I am a sophomore hoping to do PSEO my junior year, especially at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus.
Last year my unweighted GPA with two honors classes was around 3.8, but this year it dropped closer to 3.25 with two honors and one AP. I was living in Sonoma County by all the wildfires and was out of school for three weeks and soon after my parents got a divorce and I moved out to Minnesota with my mom and brother; I included that information in the section where you can explain why there may have been a downtrend in your grades.
Does my explanation help my chances of getting in at all, despite my GPA so far this year?
Also, are juniors even usually accepted into their program? (i know they do accept them but how often?)
Hi! I’m also a sophomore hoping to do PSEO for my junior year at the University of Minnesota and maybe I can offer some insight on odds?
As you probably know, the U of M is highly competitive for PSEO. It is probably the most difficult option to get accepted into for the whole state of Minnesota. I’ve spoken with many people about acceptance with them because I also desperately want to spend my last two years of highschool there. What I’ve heard from friends that have done it and even connections at the University itself is that they’re really interested in whether or not you challenged yourself. The honors and AP classes are great, that shows you’re working to excel! However, the GPA, even under extenuating circumstances, is going to play a huge role. My school and even the U of M warned me that anything below a 3.6 is highly unlikely to be accepted. That being said, there is still for hope for acceptance but be aware that you’re going against the odds!
My daughter applied as a senior with a 3.7 gpa unweighted with various honors and AP courses and she did not get accepted two years ago. She ultimately got accepted into the U as a college student that same fall but just for reference I’d have a back up plan. I would highly recommend the community colleges for PSEO, their courses are transferable if you check in transferology for the right ones and many are online which is a great option to keep ties with the high school.
If you have an ACT score in range for the U that would help. My kid chose not to do PSEO at the U because it can be very difficult to get the classes you want when you register. If you do PSEO at the U, I would recommend being flexible on your class choices. My kid didn’t haven’t this kind of flexibility in his schedule so he’s doing PSEO classes mostly online through a twin cities community college which has been a good experience too. We do know several students doing PSEO at the at the U right now.
juniors are accepted into the program, but the GPA cutoff for the U of M PSEO is 3.600 unweighted. Anything less and they will automatically reject you because they get thousands of applications yearly and they only have space for 500 students.