High ACT, Low GPA, am I fine for these schools? Where else should I apply?

@happymomof1 We own another house that we use as a rental, so I guess that fits under other property. I would be happy at OSU or Miami, I think they are both great schools for my major but I’m paranoid about actually getting in, moreso OSU.

@Arovok - Talk with your guidance counselor about tOSU and Miami. The advising team at your high school knows which grades and test scores are likely to get you admitted. If they think your chances are marginal, get their help in identifying safer admissions options.

@happymomof1 Sounds good. I also checked my stats and compared them to the Naviance graphs (because a lot of people from our school apply to these two schools), for Miami I should get in, it’s just a matter of whether I get direct admission into their Farmer School of Business or not. For OSU, a bit more unpredictable. I’m outside of the box that denotes people who are unlikely to get in (inside) vs likely (outside), however most applying to OSU under my score range are well-off in the GPA category. There were only two people who were in a similar situation, one with one point higher than me on the ACT who got in, and one lower who was deferred, then rejected. Also, I should probably note that I have direct admission to OSU Fisher.

No one has spoken about one item in your OP, that might need to be dealt with. You say your grades were low one semester because of “academic disciplinary issues”. What exactly does that mean? Were you caught cheating and then given a zero in a course? Everyone is just focusing on stats but how this incident is dealt with could be important. Do you know how your guidance counselor is addressing it? Your bigger problem may not be your actual GPA, but the incident that led to that low GPA.

@me29034 It happened freshman year of high school, I even had to do a credit recovery class when I transferred high schools because of how low some of my grades got. It was a one week suspension related to plagiarism in my English class; the school I went to previously had a zero tolerance policy so I had no prior disciplinary action prior. I’m not aware of how my current guidance counselor is dealing with this, but I imagine she would talk about my improvement, given that the incident was almost 3 years ago and I haven’t had anything happen related to disciplinary action since. My GPA was also low because of first semester junior year, but for different reasons (which I talked about).

I was worried about the academic disciplinary issue for the longest time - but I don’t think (?) it will have a huge bearing considering it was almost 3 years ago and there is so much growth that can happen in that span of time. I think it would have been way worse if it happened more recently (junior/sophomore year).

I agree that the fact that it happened long ago is helpful. But, the point is, the effect on your GPA and that it has improved is not the main issue. The main issue is that you had an academic disciplinary issue. There is a question about this on the common app. As long as you deal with this upfront, and say you have learned your lesson, have not done it since, would never do it again, etc. you should be fine. Your GC will have to mention it in their recommendation as it is one of the things they are specifically asked about.

@me29034 Yeah I didn’t talk about my GPA issues but I did talk about the disciplinary issues and what I’ve learned from it etc

IMO OSU and Miami are reaches due to the GPA. I see you already have Bowling Green, a nice choice. You might want to also consider Toledo for another safety (Info Sys program).

@“Erin’s Dad” I was thinking of applying to Cincinnati as an additional safety, I prefer Cinci campus to Toledo. I agree with OSU being reachy because of GPA (I think it is more of an obtainable one though), but Miami will be fine I think because of my ACT and everything else - the only thing I may have to worry about is direct admission, but the prereqs aren’t a big deal imo.

UC is also a good choice. And you have the option of using their co-op program.

@“Erin’s Dad” I agree! Their co-op program looks great.

I just got rejected to Penn State wow OK I’m screwed I think

Sorry about Penn State. It’s pretty expensive for OOS anyway!

If you want to add a couple of OOS private U’s where you might get merit:

U of Puget Sound is a good school for a business major + music EC’s, as their business school and their school of music are both particular strengths. It’s enough of a low-match/safety that you might get a decent merit offer and get into their Business Leadership Program (which has its own supplemental application - just a few short essays).

U of Denver is another - its greatest academic strength is business, and there are non-major music opportunities through the conservatory.

Good luck with the rest of your results!

@aquapt Thanks, I think I might have aimed higher than I anticipated. I didn’t think Penn State was sure-fire by any means, but I thought I had a decent chance. I’m expecting a rejection from UIUC tomorrow as well. I’m hoping for good results from Miami University (Oxford) this Saturday – one of my top choices at the moment.

It’s always hard to gauge chances when you’re in more than one category of extra competitiveness, in this case both OOS and applying to business which is a competitive program. In addition you have the wild card of the academic misconduct, which one school might completely overlook as “old news” while another might consider it a red flag. I think there’s just going to be a certain level of unpredictability to your results. But, you’re applying to a lot of schools and you can only attend one - just try not to let the rejections get you down. You already have a safety locked down, and I’m sure you will have more good options by the time all your decisions come in. Good luck with the Farmer direct admission!

@aquapt Thank you for that, definitely needed to hear it from someone. Crossing my fingers for Saturday!

Update: rejected to UIUC Gies, as I had expected. Not sure if I should try and contact them to evaluate me for a less selective major choice or not. Staying hopeful for tomorrow though!

Did Farmer come through for you, @Arovok ?

@aquapt Yep! Got in with Honors and direct admission, financial aid coming in a few days; I will be applying to NYU ED2 as a final reach to see what happens since I don’t have much to lose and it’s my dream school (CAS Econ + CS). On the other hand, I didn’t get into main campus of OSU, didn’t get into Babson, deferred to Michigan, which is still a huge reach but will help me because of senior year grades. Top choice is Miami atm!