Hi, I’m going to be a Senior this year and I’m a student athlete. My grades throughout high school haven’t been the greatest (actually pretty terrible) ranging to about a 2.67 GPA. My SAT score is a 1550, which from all of my surfing around the web, that is about an average score. I know I need a higher SAT score to have a better chance of getting into college, which is why I’m taking it as many times as I can during my Senior year. Hopefully I can get my grades up enough to at least get me to a 3.0, but I’m worried.
My concern is obvious, being a student athlete I have a slightly better chance then most, but not by very much. The school of my choice is Merrimack University in Boston, Massachusetts. Beautiful school, small classes, great athletic program.
My question is, being what my GPA is and my SAT score is, what’s my chances in getting into ANY four year University rather than a community college? Has anyone been through this before? What are my chances?
Yeah, you are in a pretty tough position. Your GPA is, like you said, not ideal to say the least. Your SAT score, however, isn’t to be thought of as “average”. Yes, technically 1500 is the average score. However, most colleges would like a score higher than that. I would definitely recommend retaking it.
I know you are an athlete and I don’t know your rank, but unless you’re one of the top athletes in your sport/division/whatever it’s not going to help you that much.
As for chances of getting into a four year university, with thousands to choose from you can definitely get into one - just not a selective university. I looked into Merrimack, and I think that you might be able to get in. It’s average SAT scores are 1570-1740, so you might want to retake the SAT, or try taking the ACT to see if you do better on that. However, your GPA is a problem. Definitely work your ass off to raise that as much as possible. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been a member of your school’s ___ team since somethingth grade - unless you are a true competitive athlete who competes on a statewide/nationwide level, that is not going to help you.
However, there are many, many 4 year universities like Merrimak that have lower test ranges and GPAs - I would look into “Colleges That Change Lives” - they are a range of colleges across the country that were featured in a book by that title. They are supposedly “underrated” and aren’t very selective, yet offer many valuable opportunities for students. I don’t know where you live - I’m in LA and there are Colleges That Change Lives college fairs on here within the next month. I would check it out.
Good luck!
“unless you are a true competitive athlete who competes on a statewide/nationwide level, that is not going to help you.” originally posted by Marinozai.
I totally agree with Marinozai, if you haven’t been getting multiple rewards and competing out of state in like some state olympics, then your being of an athelete won’t help you much. Though I’m not saying it won’t help you at all, but it will ease the burden on you if we’re considering academic stuff. Being an athelte definitely allows you to have a slightly lower gpa and sat. but if you really want that kind of athletic performance to allow you to have a low gpa and sat and still get you into college, you need to be actively playing and competing in big contests and be recognized as an amazing athlete, not just one at your typical high school on a football team.
I’m not trying to discourage you or anything, im just giving my opinion. furthermore, here’s my advice to you:
-lift your gpa up to a 3 AT LEAST. preferably a 3.3 ← this will make your application look wayyy stronger than your 2.7
-life you SAT up to at least a 1700, preferably a 1800. anything above that will be superb!
ok lets look at this from a bigger perspective. what will look betere? student A or student B?
Student A: 3.0 gpa, 1700SAT, amazing EC and athletic skills
Student B: 3.3 gpa, 1800 SAT amazing EC and athletic skills
Student B definetly looks much stronger and well fit than student A.
hope for the best of you
Merrimack admits 88% of the students who apply, so it looks like your chances of admission are good.<br>
Have you checked the Net Price Calculator on their website to make sure that Merrimack is an affordable choice for your family?