Please Chance Me! University of Michigan, Minnesota

Hi - I am a senior at a very small (145 kids in my class) high school in rural Iowa.
Composite score of 30 on the ACT, and a writing score of 11.
My class rank is 1 out of 145.
I have a 4.0 GPA on an unweighted, 4.0 scale. This includes college (dual enrollment) and AP classes. Our school does NOT weight GPAs.
I have taken AP Language and Composition (5 on exam.) This May, I will take the AP Micro, AP Macro, and AP Literature tests. I have not taken more AP classes because our school only offers one AP class “in house” (AP Literature, available only to seniors advanced in English) and last year, I began the pilot program for online AP classes. My AP Lang, AP Micro, and AP Macro classes are online.I was advanced a year ahead in English, Spanish, Science, and Math classes; however, my school does not offer ‘honors’ versions of these courses. The best you can do is take a class a year early - for example, a sophomore taking Algebra II, which is traditionally for juniors at my school. (All of this reflected in essays)

My extracurriculars are as follows:

  • Student Council (Class Secretary grades 9-11, Courtesy Commissioner grades 10-11, Lieutenant Governor grade 11, Village Leader grade 12)
  • Mock Trial (Varsity all four years - senior season not yet started, only four-year varsity member in the class of 2018, three state qualifications, two regional championships, two state placewinning years, several all-regional outstanding witness/attorney awards, several all-state honorable mention witness/attorney awards)
  • Coaching Mock Trial (Junior year I helped lead two middle school teams to state, and led one team to the finals for a state runner-up award)
  • Dance (thirteen years, with a seven-year focus on pointe ballet; am dancing the lead role in this year’s production)
  • Cross Country (participated grades 9-11, leading JV member freshman year and alternate for varsity team, varsity sophomore and junior years. Part of the state qualifying team sophomore year)
  • Best Buddies (grades 10-12, serve as a “peer buddy” and am matched with a special needs student to plan and participate in activities with)
  • Individual Speech (state qualifier junior year, senior year TBD)
  • Work as a cook/cashier/waitress at the local bowling (grades 10-11, approx. 15 hours a week)
  • Work as a Certified Nurse’s Aide at a long-term care facility (required 75 hours of training, state certification. Have been there since July and intend to stay through next August. I am one of our facility’s most reliable employees and have recently been promoted to someone who may train new hires. I work approx. 35-40 hours a week, evenings and overnight shifts)
  • Foreign Language Club (grades 9-11)

I also led the organization of this year’s suicide prevention week, and for three years, have organized our community’s child-safe trick-or-treating event.

My honors include a Scholastic Writing Silver Key and acceptance to University of Iowa’s Belin-Blank National Scholar’s Institute freshman and sophomore years (two subjects: creative writing and evolutionary developmental biology.)

For my common app personal essay, I wrote a super heartfelt essay on how I was raped (repeatedly, over the course of two years) and how I want to take that experience to lead the battle against rape culture on college campuses.

I intend to study a double major of political science and psychology on the pre-law track at UMich, and just political science on the pre-law track at Minnesota. I applied to both schools EA. I have been accepted to the University of Iowa for political science and psychology.

Thank you so much if you actually read this!! If anyone could shed any light on my chances, that would be much appreciated!!

It is interesting that you post this during their football game. Were you inspired by that? Your chance at Minnesota is much much better than at UMich. For UMich, your ACT is below the 25th percentile and their OOS admission rate is around 20% or lower. So your chance is far lower than 20%.

uMich is pretty strict on OOS applicants, and your ACT is definitely on the lower end of scores that they’d consider accepting. Definitely a reach school.

Minnesota is more of a match, if your essays were well written I would imagine that you’ll get in.

I actually had no idea they were playing! I don’t really pay much attention to football to be entirely honest, haha. I was getting ready for work when I posted this.

What ACT score do you think I need to get in order to increase my chances? The admissions counselor told me I could submit another ACT score.

UMich mid 50 ACT for admission last year was 31-34. For OOS students, aim for 33+ for a better chance.

Update: I’m in to Michigan!!!