VCU Hopefuls (High School Classes of 2017 and Beyond)

Hi, everyone! I decided to create a thread for VCU hopefuls, like I did with VT Hopefuls! I wanted to start and, I guess, initiate the thread by introducing myself using a little info about me.

Age: 16 (as of May 10th)
Class: 2018
Home State: Virginia (Specifically NOVA, aka Northern Virginia)
Interests (College Major-wise and Minor-wise): Mechanical Engineering (Specifically Robotics), Computer Science, Programming, Philosophy, Psychology
Ethnicity: African-American (Ghanaian-American) (1st Generation)

I had also wanted to list my other dream colleges that I may make other threads for:

List of My Dream Colleges (From Top to Bottom):

  1. Virginia Tech (VT)
  2. University of Virginia (UVA)
  3. George Mason University (GMU)
  4. Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU)
  5. James Madison University (JMU)

So now that I’ve kind of introduced myself, I guess I might as well start this thread. This is a community for VCU HOPEFULS so feel free to put anything you guys want pertaining to the university. Hope this turns out well!

I’ll start the first post I guess! I’ll describe a little more about myself (school-wise). Feel free to do the same!

My Test Scores:
SAT I (Breakdown Critical Reading-Math): N/A
ACT: N/A
SAT II: N/A
PSAT 2015: 990/1520
Rank: N/A

AP/IB Classes Taken: None

Projected Junior Year Schedule

Engineering Explorations I/Robotics
PLTW (Project Lead The Way) Principles of Engineering (Weighted)
AP Chemistry (Weighted)
U.S. and Virginia History
Functions/Trigonometry (Weighted)
Spanish II

AP English Language and Composition (Weighted)

Projected Senior Year Schedule

PLTW (Project Lead The Way) Engineering Design and Development OR Engineering Analysis and
AP Psychology
Physics or AP Physics I
U.S. and Virginia Government
AP Calculus AB
AP Economics
English 12 or AP English Literature and Composition
Extracurricular Activities (ECs)
Robotics Club

Outdoor Track

Planned ECs for Next Year

Biotechnology Club
Book Club
Environmental Science Club
Forensics Club
Key Club
Robotics Team

TARC (Rocketry) Club

Job/Work Experience: None

Volunteer Experience: 4 Years (Summers) Volunteering at the Library

Summer Activities

  • Taking Health and PE 2 over the summer in summer school (June 27th - August 06th)
  • Volunteering at my local library at least once a week
  • Going on college tours to my three top colleges: Virginia Tech, hopefully between June 20th and 24th, UVA, and GMU
  • Try and find time to study for the SAT/ACT
  • Do my summer assignments for AP English Language and Composition (which will likely involve reading a book) and AP Chemistry
  • Try and teach myself the basics of Java (as much as I can do on my own time)
  • Personal Challenge: READ AT LEAST THREE NOVELS BY THE END OF THE SUMMER! (I'm a pretty avid reader during the summer, so this shouldn't be a problem.)
  • Go to King's Dominion with my family (likely on my brother's birthday in July)

- Get my driver's license before school starts (with the help of the Health and PE 2 class for the permit test!)

Hooks (That I Could Think Of)

URM (Under-Represented Minority)

Decision: Accepted

(I’ve been waiting ever since I joined CC to make this post for any school xD )
P.S I don’t know how to format on here, so hopefully it’s not too hard to read

  • SAT (after March 2016): 600 (CR&W), 630 (M)
  • ACT: not submitted
  • SAT II: N/A
  • GPA: 3.58 (UW, 4.0 scale)
  • Rank: school does not rank
  • AP: taken, not submitted yet (APUSH: 3, AP Lang & Comp: 3)
  • Senior Year courses: AP Psychology, AP Calculus AB, College Political Science (101-102), English Literature, Journalism, Film Arts

