<p>I'm a senior in high school looking to apply to UMN Carlson.</p>
<p>My GPA is 3.69 unweighted, 3.75 weighted, overall.
3.89 unweighted GPA and 3.95 weighted for grades 10-12.
I am ranked in the top 30% of my high school.
I have taken 1 AP course and 4 college courses at a community college; I am currently taking 3 AP courses and 2 college courses (they are both business courses, as well).
My GPA at the community college is 3.75.
My cumulative ACT score is 30, with a 27 in math. My SAT score is 1770; I plan to retake the SAT in October.</p>
<p>I have 20 hours of work experience in a small business, but no extracurricular activities.</p>
<p>My math teacher from a previous year (Precalculus) is writing me a recommendation, and I plan to have one of my business teachers write me one as well. I will also be applying in early October, before the priority admissions deadline.</p>
<p>Also, I've noticed that the school has a small number of minority students. I'm not sure if this will help, but I am also African American.</p>
<p>I don’t have any extra-curriculars, just the work experience. I’ve focused more on taking college courses. I took two during the summer between my sophomore and junior year, two during the summer between junior and senior year, and I am currently taking two.
With the amount of AP’s and college courses I’ve been taking, I’m probably going to be finished or nearly finished with general education courses, which is why I’m taking the business courses: to understand more of what I’ll be learning with the major, and to see if I’ll actually enjoy it.
I had originally planned, for most of my high school career, to just start off with a community college, then go on to transfer to a school, as my older siblings have. But then I realized I’ll only have a few courses to take after I graduate from high school before being eligible for transferring.</p>
<p>You showed dedication towards your major by planning ahead in dual-enrollment, which is a good thing. Were I an University of Minnesota admissions officer, I could say that you were off the beaten, high-school path and say that dedication and educational rigor would make you a good fit, essay pending.</p>
<p>Thank you for your response. I’ve been a bit worried about my chances, considering my lack of EC’s. I don’t know any other high school students who are taking any college courses outside of school, so I’m not sure how admissions counselors would consider my application.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>A “low match” is when you have a good chance to get in but there’s still some room for rejection</p></li>
<li><p>What I mean by exotic recommendations is that, given the educational path you walked down, it will look very different from most other recs, even if they were solid enough to help you get into Carlson.</p></li>
</ol>