<p>Hi, I'm a freshman at American University. In high school I had a low GPA, around 3.1-3.2 (due largely to investing all of my time in a website I was working at), but I finally got my act together by senior year when I quit the website and had near a 3.5-3.7 that year. My SAT was also a 1320 and I got 5s on 4 of my APs and a 4 on one of them. Anyway, I've realized that I'm no longer interested in international relations, something I thought I wanted to pursue in my senior year, and want desperately to open up my options to explore a better liberal arts program/experience, such as in Math and History. The schools I'm looking at are (in order):</p>
<p>University of Michigan
Northwestern University</p>
<p>I'm hoping to get a 3.7-4.0 this year, but it's too early to tell how things will go, though I'm taking as many advanced courses as I can and dedicating a lot of time to doing work and studying. I'm trying to get involved in various activities on campus as well, especially in regards to DC culture, and I also own my own web design company, an online magazine, and have experience at working at a law firm and an interior decoration company.</p>
<p>My mom (undergrad/grad), dad (undergrad/grad), aunt (grad), uncle (undergrad/grad/professor at Umich/museum curator), and grandparents (undergrad/grad) also all went to University of Michigan (my great uncle also has a library/architecture school named after him), and my aunt also went to NU for undergrad and was invited to lecture there a year ago or so. Of course, the fact that I chose those schools and that they all went there is more coincedental than anything, but I was just wondering if those legacies will help give me a push at all -- I don't expect them to get me in at all.</p>
<p>The reason for me looking at UMich is because I have lots of family in Michigan, so I feel sort of a deeper connection to the school/"pride" (sort of an intangible I guess), and the fact that it has a reputable liberal arts program, LAS, which I've done a lot of research into, and I've also visited and stayed in Ann Arbor and absolutely love it. I've visited Northwestern about 3 times this year because I have a good friend that goes there and fell in love with the campus, location, and I know their WCAS is a great program.</p>
<p>Anyway I was just wondering what people think of my chances and what I should do to improve my chances, etc. Thanks for any advice. Hopefully I don't come off as snobbish at all with the legacies, I just know that they bear some consequence on my application, even if it's minor. I hope to be a well-qualified applicant even without them.</p>