It's a reach but

Colleges & Universities A-Z American University
1

<p>American is a big reach for me but if anyone could tell me what sort of chances I have that would be greatly appreciated!</p>

<p>I took the SAT twice, the first time I got a 1090/1690 (570 R 520 M 600 W), the second time I got 1240/1840 (670 R 570 M 600 W). I’ll probably take the test a third time to see if that will help me get some scholarship money, and I’m going to take the ACT as well.</p>

<p>My GPA is probably my weakest point, I had something like an 84/85 unweighted at the end of sophomore year, which translated to a 88/89 weighted. I think it will come up a little bit by the end of this year but probably won’t get higher than a 90.</p>

<p>Honors:
Freshman Year:
World History H B-</p>

<p>Sophomore Year:
English II H B+
US I H C+</p>

<p>Junior Year:
English III H B+</p>

<p>Senior Year schedule:
English IV H
AP Gov
Bio II CP
Public Speaking/Crafts
Newspaper
Calculus CP</p>

<p>ECs:
SADD - 2 years
Newspaper - 3 years (very selective, hold page editor position and hopefully editor-in-chief next year)
Homework Help Center volunteer program- around 30 service hours for this year, will probably participate again next year and get another 30, and definitely do some additional community service in the mean time. This is a selective program as well.
Over the summer I will be volunteering at my local assemblyman’s office, so I’m hoping that will set me apart a little bit.</p>

<p>Hopefully I’ll get a job within the next few months and be able to add that to my resume as well.
I know I can get two very good recommendations from teachers as well.</p>

<p>I want to major in Journalism and probably minor in Political Science. I’m a white female from NJ, if that makes any difference.</p>

<p>Anyone have any opinions/ advice? I’m also interested in Temple, Rutgers, Ramapo and TCNJ, and UConn.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Don’t want to be obnoxious… but anyone? Please!?!</p>

3

<p>If you go to the AU website under institutional research, you can find data regarding what percentage of students are accepted and rejected at various SAT scores and GPAs. So you don’t have to look for opinions when you can get facts.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.american.edu/provost/oira/Academic-Data-Reference-Book.cfm[/url]”>http://www.american.edu/provost/oira/Academic-Data-Reference-Book.cfm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>To put it bluntly, for the acceptances for the class of 2014, your SATs would be at the bottom of the mid-50% (likely around 28% percentile), and your GPA below that. In other words, your odds are poor. Could happen of course, but you’ll need to make a really, really good case for yourself outside your GPA/SATs.</p>

4

<p>Okay, thank you.</p>

5

<p>Oh please Mini. Daughter knows kids with SATs there in the 400 and 300’s who have poor writing skills and had to exercise the ability to repeat a course instead of taking an F or D on record; FRESHMAN FORGIVENESS, the official title.</p>

6

<p>Oh, and don’t forget the kids who applied ED SAT optional. I say Shannon is more than qualified!!!</p>

7

<p>Show me the data. I’ve shown you AUs. He asked for “chances”, not whether there were anecdotes of kids like him accepted, so that’s what I gave him.</p>

<p>And to be precise, there were exactly 11 students with verbals below 400 in the class of 2008, and only 2 with math below 400. With yields at 22%, it is likely your d. MIGHT know precisely one.</p>

8

<p>CR,
Stop being so confrontational because supposedly your daughter claims to know of 2/11 students that got in with lower SATs.
The OP asked for his/her chances, and based on the info given, they are not good.
The OP did not apply ED, as far as I can tell, which would have increased his/her chances.
What info do you have that “Freshman forgiveness” is a viable option at AU-- this is news to me!</p>

9

<p>TO be clear, there were 11/2 accepted in 2008, not attending. So the hypothetical D might know ONE. And if AU is like other schools (I have no way of knowing), that ONE is likely to be a very tall basketball player.</p>

<p>Table 18 displays data for students actually entering in Fall 2008. There were 5 students with CRs below 400, and 1 with Math below 400. 3.4% of registrants had SATs (CR and M) below 999.</p>

<p>If the OP wants to check, s/he can find exactly where he/she stands, both as an applicant, and as a potential admit.</p>

10

<p>I appreciate the information! I know it’s a longshot, it’s my only reach school and I wanted to know my shot with my new SAT scores. So thank you very much, mini! And, for the record, I am a girl :).</p>

11

<p>Please be assured, Shannon, that if you do get into AU, you won’t have to worry about people blabbing their SAT scores to one another–it’s just old news and not a topic of conversation for students, and of course those who have unusually low scores would be especially unlikely to discuss them. So CadmiumRed’s tales of who her daughter “knows” should be taken with a large grain of salt. (if you have read much of the AU threads, you realize that CadmiumRed has a strange and long-standing vendetta against the school, and her postings are not credible.)</p>

12

<p>Hello5:</p>

<p>I actually communicate with my child and know that apparently Freshman Forgiveness is used like crazy cause many kids are doing poorly in their classes. To avoid a D the kiddies ask for an F and it is not counted. The F doesn’t show . The kiddies just repeat the class. The kids DO confess their SAT scores. How would you know they do not. Do you communicate with your child??? Shannon is more than qualified. My daughter said the writing skills are frightening when she has helped others or done a peer assessment.</p>

