<p>Hi everyone, I'm a senior from California. Basically, I kinda sorta screwed up my high school GPA big time. I moved in from Massachusetts like 1 month into freshman year and I received an F in Spanish 1 for my freshman year first semester because the pace at my old high school was too slow to match up with the pace over here at my current high school. However, I received a B+ my second semester because I put in a LOT of sincere effort and time into that class. Besides that fact, I currently have a 3.22 UW GPA and a 3.53 Weighted GPA. I partially made up for that through my SAT scores (680,680,720 = 2070) and a 33 on my ACTs. I'm a hard-working student who just didn't have luck in high school... I took tons of rigorous courses (AP Bio, APUSH, Am Lit Honors, and Chem Honors) and I'm going to be continuing that trend into my senior year (I'll be taking AP Lit, AP Calc, AP Econ, Physics Honors, and Spanish 4 Honors). I had a life changing experience this summer which inspired me to decide to devote my life towards service to other people. I'm definitely going to be using this as my essay topic for my apps this year. My ECs are all pretty decent, (over 800 hours comm. service, tutoring, developed a website for a large scale corporation, etc). I really really expect my senior year grades to be stellar. My life changing experience has really REALLY motivated me to study hard and there's no doubt that I'll be acing through all my classes. How good do you think my chances will be at UMass Amherst? Thanks for your replies! :)</p>
<p>That “F” for one semester has very little effect on your GPA at this point, so I wouldn’t worry about it too much.</p>
<p>Your current weighted GPA is around average, and your test scores are well above average. Being OOS gives you a boost as well. Given that UMass accepts like 2/3 of applicants, I think your chances are excellent.</p>
<p>I’d recommend you apply EA, it will increase the chances of you getting money.</p>
<p>thanks for your input! 
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<p>if i apply early action, can i be COMPLETELY rejected from umass? so like can they reject from not just the early action process but also the regular admissions process at the same time? i don’t want to risk getting cut out of the admissions completely because i know that my 1st semester senior year grades won’t be in my early action app and that will lower my unweighted GPA to a 3.0. 
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<p>also, if i get rejected from early decision and deferred to regular decision, will i have to pay another 70 dollars for the regular admission decision? thanks again!</p>
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Ok, now I am confused… your first post said you have a 3.22 UW GPA.</p>
<p>Which is it?</p>
<p>My GPA from 10-11th grade is 3.0 UW. I currently have a 4.0 for my first semester of senior year (my current grades). Assuming I keep these grades up, I’ll have a 3.22 UW GPA overall from 10-12th grade. Sorry for the confusion. :P</p>
<p>Also, my preferred major is engineering… I forgot to mention that in my original post lol.</p>
<p>How can you have anything for this semester yet, school just started.</p>
<p>In any case, I don’t know if your 1st semester grades will be considered even for regular decision, it depends on the timing.</p>
<p>What is your current weighted GPA? This is what matters.</p>
<p>Engineering is one of the three toughest majors to get into… even if you can’t get in right away, you can come in as “undecided”, take the right courses as a freshman, and if your grades are good you can get it.</p>
<p>As for your other question:</p>
<p>[Early</a> Action FAQ?s | UMass Amherst Undergraduate Admissions](<a href=“http://www.umass.edu/admissions/apply/dates-and-deadlines/early-action-faqs#whatarethepossible]Early”>http://www.umass.edu/admissions/apply/dates-and-deadlines/early-action-faqs#whatarethepossible)</p>
<p>School actually started about 3 weeks ago for me so I have around 2-3 quizzes in the gradebook for each class already. That’s why I’m anticipating my 1st semester senior yr grades to be so high–because of the scores that i’ve received so far.</p>
<p>Ok my weighted GPA for 10-11th grade would be 3.35. Hope that clears things up.</p>
<p>Also, 1st semester ends in December at my school so final grades come in around Jan 10-13th. Since the deadline for UMass’s apps is Jan 15th, the admissions officers should be able to get my grades in time to consider them right?</p>
<p>Ohhh I see, so I can still go in for engineering after my freshman year if I put in “undecided”? Does that mean that most (if not all) freshmen take the same core classes regardless of their selected major? </p>
<p>Thank you so much again for all this info, it’s really helpful. :)</p>
<p>The biggest reason to apply EA is an increased chance of getting some merit money, a lot of EA OOS’ers last year got $5-7K or so, RD not so much.</p>
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No. You would need to make sure you take the classes you need to fill the engineering curriculum requirements so that you can get into the engineering school and be on track.</p>
<p>I just looked at your original post again, a 33 ACT is really good (it’s equivalent to about a 1460 M+CR SAT), that boosts your chances a lot.</p>