I am currently a senior in high school and have applied to the university’s residential college program through Early Action. My GPA is a 3.602 unweighted and a 3.862 weighted. My class schedule is fairly difficult and I will graduate having taken seven AP classes of my school’s 20 offered. My class rank is 40 out of 300. My ACT composite score is a 26. I have taken the ACT a total of six times. I hold numerous leadership positions within my high school. I am the president and founder of my school’s Science Club, Co-president of Interact (the high school version of Rotary), and an NHS cabinet member. I also played JV tennis for three years. My school uses trimester, so all AP classes are three tris and the rest are either one tri or two. I know my GPA and ACT are extremely low compared to the average accepted freshmen at Michigan, but I just want to know if there is any chance.
My course load follows:
9th Grade-
Honors Biology
English 9
AP Geography - 3
Marching/Concert Band
American History
Intro to Fitness
Geometry
Speech - Summer School
10th Grade-
Honors Chemistry
AP American Government - 3
English 10
Spanish 1 A
Physical Science A
Marching/Concert Band
Algebra 2
Health - Summer School
11th Grade-
AP Chemistry - 2
AP World History - 3
Spanish 2
English 11
Marching/Concert Band
Pre-calculus
Physical Science B - Summer School
Intro to Microsoft 2007 - Summer School
Spanish 1 B - Test Out
12th Grade-
AP Statistics
AP Biology
AP Calculus
Physics
Physiology 1
Advanced Composition
Contemporary Literature
Senior Finance and Technology
The number following the AP class is the score I received on the exam.
Is there an upward trend in your gpa. Are you in-state. Are you applying to LSA.
Those are additional questions, other members will tell you your chances.
That 3.6 and a 26 is sort of low though. I have a 3.99 GPA and a 30 ACT, and I have still been warned about my low chances (for Engineering).
Too bad on the ACT, 6 times must be frustrating, I am sad to have to take it the third time.
If you had a 29 ACT and a 3.8, your chances would be higher, but be proud of your grades. You are an amazing student, and a great college will want you.You should apply to Michigan Tech if you haven’t already. It is free, fast, and comparable to michigan (in Engineering and some other majors).
P.S. Of course you still have a fairly good chance, but have a backup plan. It is always good to have one.
I am in-state and will be applying to LSA. My GPA has a positive trend.
9th grade: 3.4 UW/ 3.667 W
10the grade: 3.7 UW/ 3.8 W
11th grade: 3.9 UW/ 4.133 W
I don’t think you have a problem with your GPA. If you take 10th+11th you have a 3.8. Michigan admits about 50% of the applicants, and GPA is emphasized over ACT. Your schedule rigor is OK but not excellent, about 1/2 honors or AP. The ACT is low, which is going to hurt you (26 is 83rd percentile). As @AverageJoe said, you fall into that grey area where you have a chance but it is going to be a reach for you. If you attend one of the better ranked HS, or are from a rural district, that will also help.
If your ACT was 30, or even 28, I think your chances would improve greatly but only to LSA, Kineseology or non-engineering/arch colleges. Could you take the Dec test and improve?
You should look on your school’s Naviance account (or whatever it uses) to get a better idea. At my son’s school (a private prep school, which gets a bit of a bump in admissions) , most everyone was admitted at 3.6/26+. At 3.5/25 it dropped to about 50%. I think it is going to come down to how UM admissions views your school.
You are going to have to write some incredibly good essays too.
You have got to try…you will never know until you have applied. In the sense even if you have 0.01 percent chance of getting in, you will not know what event will trigger that chance. Perhaps writing good essays?, having good recos?, the application examiner being in a good mood?, etc etc…
You can’t win if you don’t play! Just make sure that you make yourself stand out from the crowd. When it comes to college admission chances, no one can give you an accurate prediction other than the admissions officer reading your application.
You do need to bring up your test score. Your cumulative GPA is a bit low while your course rigor is fine and upward trend help. Note that only ~10000 in state students apply to UMich as they are very much self selected. Don’t be fooled by the 50% admission rate. It is currently a reach to low reach for you from in state.
I believe Michigan still recalculates your gpa with A+=A=A-=4 and B+=B=B-=3 and so on. If you have a lot of A-'s then it helps but if you have B+'s then it hurts since you round up A- and round down B+. I would suggest getting some professional help (like one-on-one tutoring) for the ACT’s to increase your chances. What sections are dragging down your score? I’ve seen suggestions like doing the last 10 math problems first while you have better focus or doing the science section without reading the passage first since most of the answers come from the graphs. A professional tutor would have even more ideas tailored to help you and any issues you have. Good luck!
Your ACT score and AP scores are weak. You’re not in the top 5% of your class, or even in the top 10%. Your one saving grace is that you founded a science club at your high school. It shows initiative and leadership. If your group was active or did anything interesting, it might help you to write an essay on why you started the science club. If I’m honest, I think your chances are luke warm at best. But if you don’t apply, you’ll never know. It’s worth taking a shot at it. (But have a well thought out back up plan.)