Getting into engineering with average (below cut off) grades but a great amount of extracurriculars

College Majors Engineering 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

This depends completely on where you’re applying. At some schools you would be easily accepted with those scores and ECs. Others would be a stretch even if you had all As in everything. Where are you planning on applying?

3

I am planning to apply for some schools in canada such as mcgill and toronto. Here is the mcgill admission requirement page, https://www.mcgill.ca/applying/requirements/minima/on
As you can see, i will still be a few marks too low to make the cut off…
I might also apply to some schools in the states such as New York.

4

McGill is getting more competitive each year. EC’s are irrelevant at McGill and most other Canadian universities. If you are below the cutoffs it would be a rejection. Your priorities seem to be poorly set.

And if you apply to US universities can your parents afford to be full pay? Most offer minimal financial aid to internationals except the Ivy level schools.

5

Can you cut back EC’s even more and give yourself the time to study and bring grades up?
I think a lot of schools will see your grades trending downward and wonder why they’re going in that direction. Then they see the extensive EC’s and come to a conclusion about your priorities.

6

ECs are usually used as the discriminator between academically qualified applicants and not as the primary rationale for admittance. GPA has been shown to be the best predictor of performance in college. So, you do really need to work on your GPA.