<p>UM is my son's first choice, applying EA in the fall. </p>
<p>His ACT is 32, he has good ECs, Latin Honors and Nat'l Honor Society for Foreign Language in Latin. However, as he has struggled with ADHD and personal issues (lost his dad to cancer, for example) his GPA has suffered. He really brought his grades up in Junior year (made the honor role) but his weighted GPA will still only be about 3.0 when he applies.</p>
<p>He visited UM and spent time at the Rosensteil School with a PhD student and Gary Hitchcock and showed tremendous interest in the program (Marine Science/Chemistry).</p>
<p>We had hoped his GPA would have come up more this year, but I hope he still has a shot.</p>
<p>I think his essay will be very good.</p>
<p>GPA is considered a very important factor at UM. However, if there are circumstances that may have prevented your son from achieving his full potential (like what you stated), he may have a shot at getting in. If he explains his situation in either his essay or the “additional information” section of the Common App, the admissions committee should see that he has a promising future (based on the 32 GPA and the upward grade trend). </p>
<p>However, there are no guarantees. Miami’s review process is holistic; there are no set “standards” that they use to admit students. They review the entire application as a whole. As such, there is really no way we can comment on how the admissions officers will see your son’s application.<br>
My suggestions would be to apply Early Action (higher admittance rate), and make sure your son knows how important his essay could be in determining his acceptance, because at this point the littlest thing could sway the admissions committee’s minds.
Hope this helped!</p>
<p>Everything Marinebio said is true, but I think that the adcomm looks at standardized testing scores much more than GPA because a certain GPA at one school can mean something very different from a GPA at another school.</p>
<p>With a GPA like that, they’re going to take a hard look at his class rank and the competitiveness of the school, and perhaps they’ll also look at how previous applicants from that school have fared at UM.</p>
<p>yeah i have a friend who made it in this year with something like a 3.1 GPA, a less compelling life story, not a super great essay, good ecs and a worse ACT score. I feel like private colleges like UM look more at ACT/SAT than GPA, and the opposite is true for state schools, because of different demands towards rankings. From what I can tell, it definitely sounds like your son has a shot of getting in. As long as the class rank is in the top 10% (UM does seriously care about that), the grades are on the rise, and the essay is good, anyone could have a shot.</p>
<p>also, if you feel like explaining the life hardships, I would recommend attaching that as a separate file to the Commonapp. lots of kids use their main essay space for that</p>
<p>Grades and academic performance are one of the most important parts of his application. GPA doesn’t mean a thing. Every HS calculates weighted and unweighted GPAs differently, and every HS has different grade distributions. GPA is only really useful in comparing two students who have gone through the same program at the same school. UM will get his “GPA”, completely throw it out, and will recalculate it based on his transcript and weigh certain areas to their choosing. This as well as his entire transcript will be considered in the context of his school and situation. For example, if your son is interested in marine science, then his science and math grades will probably have more of an impact on his application.</p>
<p>Thanks so much, all!! This makes me feel better. The consultant we’re working with has said that UM is a target for him based on everything she knows about him. His second choices (FL Tech, for example) would be ok but nothing like UM. It’s just a little intimidating when you see the stats of some kids on this site…</p>
<p>Oh, and his HS doesn’t rank.</p>
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<p>rickthompson: Really? How do you know this? Seems like a lot of work for the 27,000 applications they received last year (13,099 M, 14,646 F, 2 unknown).</p>
<p>I’m not sure if the actually sit there and do all the calculations but they don’t just make decisions based on the high school reported GPA and class rank. Depending on what program your applying for, they will consider your transcript in context, giving more weight to areas and classes they have decided are more important than others. For example, unless your are applying to art school, and maybe even if you are, schools don’t care if you got an A in basket weaving or ceramics. Some HS might take these seriously but I’m betting the majority of HS students in the US treat classes like these as easy As and consider them just GPA boosts. Colleges don’t care and they toss these out for the most part when considering academic performance.</p>
<p>Well, that makes more sense than the comment that they throw out the GPA and recalculate. I do think, though, that kids applying to top schools - and I definitely consider Miami among them - take academics seriously and don’t think that the As they get in basket-weaving and ceramics are as important as whatever they get in math, English and science.</p>
<p>I think he can get in with that GPA but he wont get a merit scholarship</p>
<p>What the admissions committee does is they disregard the numerical GPA you send them, and instead look at the individual courses and grades earned. I spoke with an admission counselor at the U today.</p>
<p>This is all very encouraging! Thanks.</p>
<p>Also, since your son is intested in studying Marine Science, you should check out this page: [Undergraduate</a> Advising | The Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami](<a href=“http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/academics/undergraduate/advising/]Undergraduate”>http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/academics/undergraduate/advising/)</p>
<p>Read the peer counselor bios, choose one and contact them. While you may not hear back until fall semester starts, we made a great contact with one of the seniors during our decision making process. We met her on a campus visit and have stayed in touch over the past 2 years. She’s been very helpful with both RSMAS questions and other more general stuff too.</p>
<p>Bios: <a href=“http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/assets/pdfs/undergraduate/Peer-Counselors-2012.pdf[/url]”>http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/assets/pdfs/undergraduate/Peer-Counselors-2012.pdf</a></p>
<p>Sidebar: one of the counselors is my D’s roomie from last year, another is her roomie for this coming year.</p>