UW with 3.2?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m going into my senior year and am starting my college apps. I had pretty bad grades freshman year that have significantly impacted my GPA. I have a 3.26 but I have improved a lot over the years. These are my yearly GPA’s:

Freshman: 2.6
Sophomore: 3.55
Junior: 3.73

I am currently enrolled in Washington’s Running Start program and my college GPA is 3.69. I am a member of Phi Theta Kappa (honors society) and will graduate high school with my AA degree.

I’ve participated in a lot of activities throughout high school. I am editor-in-chief of my school paper and have been in the journalism class all 4 years (in a leadership role for 3 of them). I’ve done DECA for 3 years and Key Club for 1 year. I volunteer as a tutor at the library and I have a part-time job.

My SAT was 1760 due to a low math score but I’ve studied a lot this summer and am expecting my next score to be in the 1900-2100 range.

I’m a white female and I come from a lower middle class family. I have 7 siblings (mostly older) and my younger brother and I are the only ones left at home. My mom raised the two of us as a single parent after my dad left. I’ll be the first in my family to attend college.

Judging me holistically, what are my chances of getting into the University of Washington? It’s my top choice school I’m hoping that they’ll overlook my low gpa.

2

How do they weigh and calculate GPA for admissions? If they are similar to the UCs, they probably won’t care much about your freshman grades. Does your school have a Naviance program? That would help you see how students with comparable grades and scores have fared with UW. Are you applying for Computer Science or Engineering? You probably are not competitive for those highly-selective programs. I think your chances are decent as an in-state applicant, otherwise, but bear in mind that no college has ever accepted a student based on “expected” test scores.