-Extracurricular (place leadership in parenthesis/details): Spanish Honors Society (Treasurer), Science Olympiad (member and placed in competition), Music Honors Society (not instrumental, club based on musicians solely), Red Cross (Blood Drive organizer and donor), Pre-Med Association, Neuroscience Club
-Volunteer/Community service: Hospital Volunteering for (2 1/2 years), Public Library Volunteer (2 1/2 years), Mosque Volunteer/Tutor
-Summer Activities: University of California Irvine Summer Shadow Program internee (pre-med program)
-Essay: Overall pretty confident that they were appealing. Kept them VERY short (I think max was 650 for one and I wrote 300-350, or 350 max and wrote 250). Talked about my language skills and activities I did in and out of school.
-Recommendations: First, none of us are allowed to read our recommendation letters. I had a strong bond with the teachers I asked and my counselor as well. One of my teachers has PhD, which I guess shows “more qualification” and regard to my app (people say that at my school :/)

-Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
-Intended Major: Psychology (Advising Track: Pre-Med)
-State (if domestic): CA
-Country (if international applicant): N/A
-School Type: Public
-Ethnicity: Asian Indian (Bangladeshi)
-Gender: Female
-Income Bracket: $69k
-Other Schools I applied to: UCSD, UCB, UCI, UCR, SDSU, Drexel, George Washington, UMKC

Extra Comments: I applied to the Honors Program as well, which I will hear from around early January. In addition to the Honors Program I applied to the Guaranteed admissions program. If anyone has any questions about apps or applying to college anyway, please FEEL FREE to do so. I love helping people on CC. Good Luck to any prospective applicants, wish you all the best!!!

Hi! when did you apply to vcu ? i applied on november 16 and i’m still waiting to hear from them!

hi! when did you apply to vcu? i applied on november 16 and i’m still waiting to hear from them! im a little worried

Applied Oct. 31st, still waiting as well . . .

DS applied November 14, still waiting to hear. His friend applied October 10 and heard three weeks later that he was accepted.

I applied around Oct. 31st as well, since it is Rolling Admission, I knew I’d hear early too. (It usually takes about 3 weeks to hear if it’s Rolling Admission)

I applied Nov 14 or 15 with all of my documents having already been submitted, and I’m still waiting. I think some colleges (in my case, engineering) take longer, so all we can do is wait. I wish I could find out online, though. Good luck to you all!

Do you know how difficult the Guaranteed Admission Medical program is? what are the average test scores and gpa. Thanks in advance

Should clarify that I’m a non-trad transfer applicant too, so I assume not as much of a priority.

Has anyone heard back that applied early admissions yet? I applied Nov 12 for early admissions and haven’t heard anything yet.

I applied Nov 12 and haven’t heard either. Can you post if you get any news? I will do the same.

I called admissions last week and was told that as long as the application is received by January 15, we would hear by April 1st. They do not have early action, only a November 15 deadline for scholarship consideration. We will hear on a rolling basis. From what I can tell from this board and my son’s peers, the high stat kids are hearing fairly quickly. Those of us who are not as high will probably not hear anything until February or March. Just my guess.

.Accepted! DS got into business school, marketing concentration. In-state, private rigorous college-prep high school, 3.8 WGPA, 1100 RSAT, 9 Honor Classes, No AP classes, NHS, 150+ service hours, part time job. No merit award but wasn’t expecting any. Received decision last week while we were away for Christmas, letter post marked December 17th. Glad to have VCU as an option, still waiting to hear from other schools.

Accepted - VCUarts for Graphic Design. Out of state (originally at tough public VA school, moved to more laid back southern school in a different state, though still competitive)
-3.8 Unweighted and 4.5 Weighted GA
-1420 New SAT
-34 ACT
-ranked 33 in new school out of about 300 (old school tanked me a bit)
-many honors and 7 total AP classes with all 5s from junior years except one 4 in Lang,
-NHS, Key Club, Beta Club, SkillsUSA Placer, NAHS, Envirothon Captain, Recycling Team, plenty of service activities but i dont think i listed specific hours, National Hispanic Recognition Recipient for PSAT, third dan black belt
-Over summer did CMU’s Summer Art and Design Program
-pretty confident with my essays, talked about interest in continued learning and improvement through and after college, used lotsa SAT vocab that i was familiar with, made my essays no more than less than 50 words less than the maximum for shorter ones

  • Had two teachers that were familiar and liked me (and I did well in their classes)
    -sent in art portfolio which i felt fairly confident in
  • Received notif last week about, then accepted into honors college this week.
    Also applied to CMU, Duke, Yale, UVA, University South Carolina, and Clemson (as of now has been accepted into USC and Clemson as well, still waiting on others)

transfer or freshman?