13

<p>To clarify, there is such a thing as freshman forgiveness. However, the F DOES show up on your transcript, it is just not calculated into your GPA. To my knowledge, it is pretty rare for it to be used, and it exists for the case of an extenuating circumstance. The situation cadmiumred described is not realistic whatsoever.</p>

<p>I quote from the student handbook:</p>

<p>“Students in their first two full-time semesters at AU who receive a grade of F or X in a course, and who then repeat that course within the next calendar year, may be eligible to apply the Freshman Forgiveness Rule. Once the academic unit has verified to the Registrar’s Office that the student is eligible, only the second grade for the course is used in the student’s cumulative grade point average. The first grade, however, remains on the student’s transcript. A course in which a failing grade was received due to an academic integrity code penalty is NOT eligible for freshman forgiveness.”</p>

14

<p>CR, correct me if I’m skipping something: Your D is surrounded by complete ignoramuses who make noise all night and leave filth everywhere (when not confessing their abysmal SAT scores), plus she can’t get into any of the courses she needs, plus her talents are completely unrecognized by the faculty, plus her artistic endeavors at the Katzen Center are being constantly interrupted by hordes of visitors, plus she believes the entire neighborhood is unsafe–THAT’s why she didn’t transfer. Got it. Actually, I’m rather disappointed in you CR–you haven’t freaked out yet over the fact that the air conditioning in the dorms hasn’t been turned on, despite temps in the 80’s. (I know that because --wait for it–I communicate with my kid!) You’re slipping. Surely you must have a tale to tell about all your D’s friends slipping in the pools of sweat that have accumulated in the halls and missing critical classes due to heat prostration. Oh wait, I forgot they ALL moved off campus because they found the dorms so intolerable. Never mind.</p>

15

<p>I think it’s commendable that AU makes public the distribution of scores and GPAs of their applicants, admits, and matriculants. I can’t find another school that will actually SHOW you what your chances truly are.</p>

<p>I’m looking forward to updated statistics from 2009 (I know we won’t get the 2010 stats any time soon).</p>

<p>Kids ought to be able to benchmark themselves against the applicant pool/admitted pool this easily–this kind of transparency is helpful to everyone.</p>

16

<p>Shanon’s chances are great Mini. Your reasoning is not logical and here’s why: If the school was as SELECTIVE as you are saying, then their rankings would be so much higher!!!Mosy kids do not have the SAT scores you are spouting. (:</p>

17

<p>MommaJ:
I will check into the air-conditioning situation. She has not mentioned this to me. Hopefully the kids are all drinking plenty of water to prevent dehydration.</p>

18

<p>CR</p>

<p>Your post 16 is without the slightest tether to reality.</p>

<p>Mini has not been “spouting” anything. She has not “reasoned” anything. She simply linked to the latest available detailed data set. These are facts, not conclusions. (And the summary statistics for the more recent cohorts have only gone up.) </p>

<p>They are presented in a readily accessible format.</p>

<p>The data contradicts your repeated statements. Thus we are left with only three possibilities:</p>

<p>1) you are intentionally taking a false position - (ie. you are lying)
2) you are unintentionally taking a false position - (ie. you are ignorant)
3) you are not taking a false position - (ie. AU is lying in their officially published data)</p>

<p>… and please, before you too quickly jump on number three, keep in mind that that also makes the entire AU decision thread a fantasy as well - lots of folks with SATs over 2000 “claim” they didn’t get in</p>

19

<p>Dear Shannon:
Ignore the fighting back and forth on this thread. It is silliness for someone to say you have a great shot at getting in. It isnt true. And you already know this because you call the school a ‘reach’.</p>

<p>However, take the ACT. My daughter has math issues, and the ACT gave her a better overall score. I do not think American uses the ACT scores, but some of your other schools do. Your English is about the 70%tile, so about 30% scored higher than you, about 69% scored lower. So that is not a bad thing. Your math however puts you low on the admit scale. Can you get some help and maybe get it up 50 points?</p>

<p>Next advice: Instead of a part time job, see if you can “intern” at a local paper. Esp if there is a weekly ‘alternative’ (poor-mans) paper. Since you want to be a journalist, it will help, and it will also help get you published. A nice thing for a journalism major. (PM me, I will give you my D’s name, and you can google and find DOZENs of Articles that she wrote. Not the best writing, but she did earn a significant scholarship at another school where they referenced something she had done in print!)</p>

<p>Next advice: Visit the school and try to meet with admissions, and discuss your gpa, rank, SAT, etc. It cannot hurt.</p>

<p>Final advice: No one on this board can guess what the American Adcommittee will do, so do your best, get good grades, focus on school and do well your senior year. Take the right steps towards getting in, and then hope for the best. In 2008, 35% of the class had your combined SAT or Lower, so you do in fact have a chance, however slight.</p>

20

<p>Shannon,
AU does recognize ACT scores. I would suggest you take those. They don’t have to be sent if the result is not what you hoped for.
If in 2008 35% of the class had lower combined SAT scores than you, it would also mean that in 2009 and 2010, you can assume those scores went up. Just do your best! It never hurts to give it a shot. Try ED if that’s financially feasible.</p>