HONEST Chances

Colleges and Universities A-Z American University
1

<p>GPA:3.3 Weighted
Aps Taken: World History (4), Art History (4), Psychology (4), AP Human (2)
This Year: AP Microeconomics, AP Statistics, AP Engish Lit, AP US Gov, Marine Science II Honors,
Upward Curve from Freshman Year
SAT: CR-700+
Math- 570-610
Writing 610-700
Extracurricular- International and Domestic Travel (20 States)
–Canada
-Bahamas
-Mexico
-Belize
-England (3 Trips)
-Ireland
-Germany (2 Trips)
-Austria
-Italy
-Russia
-South Africa (2 Trips)
-Malawi
-Zambia
-Australia
-Japan
-Thailand
-South Korea
-Guam
-Brazil
Future Class trip (Spring Break 2011) planned for Australia, Fiji, New Zealand and Hawaii.</p>

<p>1 week in the US Embassy in Malawi Africa, vistiting orphanages, projects, and tobacco markets.</p>

<p>Travel Soccer for 8 Years, Tennis Academy by Former Proffesional, Track and Field 400m and 800m, AP Scholar, PAID Job as a Janitor 5 days/wk, 4 Years as a Florida State Referee, 160 Hours of Community Service (Plus 150 this year required)</p>

<p>Thanks!!</p>

2

<p>I honestly think you have a chance. You have taken a lot of AP classes, and if you can get on the high end of the SAT score you’re projecting, then I think you could get in. </p>

<p>I’m not sure what relevance traveling to all those countries has unless you volunteered in every single one, but you could probably write a good essay about an experience you had in one of those countries.</p>

3

<p>If you look at this publication, you can see what % of applicants with your GPA were accepted 2 years ago. (The data from the current freshman class aren’t out yet.)</p>

<p>Looks like about half.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.american.edu/provost/oira/upload/ADRB-2009-2010.pdf[/url]”>http://www.american.edu/provost/oira/upload/ADRB-2009-2010.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

4

<p>deskpotato,</p>

<p>When I checked the source you linked here, what really popped my eyes is the acceptance rate for applicants from “unusual” states (mountain western states, southern states, etc). Almost everyone who applied from these regions were accepted. it was astounding. If you apply from these places and you have a pulse, you will get accepted (OK I am being facetious here). It’s highly doubtful these candidates are THAT MUCH more qualified than students from the usual suspect states like NJ, NY, MA, etc. So I am assuming that they lower their standard significantly so that they can tell everybody that they have covered almost all states in USA.</p>

5

<p>lizmane: I find your comment insulting and prejudist to those “other states” applicants. What makes you think that a person coming from NY will be more intelligent or qualified than another form a “Bubba” state as you imply? Lizmane, colleges in general seek diversity otherwise people like you would dominate the arena, and that is not good.</p>

6

<p>Just speaking as a southerner. Only the top kids here (and in the west too, I presume) have even HEARD of American. So only the top kids are applying. My D has to explain very patiently to everyone down here that “American University is in Washington DC. It’s a really good school.” So, I would imagine that no standards were dropped to include kids from “unusual” states, it’s just that only the top kids apply. From what I understand, AU is considered a safety for practically everyone in NJ.</p>

7

<p>I apologize if my comments were considered insulting. However facts are facts. we all know that NMSF cut off scores vary wildly depending on the states. sometimes as much as 20 out of 240 PSAT. That’s a lot. There is INDEED geographical difference in standardized test scores (I said, TEST, not capability). </p>

<p>Very few schools publish data like acceptance rate by the state. AU is an exception. I checked couple of other colleges that also supply this data. In the case of these couple of other colleges, the acceptance rates for the “unusual” states were very comparable to the general acceptance rate. By the way, these couple of other colleges are a bit better ranked or comparable to AU and better known in the academic circle overall with long history of establishment. So, the argument of self selection among top student from these regions in favor of AU is highly suspicious. From these regions, mostly the top kids heard of a lot of schools far away, not just AU but other schools too. I highly doubt that they only heard about AU, while they heard nothing about other more prominent colleges. </p>

<p>Given the general score distribution discrepancy among the states, even the “comparable” acceptance rates between MA (for instance) and Mississippi (as an example) may signal that they are favoring the kids from Mississippi. In AU’s case, the discrepancy among the states was so PRONOUNCED it really popped my eyes. The only plausible explanation is, AU puts A GREAT DEAL OF emphasis on geographical diversity, and yes, they are willing to take students with lower stats.</p>

<p>It’s common knowledge that URM, for instance, get an admission boost. So, why do you feel insulted when I point out, based on objective data, that in all likelihood an unusual state origin is likely to be an admission hook at AU? By the way, I have no problem with this policy. Any good university for aspiration for national prominence should have good geographical diversity. </p>

<p>Instead of shooting the messenger, try to look at it this way. When kids want to know their chances at AU, if they are from unusual states, they can see that they have now something working for them, and can aspire to apply to AU, rather than be discouraged by all the negative “chances” comments from people who tell them their scores are too low, etc.</p>

<p>Why is it a bad thing to let these kids know what their assets and what leverage they have?</p>

8

<p>Megpmom: agree with you, I know what to be from the South means. I am.
Lizmane:Whatever.
CLauxy: I wish you luck, I think you arr qualified.</p>

9

<p>Problem with all this is that AU’s Academic Data Reference Book shows admit rates by SAT score and admit rates by state, but it does not show admit rates by SAT score and state, so all this is just speculation with nothing hard to back it up. Of course, we on the AU threads tend to excel in this sort of thing.</p>