<p>Apply early. That is the best advice I can give you, especially for the U of M. Your SAT scores are good, but I don’t know what your GPA is. I think you have a decent chance if you apply to the College of Liberal Arts, College of Education and Human Development, or another school that is not quite as selective.</p>
<p>I agree with Stewie that you should apply early. There are over 10,000 applicants to compete against (for all the colleges), and the earlier you apply, the more likely chance you have of getting accepted, since it will look like you have a stronger interest in the school. If your GPA is high, matched with your SAT scores, I would say you have a really good chance of getting in to whatever school you want, although the technology school (where you will most likely be), college of biological sciences, and Carlson school of management are alot tougher to get in to). I would just say to make sure you express your interest for the U of M on your application somehow and make sure you have any and ALL extra curriculurs on there. </p>
<p>However, if your GPA is somewhat low, you will still have a shot of getting into the colleges Stewie mentioned, but for the ones I said above, don’t be surprised if you end up on the waitlist. The U is notorious for sticking many of its applicants on the waitlist (even international students). The competition is ridiculous! But this is just all from my experience this year. Hope that helps! =]</p>
<p>This may be a stupid question, but are you from India, or are you Native American? </p>
<p>Anyway. This year the U had a record number of applicants… 33,000. So the U is now one of the toughest schools in the Big 10 to get into. As the other posters have said, apply early! That is the best advice I or anyone here can give you right now. Your SAT is good, but it looks like your GPA is not… but I’m not entirely sure how to read it.
My advice:
-Apply as early as possible.
-Get your grades up.
-Take the SAT/ACT again. Your score is def. good, but a higher score certainly won’t hurt your chances.
-Stay active with your EC’s. </p>
<p>The more competitive schools like Carlson, IT, Biological Sciences, and some of the majors within CLA will probably be a reach for you with those grades. </p>
<p>I also recommend retaking the SAT; it seems the U prefers a high SAT score over high grades for honors (from my experience at least) and im sure if your SAT score is high enough, it could soften the effect of having low grades.
and as everyone said apply early - we cannot stress this enough, and by early, we mean september/october! dont go into november; for int’l students (im not int’l but i had to apply international as im living abroad) you may not get your decision until february like me.</p>
<p>Your grades are kind of low (I am not sure what your GPA is, so I could be misinterpreting your grades). If your grades improve in your senior year, that would certainly help. You can improve your chances further by applying early, retaking the SAT and improving the score (your SAT score is OK anyways), doing some volunteer work, getting a summer job that underscores your passions in Engg and finally getting into a leadership position of some sort. Without these, I suspect Mech Engg might be a Reach for you . . . but no harm in trying especially since you are an International student. Good luck.</p>
<p>Am an international too and glad to hear you are interested in UMN.To begin with,i chose not to take the SATs as i barely had time to prepare for them(+ they were optional),so while its good to have them i kinda doubt whether they play that much of a key role in the overall admission process for international students,so imo you really don’t have to re-take them.</p>
<p>Your percentiles are almost similar to what i had and depending on how challenging the education system in your country is(i’ll assume india’s is)you shouldn’t worry that much about how you did in your 11th grade(mine was hellish too).</p>
<p>APPLY EARLY!if there is anything i have learnt over the course of this admission process is that UMN is a school that strongly believes in this notion of first come first served basis(guys remember the job thing?how housing is assigned?how food will be served?:P).Had I not done so i kinda doubt whether I would have received the admission decision that i wanted.</p>
<p>I dunno if i can comment on your E.Cs as i also barely had any serious sporty activities that went as far as representing my school.What i had though was volunteering and stuff to do with leadership(i highly recommend this)and the more they are inclined towards academics the better( the geekier the better if i may say so.)</p>
<p>It would be good also to know whether your school ranks students as that also plays to your advantage in explaining your scholarly abilities especially if some of your grades are such that they would be considered mediocre in american standards.</p>
<p>All in all though i think the bar is going to be set a little higher for you guys so just put a little more effort in making yourself the all round student that UMN will be looking for :)</p>