’s youth orchestra and do multiple concerts, am in my school’s string ensemble and in my school pitband for a musical.
There are probably more that i am forgetting, but that leaves me to study for school until late at night(or very early morning aha) causing me to skip breakfast to sleep and skip lunches to study. Alright that last bit was an irrelevent rant, but I am sick of teachers and friends who think they know me, telling me that i am just lazy in class and don’t work hard enough.

I have cut down the amount of activities last few months as much as I could, but it is still a lot, and really not helping my grades.
But back to the subject, do universities even care about what you do aside of your grades? Because hell, if I can kick butts in martial arts, be a concert violinist and a rep volleyball player while keeping a good average in the low 90s in school, then I should be pretty happy with that, but fact is i’m not, because i don’t even know if universities will care!
Sorry for the long post, but i am getting kind of desperate as I watch my grades slowly slipping away off the 90s.
Do universities even give a hint of consideration for people’s extracurriculars if they do not make the cut off by 1-2 percents? I really want to get into the program…

2

What cutoff are you talking about? Your grades seem fine and will get you into plenty of good CS schools.

3

This is only an example of some university admission, but each faculty usually has required courses and grades. I am a few marks short. https://www.mcgill.ca/applying/requirements/minima/on

4

Canadian schools are very different from US schools and are not that stat based / cutoff based. Your grades will be fine for most schools. I don’t know of any schools with minimum requirements for application/acceptance that are that explicit, let alone for specific subjects.

I’m also confused as to if you’re a high school student, transfer, or what. What year/school level are you? What about your standardized test scores?

5

@PengsPhils McGill is that rigid. It is the opposite of holistic. And the minima have been rising in most majors in he last few years. (My son is an alumnus.)

6

@TomSrOfBoston That’s what I was trying so say, my bad: I was trying to say that Canadian schools are very rigid, while US schools are much more flexible and holistic.

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