Hey everyone,
Im an American HS Junior planning to apply to St Andrews next year for IR, and I was wondering how important GPA is to the admissions team. I have a relatively high ACT score of 31 (29E, 29M,36R,29S), and am planning to take the test one more time to try to get a 33-34. I also am planning to take several SAT subject tests (World History, US History, Spanish/English Lit) later this year, and have a 4 on my AP World exam (I’m taking AP Lang and APUSH right now). I know IR is one of their top 3 most competitive programs, and I’m concerned that my 4.08 weighted GPA is too low. My school currently has 8 graduates at St Andrews, and my GPA would be the lowest of any accepted student. The current lowest GPA is a 4.18. I will be taking 4 more AP classes next year, and I am considering self-studying for the AP Comp Gov exam.
As a point of reference…my daughter recvd an offer for IR for 2020 and her stats are: weighted GPA 4.12 (AP class is a 5 scale, Honors is a 4.5 scale); AP Exams APUSH 4 (Sophmore yr), English Lit 5 World Hist 5 (Junior), ACT 32 (E 35, R 36, S 33, M 24…hates math). She is the 6th student to apply/offered from her school.
Now, the two points that probably put her over the top was her PS and LoR. She writes in a very formal manner and her school invited college admission staff to review PSs and provide commentary (opportunity to recruit as well for the colleges) and all comments surrounded her style of writing as striking. Her LoR were probably well written as well as she met often with the teachers and reviewed where/why she was applying.
Have you visited? The school/town is SMALL (walk from end to end in 15 minutes). The sun goes down at 1530 and rises just short of 0900 this time of year; there is a social environment, but it is not clubbing like Edinburgh…so do not Romanticize the experience. My daughter loves the environment and took U Edinburgh off the list as we were touring (she also disliked Geo Washington and BU as too urban as well so she spreads the disdain evenly).
I would focus on the studies rather than the end goal of admission - one will follow the other. As it is NFL Playoff Season, think of it as a touchdown drive…think about the current play and gaining yards/first downs and not how you are going to celebrate in the endzone, and before you know it you are standing there with points on the board.
Best of luck
Thank you for your insight! Your daughter’s grading scale at school is the exact same as mine, so that definitely raises my hopes! I’m scheduled to visit at the beginning of March, and I think the small town environment should be fine for me. I will make sure to pay particular attention to my LoR and PS.
We are going in Feb so she can decide with certainty after attending a lecture (100+ in class) and a tutorial (15ish). We are doing the same at U Glasgow…and In April we will do it again to her top domestic choices.
Best of luck and you will get there