<p>Okay so I’m a senior and American University is my top choice ( I want to go there for the communications program)-
My GPA is 3.6 (4.4 weighted)
I’ve taken AP classes in World History (4 on the exam), U.S. History (4 on the exam), and I am taking AP classes in Government, and Literature.
I’ve also taken Honors pretty much my entire high school career (except in some elective where honors wasn’t offered), and I’ve taken 5 years of math(taking calculus now) and spanish.
At my school I’m involved in Beta Club, National Honors Society, Color Guard (Which I was co-captain of for two years), Show Choir, Literary Magazine, Girl Scouts(reached Ambassador level after being in it for eight years), have participated in plays, and have done stage crew.
I go to an extremely competitive public school in Chesterfield, VA where I rank 63/455 students in my class.
The only thing I am mainly concerned about is my SAT scores, which suck, bad.
570-CR 530-Math and 540- writing, and that’s after taking them twice. I just took two subject tests in Literature and World History so i’m not sure how I did on those yet.</p>
<p>So What are my chances? Sorry that was a lot to read :P</p>
<p>Also what are some things I could do to show the admisions officer that I’m extremely interested? I know about emailing them, but I feel like I need to do a bit more in order to have better chances of getting in.</p>
<p>I’d say you’re in. Your GPA is well within range but your SATs are just below the middle 50% of last year. If you do well on your SAT Subject Tests they could solidify you – especially since you’re clearly smart and engaged in extracurriculars. </p>
<p>If you’re extra crazy and want to see how a different test would score you – you could try doing standyby testing for the December 12, 2009 ACT. This would ensure that it got to AU before the January 15th deadline (obviously, only applicable if you applied RD)</p>
<p>and do it early (NOW) while they still don’t have all applications in. And keep emailing periodically, obviously always be respectful, and the most important thing is to be persistent without being annoying. Good luck! Hope to see you at AU next fall. If you have any questions about the admissions process, or the school, feel free to message me.</p>
<p>You’re GPA is in the average for AU, which would be fine if your SAT scores were a tad bit higher. You are below the median for all three, but that doesn’t mean that you are in the lower quartiles. I’d say you are borderline right now. There are certain things that will push decision one way or another. Did you have an interview? I heard for borderliners the interview can often help (as long as you do it well). Get amazing letters of recommendation, and let your writers know what you are interested in majoring in so the college sees that in the letters of recommendation. How are your essays? If you don’t do the interview the essay may make or break you.</p>
<p>I’m not an admissions officer so I can’t say if SATs are all that important… but from what I’ve read they put a certain degree of sight on them. </p>
<p>One more thing that might help is whether you are planning to go after financial aid or not.</p>
<p>Very important admission factors:
Rigor of secondary school record - you have this
Standardized Test Scores - not so much this
Academic GPA - you’re weighted GPA is impressive, UW is average for AU
Level of Applicant’s Interest - you’re working to build this up</p>
<p>Your SAT scores are NOT in the middle range as some other posters suggested. Your scores are well BELOW the bottom 25 % marker for both CR and M. Their 25-75% for SAT CR and M are: 590-690 and 580-690. If you don’t have any hooks (URM, athletes, first generation, underrepresented states, etc), this is not a comfortable place to be at. My impression is that AU actually takes SATs and such rather seriously. Of course, there are kids who get in without hooks and with even lower scores, but we are talking about odds here.</p>
<p>I am not saying this mean thing to taunt you and demoralize you, but rather to give you some ideas about what you can do:</p>
<p>(1) Make sure that you apply to additional schools with similar characteristics as AU but a more comfortable match.</p>
<p>(2) Consider Dec SAT or even Jan SAT. Even though Jan SAT is beyond the deadline, you may still send the results as “supplementary data”. Applicants send additional “bragging” materials all the time if they have new and wonderful things to add. Of course, this works if you “complete” the application by supplying whatever the best scores before the deadline is due and send any additional, better results if/when they are available. If they put you on a “border line” category, this additional data, even if they were supplemented after the deadline, will tip the balance. </p>
<p>Go to the web site, and find out who is the admission officer for your state. I found out that at AU, the admission officer assigned to a region (state, etc) has more or less the FINAL say - it was actually scary how much power this one person has! Start communicating with her/him. Human psychology being what is it, it helps. Also note that AU has a bit of inferiority complex against GWU, so they really like it when a candidate is very sincere and eager to attend AU. I sense this very clearly when I went to the regional AU day when several adcom folks came and talked about 3-4 hours. I stayed on and had another 30 minutes of conversation with the regional admission officer, and this is what I came away with.</p>
<p>(by the way, GWU feels the same away about Georgetown. I sense a bit of sibling rivalry among the three DC private schools that all promise the ease access to the government and all the DC allurement as one of the key selling points).</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the input! Even if I may be borderline, knowing my chances makes me feel more comfortable. I will definately try the things you have suggested.</p>
<p>The SAT optional policy this year was only for ED. I think they are experimenting.</p>
<p>Another idea: are you within a driving distance from DC??? If so, can you do campus interview with the regional admission officer? If you come across well with this decision maker, you will up your odds. Again, regardless of what they on their web (say, interviews are only for information sharing), we are talking about human nature. Of course it helps if you do strike a rapport with that one person who makes a decision on your admission.</p>
