Low GPA and low SAT? - Chances?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi!

So, I recently applied to Chapman (ED) and was rejected. I’m freaking out because now I feel as if no college will accept me. I’m applying for film so I know that majority of the application process goes towards my portfolio - but what are my chances (academically) to the colleges I’m applying to? I am applying to Barnard (?), Columbia (?), Columbia College Chicago, Emerson, Ithaca, LMU, NYU (ED II), RISD, Syracuse, and Woodbury. I already applied to UCLA and UCSB. I’m applying for film as my major for all the colleges. Here are my stats:

GPA: 3.299 (weighted)
SAT: 1190 (1180 if not super scored)
AP: Human Geography (3), World History, Biology, English Language and Composition (4), and U.S. History (3). This year I’m taking: English Literature and Composition, Environmental Science, and Studio Art.

EC:
Work (2 years): I was paid and helped paid for my mom’s bills as well as buy film equipment.
Model UN (Historian, 2 years)

Essays: I would consider my essay pretty well written. I had my English teacher look over it and I made corrections. It talks about how I grew confidence in myself over the years.

Portfolio: On the weaker side, I’ve only done a couple of short films and have art pieces I’ve done in AP Studio.

Recommendations:
I’m not too sure how well they were as I just moved last year and met all of my teachers and counselors in the past two years.

Extras:
I’m an immigrant, but not first generation. I have been dealing with depression all throughout high school which has affected my GPA, but not the rigor of my classes. I moved right before my junior year to a different state (My GPA dropped from a 3.6 (at my old school) to a 3.299 (after my junior year)). I’m also retaking pre-calculus, even though I technically “passed” (I got a D first semester and an F second semester), but I’m still not doing so hot in the class this year.

I’m so nervous and if anyone could tell me my chances at these colleges and if I should even consider applying to Columbia and/or Barnard - please let me know!

2

Here’s the thing with college applications: there’s a lid for every pot. There are schools that are perfect for a kid with your application-- with just about any application. The trick is making sure that you’ve included those schools in your application.

You have a 3.299 and an 1190. Those are perfectly normal, acceptable stats. My question for you is this: do they place you in the middle 50% of the schools to which you’ve applied? Which of the schools on your list are your safeties-- the schools to which you’re very sure you’ll be accepted, that you can afford to attend, and that you’ll enjoy attending?

If there are no such schools on your list, that’s your project for this weekend: get those apps out. Find some schools with rolling admissions that have a film major, that will be happy to accept someone with your stats and that you’ll be happy to attend, and apply.

3

Your GPA and SATs aren’t competitive for Barnard or Columbia. NYU is also unlikely…and how would you pay if you did get in? If you have to help your mom pay her bills you obviously are going to need financial aid, and NYU doesn’t meet need.

If you are a California resident, you might consider applying to some CSU’s.

You do need to definitely figure out finances first. It doesn’t matter what colleges accept you if you can’t pay. Your best bet for your goals might be to start at a CC and then transfer.

4

You’re a California resident?

You’re dealing with a double barrier, because your stats are below median at a lot of the schools you’re applying to, and film programs are extra-competitive at many schools because of high interest and limited capacity. Ithaca, Columbia College, and Woodbury look like good safeties for you just in terms of stats, but I’m not specifically familiar with the competitiveness of film at these schools, and whether your portfolio needs to be great, and for that matter whether your self-assessment of your portfolio is overly modest, or not.

The UC’s definitely aren’t safeties for you. If you’re not confident in the safeties above, then you might want to add apps to a few of the WUE schools that have film majors, like Northern Arizona, UNLV, U of New Mexico, and Portland State… you can search here: https://wuesavingsfinder.wiche.edu/ Also U of Utah - their WUE deadline has passed, but it can be a better deal to just pay out-of-state for one year and then get residency, as Utah uniquely allows.

If an “emerging media” major would work for you, Southern Oregon could be an especially good WUE safety to add - it’s very artsy and LAC-like with an extremely strong performing arts culture. (Beautiful campus in Ashland, home of the OR Shakespeare Festival) https://sou.edu/academics/emda/about/ There are quite a film classes available within the major.

I don’t mean to be pessimistic - there’s just uncertainty in the process and film admissions can be tricky, so I’m just making the extra-safety suggestions in the spirit of better safe than sorry. Go ahead and give the super-reach schools a shot if you feel like your essays and EC’s and portfolio make a case for admitting you in spite of the stat-mismatch, but honestly Columbia U seems pretty far out of range, and would you even want the extremely demanding academic core curriculum there? (Basically, the odds that you’ll get into Columbia and not Barnard are virtually zero, and if you somehow got into both, Barnard would probably be the better fit.) How about replacing Columbia U with Clark, which has a very cool Screen Studies program with a Production track and is a reach for you stats-wise but not a stratospheric reach?

5

@calmom @aquapt Thank you! I’m from Hawaii, but I really want to get off island. I would’ve applied to San Francisco State University, but I missed the deadline sadly.

6

@calmom Cost isn’t much of a worried as my mom has savings. I just agreed to help pay for some bills as I was already working and fixing my teeth isn’t a necessary.

7

Well, if you really want a San Francisco option, you can still apply to U of SF, which has a media studies major with a film studies minor. It’s in that “could go either way” zone for your stats.

But if the appeal of SFSU is about going to school in a fun west coast city, fire off an app to Portland State and get the WUE discount nailed down. (You must apply before Feb 1st to get the WUE discount which is over $14K/year.) https://www.pdx.edu/film/prospective It’s a great city for students and for film and other arts, and there are nonstop flights to all of the Hawaiian islands from PDX. Admissions are rolling and the application is easy, and you could have an affordable option with a solid film program in the bag while you wait to see what your other options will be. IMHO it’s at least as good a choice as SFSU would have been. You’ll be automatically admitted as long as your UNWEIGHTED GPA is 2.91 or above. (The minimum GPA varies depending on your test scores - that’s the minimum unweighted GPA with an 1190 SAT.)

(The same rationale applies to the other WUE schools I mentioned that would be safeties; but if you liked SFSU, PSU seems like an obvious alternative with a lot of the same positive attributes.)

If you can get one safety lined up that you know you could be happy with, then you won’t have to worry about getting shut out and you can wait for other results with less anxiety. :slight_smile:

8

@aquapt Thank you so much! I’ll probably apply there just so I could have some extra safeties as I know a lot of people from my schools are applying to places in Oregon and Washington. Again, thank you for your help!! :slight_smile:

9

Look at UNCW