How important are extracurriculars in transferring/ will I make it in?

I applied to UT the senior year of high school and got rejected. I had a 3.8 GPA, a 29 ACT score, and I was extremely involved in band, NHS, boy scouts, and I also had a job. I think I got rejected because 1) I didn’t submit my letters of recommendation in time, 2) my essay wasn’t that stellar, and 3) even though a I had the same the GPA as the average GPA of acceptance, my high school was extremely competitive, so I wasn’t even close to the top 10%. My biggest question is how much extracurriculars now matter. Now, the only thing I’m in is marching band, and I might join by dorm hall’s soccer team. It looks like my GPA won’t change much, and I’m involved in way less things outside of my classes. I guess what I want to know is 1) will me doing less things outside of my classes hurt me? 2) Even though my GPA probably won’t change much, I am going to a less competitive school. How much does that help? And 3) how much will having a letters of recommendation and a better essay help?

TL;DR: I had an average GPA in high school but now I’m doing less extracurriculars. I’ll probably have letters of recommendation and a better essay when applying to transfer. Will I make it?

This is a little confusing to understand. You’re hoping to transfer and you’re concerned about your high school GPA?

  1. not necessarily if you’re applying for transfer. You can place anything you’ve done in the past 5 years… and for current college freshman that does mean high school for sure.

  2. much less competitive high school or college? Your college GPA does matter, high school GPA does not matter for transfer.

  3. it’s about what new info does this LOR or essay reveal so yes it can help with giving context to who you are and what you want to accomplish.

Sorry for the delay.

  1. As far a extracurriculars go, I was just curious if me doing less extracurriculars would hurt me but you pretty much answered my question.

  2. My current college is less competitive than my high school. I was giving context as to me as a student when I was rejected and was wondering if my GPA not changing and being at a less competitive school would both either help or hurt my chances.

I was giving context to me as a student in high school and the changes to me as a student in college and was wondering if I had better chances of making it in now and generally if I will make it in or not.

Transfer admissions look at GPA, not rank. On your expanded resume, you should include activities from the past five years as a previous responder said. A 3.8 is fairly competitive for some majors.

How good would a 3.8 be for COLA majors?

@draco449 the overall average transfer GPA is 3.75, so a 3.8 is above average for UT as a whole. Because COLA is not as competitive as other schools, this is a good GPA. Obviously, given an increase in competition and limiting of spots, it’s not guaranteed and you’d still have to have good essays/extracurriculars/other factors