Ughhh I'm stressing out now!

<p>GWU has been my dream school for awhile! And I can't apply ED because of my financial status.. Which lowers my chances there.</p>

<p>I have a 3.8 UW, 4.3 W., top 2% of my class, Hispanic Female, Took 8 AP classes and so far have obtained an A in all of them (took 5 Honors and got an A in all of them, too).</p>

<p>Leader in all of my EC's, I'm in a world-ranked winter guard team, and secretary of NHS. I have 100+ Volunteer hours and volunteer at an elementary school. </p>

<p>Yet here's the break, I got a 24 ACT score on my first try. I'm taking if again in Sept but if I do bad, that's pretty much it. Do I have absolutely no chance now?</p>

<p>Also, if I got High Honor Roll certificate for my sophomore year and junior year, do I add it on my application?</p>

<p>rOK - here’ the deal. Your GPA W/UW is very good as well as your # of AP’s. What were your actual scores on your AP’s (1-5)? I don’t know what an “A” means.</p>

<p>But as you know - colleges use the SAT/ACT as the “Great Equalizer” to compare high school GPA’s which are sometimes inflated. Your ACT of 24 is low (Hopefully you elected not to send the results ahead of time to GW). Knowing what the admit stats for 2014 are, I’d say at least a 29 on the ACT or a combined SAT of 2000 or higher iwould be good.</p>

<p>My opinion only,</p>

<p>CJ</p>

<p>I haven’t received my scores yet. But I got an A in all my AP classes. Im taking the ACT again, though. Would that effect me if I’m trying to get into Americam, too?</p>

<p>^^American was test optional for ED last year; that would have been your best bet…check to see what they are doing this year with the “test optional” status; there were rumblings that it would be extended to RD this year but have not seen anything on this…</p>

<p>Well American is my #2 choice. I’ve already visited both campuses and fell in love with both. Yet, I heard that GWU had a better IR program and I liked how it was in the city (where American was more of a rural campus). I’m already requesting interviews from both schools. Would that help any?</p>

<p>r0kAngl3l, you do not have “no chance”. However, you can improve your chances greatly by improving your ACT. You have a lot going for you in terms of your classes and your ECs. Definitely do the interview for both schools. Work hard at the ACTs. You can make your mind up based on that whether to go for the American ED without scores or hold out for RD on both. One suggestion is to make contact with your local admissions rep in the fall, and follow up from time to time.</p>

<p>Well if I had to apply ED, it would be for GWU. But the problem is, is that I don’t have the money to pay for the schools if I get in. So, I have to apply RD…</p>

<p>Take heart, my friend. You have an excellent shot at RD admissions! In regards to the money – I was in the same position as you. And GW gave me A LOT of financial aid. I didn’t even have to pay anything out-of-pocket. As a matter-of-fact, I believe I got a REFUND of $1,000 because my financial aid went over my COA.</p>

<p>-Yeah, it’s that good. :)</p>

<p>Really? But even with my ACT score? (which I’m def retaking!)</p>

<p>GW doesn’t really look at your ACT score to determine your financial aid. In fact, GW actually decreased it’s merit-based financial aid pool in favor of expanding need-based funding, so even if you managed to hit the perfect 36, I don’t think it would help you in terms of financial aid. </p>

<p>That said, if you’re financially needy (and actually needy, not one of those “oh, my parents only make $1,000,000 a year” types who still feel the need to complain about not getting any financial aid), GW will almost certainly meet your full need (or at least get pretty close to it). The financial aid office is a total pain to deal with, but they almost always come through in terms of need-based financial aid. Student accounts is also generally pretty easy to work with so long as you get your semester balance paid before registration (notice that I say “generally.” I’ve also heard absolute horror stories).</p>

<p>(I speak from experience. Similar to jeremysjustfine, I’ve gotten almost full aid. I think I’ve paid about a thousand or so in my two years at GW.)</p>

<p>In any case, good luck!</p>

<p>Would I still have a chance of getting in with my ACT score?</p>

<p>Who knows for sure? College admissions is on some levels a crap shoot. You may, you may not. Just keep in mind that there are about 21,000 other people that apply to GW every year with only about 30% getting in, and most of those submitting ACT scores tend to have them in the 27-30 range (according to the Princeton Review). My advice would be to just re-take it (maybe take a prep class?) or try the SAT. Some people tend to fare better on one test than the other.</p>

<p>I was in the same position as you were last year…</p>

<p>I will be attending GW in the fall.</p>

<p>There is a line in the ED contract which says that if you cannot attend for financial reasons, then you will not be required to attend!</p>

<p>So, apply ED. I’ve had a few friends from privileged backgrounds who could not attend because of their financial aid and were easily let go from their contracts!! </p>

<p>:)</p>

<p>Have you taken the SAT? If not, I highly recommend doing so to see if you can raise your score.</p>

<p>Well I’m afraid that if I apply ED then I’d have to wait another year to apply again to a school I want to (such as American).</p>

<p>You can still apply to other places during the same term, just not ED. Like, I applied ED to GW and then regular decision to UF, FSU, American, Sarah Lawrence and a few other places. You just aren’t allowed to apply to another school ED.</p>

<p>So what happens if I get in but decide I can’t afford it? Would I have to wait another year to apply to colleges again?</p>

<p>No, you apply to GW ED and other schools RD or EA. If you cannot go to your ED school for financial reasons, then you wait for the RD/EA acceptances to make your decision on the others. If you decide to go to GW ED, then you need to go let the other schools know that you withdraw. Good luck!</p>

<p>Okay. So I can apply GW ED and all my other schools RD. Say I got acceped to GW and they didn’t give me the $ I wanted, I can withdraw from GW and still wait for the other school responses? I heard that once you apply to GW ED and get accepted, all the other schools are automatically withdrawn and you’re bind to go to that ED school. I’m confused because everybody is telling me different things haha.</p>