I applied to 20 schools oops. I might have overdone it but it is fine. I applied to the U of Miami because I liked that it offers nutritional sciences and the area is gorgeous. Over the past couple months I have fallen in love with Miami. The only thing that I know is going to impact my decision is my SAT score, I have a 1210. My GPA is a 3.77 and weighted is a 4.4. My extracurriculars are good and I personally loved my essay. I wrote about my experience of living in South America for my freshman and sophomore year. I was not able to take AP classes 9th and 10th because I was living in another country, but once I came back I took 5 aps my junior year& ended the year with a 4.0.
So far I have gotten into
Saint Louis U ( prob not going)
Fordham - WAITING on FA
Tampa ( prob not going)
Stonehill College( prob not going)
Santa Clara ( 60k each year in FA)
Does UM look at more than just SAT scores? Do I even have a chance ? Has anyone gotten in with lower SAT scores?
Yes you definitely have a shot. However, as you said, your SAT will hurt you. The 25th percentile (bottom 25% admitted) had a 1270. Luckily your GPA will help you but a lot of people applying will be competing you with similar GPAs but higher test scores. From my high school personally, I’ve seen more people with lower GPAs and higher test scores admitted than high GPAs and lower test scores but you definitely have a shot.
@idkwhy123 My suspicion is that regardless of getting into Miami or not, that $60k/yr of financial aid from Santa Clara is going to be really tough to beat. That’s a great school so you should be very happy no matter what!
@strafed As a general rule, if you are an “unhooked” applicant then admissions looks at your application in the follow order of importance: GPA, rigor of coursework, ACT/SAT/AP Scores, EC activities and awards, essay responses, teacher and advisor recs.
Where you really see high SAT’s matter the most are in majors that demand high technical aptitude like engineering. Maybe this is what you have seen with friends at your HS. Occasionally an applicants SAT is so high that it can overcome a low GPA, and occasionally it can be so low that is ruins an application for a high GPA student but those are rare.
@EDHDAD Where does Miami say they value GPA over test scores? That is ridiculous because GPA is so different across schools. For example, at private schools it is much easier to see a student with a low GPA and high test scores whereas at many public schools you will find students with very inflated GPAs and low test scores. Not to say the private school student will be accepted 100% of the time, but there are a lot of factors into GPA that are looked at whereas test scores are a better indicator of college readiness.
All I said is OP’s SAT will hurt her, which it will. I still said he/she has a good shot.
@EDHDAD I know I was very surprised Santa Clara offered soooo much money ! I heard that Santa Clara usually is not a generous school, so I was super happy! I live around the DC area and I am not sure if I want to go so far, so as of now I just really hope I get into Miami with FA.
@strafed I hope I get in. I really do hope they see more than just scores, but I guess it is what is. I can not really do much to improve my chances at this point, so I will just hope for the best.
@Emsmom1 I haven’t yet! I have seen pictures and heard it is really pretty! I have planned to visit it during my spring break if I do not get into UMiami. So I have to wait till the end of this month before planning a trip. I like UMiami because they offer nutritional sciences as a major and many private schools do not. As of now I am just waiting to see what happens.
Does anyone know if Miami is generous with financial aid? All the people I know who go there, usually do not need too much help and can pay for most of it. @strafed do you know by any chance?
@idkwhy123 We live in Northern CA and I can tell you that Santa Clara University is very nice. The campus is beautiful and the weather is great. If you like the ocean, Santa Cruz is not too far of a drive from there too. Miami is not stingy with aid but I would be amazed if they give you anywhere near what Santa Clara gave you.
@EDHDAD can you share how you were able to get such good money from Santa Clara. I didn’t know schools have such big money. Whst can I do to get such big offers. Any advice
@strafed Colleges get your transcripts from your counselor along with a school profile so that they can reconfigure your GPA in the context of how hard your school is and how hard of a schedule that you took. They also look at your class rank or sometimes an index that the counselor provides so they can compare you. The problem with low GPA’s is that the lower grade scores are almost always in the core subjects that are compounded and have a big effect on the reconfiguration. Most admissions counselors will tell you that the 6 or 7 semesters of data that is provided by your transcript is more valuable to them than the SAT or ACT’s because it represents the level at which you actually perform day to day. SAT/ACT scores are statistically a poor determinant of college student outcomes(if you don’t believe me read the studies). They do measure specific abilities for that moment in time for several areas on an objective and level playing field so that can be useful. IE Probably a good idea for engineering students to be REALLY good at math right from the start. Obviously it’s best when both grades scores are high, and you are correct that it does not help your case to have test scores below the 25th percentile. But your odds for admission are still way better for most programs if your test scores are a little low than if the grades are low. This is not unique to Miami.
@idkwhy123 Out of curiosity, did your financial aid package include a bunch of loans or is it all scholarships/grants? If it’s all scholarships and grants (i.e., money you don’t have to pay back), then I recommend that you take the money and run to Santa Clara!
@sdteak I received $55,000 in grants and like $6,000 in fafsa . I would have to pay $5,000 to live on campus and that’s it, i can either pay it or take a loan out for that amount . My parents income was less than 20,000 in 2016 so I think that is why
I did not expect to get that much at Santa Clara so I guess you never really know when you will get a lot of help . I’m not expecting much from Miami , I don’t even know if I am going to get in lol. But if I could get a lot of help from Miami, I’d definitely go there
University of Miami actually has a higher average percentage of need met than SCU. I’m amazed SCU gave you that amount of grants. But “meeting need” can also include loans so if SCU doesn’t have any loans then I’m willing to bet that’s where you end up because most financial aid packages are not that generous.
@kisakyamaliya you can find schools that meet 100% of financial need by googling “colleges that meet 100% of financial need.” Note that each school will calculate need differently and there will be different proportions of grants vs loans.
@idkwhy123 That is a truly excellent financial aid package! Congratulations! If you applied EA/ED at the [][], you might be considered for one of the elite scholarships. Otherwise, it’s going to be really tough to beat Santa Clara even with a [][] presidential scholarship.