Literally 10 points from honors college! Help!

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Massachusetts - Amherst
1

<p>From what I gather, the requirements for admission into the honors college at umass Amherst are:
GPA of "-A" or better
Class rank in top 10%
SAT of 1300 or more</p>

<p>My GPA is a 4.1. I'm within the top 2% of my class, let alone 10. BUT, my SAT score 1290 (CR: 670 M:620)....literally 10 points below the minimum. I retook the SAT last week, but I'm not sure if I went up. If I didn't, will they still consider me for the Honors college? Should I write an email or something? Or are they really strict about the cutoffs? Do they have a computer like automatically decide to invite an accepted applicant to the honor college, based solely on numbers? Help!!</p>

2

<p>If you don’t get into the honors college now, you can apply again after one year as a regular student.
[Commonwealth</a> College](<a href=“http://stage.comcol.umass.edu/admissions/joining/incoming.html]Commonwealth”>http://stage.comcol.umass.edu/admissions/joining/incoming.html)</p>

<p>“However, if you aren’t invited as an incoming first-year student, you can apply as a current UMass student after you complete one year of coursework at UMass. This online application process uses different criteria for acceptance, which are based on your college career at UMass Amherst.”</p>

3

<p>When I took a campus tour, my tour guide said that generally people who meet two of those three requirements are invited into the Commonwealth. If what she said is true, then you should be fine.</p>

<p>I doubt there is anything you can do about this though. You already have your GPA, class rank, and SAT score, so worrying won’t help get you into the Commonwealth.</p>

4

<p>…id rather not wait a year</p>

5

<p>Well at least wait until you get your scores from your SAT re-take before you panic. :)</p>

6

<p>It is my understanding they only take the top 300 kids…so even if your stats are 1300+ it still doesn’t mean that you are automatically in…</p>

7

<p>

This is incorrect. It’s more like 600+, which is around 15% of the freshman class.</p>

8

<p>If it’s the top X of the class (no matter what X really is), then there really is no way for you to know if you’ll make it since it’s based on all of the other applicants’ stats as well.</p>

9

<p>My S was just outside the top 10% of his HS class, but his GPA and test scores were substantially above the other two cutoffs.</p>

<p>He got in to ComCol.</p>

<p>So I don’t think you absolutely have to meet or beat all 3 criteria to get in, especially if you are very close.</p>

10

<p>Yeah I’m very very close haha. They way the website worded it made it seem like you get invited if you meet all 3 requirements. There’s more to it than that?!</p>

11

<p>I’m not feeling so confident about the retake, so im panicking hahaha</p>

12

<p>Did you apply early? If not, you could wait until the people who applied early get their admission decisions back (next week I believe) and try to get some of those invited to the Commonwealth to post their stats.</p>

13

<p>i had a similar question because i have the gpa and the sat scores to get into comm college, but my high school is extremely competitive. so not only would someone with an A- average not be in the top 10% but they arent even in the top 25% percent. I asked the admissions rep when she came to my school and she said that you MUST have all three or very close (she said top 11% was okay). i thought this was weird cause why should i get punished for going to a really competative school? so i asked my guidance counselor and he said thats not true its just a guideline and plenty of people get accepted with lower gpas and test scores and stuff.
hope this helps, good luck!</p>

14

<p>oh sweet hahaha, i think a 1290 would qualify as “very close”</p>

15

<p>Is that GPA weighted or unweighted?</p>

16

<p>FWIW, I was shopping in Amherst with my son, who already goes to UMass, and got chatting with the clerk as we were paying. Turns out she works at Comm College and she said they have had to cut back on the number of students, plus the applicants are getting much better, so it’s going to be very hard to get in. I’m hoping my daughter will, but we will see.</p>

17

<p>4.1 weighted, i’d estimate between 3.80 and 3.95 unweighted, but im not exactly sure. ive taken mostly honors classes and 4 AP’s, and i have not gotten anything lower than an -A yet, thought that will likely change the end of my first semester this year =/</p>

18

<p>UMASS Commonwealth College is a joke.</p>

19

<p>Ummmm okay…</p>

20

<p>NEVERMIND</p>

<p>I got a 1340 on my December SAT’s problem solved hahahahaha</p>