What are my chances at these colleges? I feel like most of these colleges are reaches

Chance Me / Match Me!
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I feel like I applied to all reach schools, academic wise. I’m applying to Indiana University Bloomington, Michigan State University, Chapman University, University of Pittsburgh, Loyola University Chicago, Colorado State University, and Temple University. I already got into Saint Louis University for a still deciding major in the Doisy College of Health Sciences. My GPA is pretty low but I feel like my EC’s and essays are solid.

I am majoring in Kinesiology/Exercise Science so I can either become an Occupational or Physical Therapist.

I’m a white kid that comes from California that can speak, read, and write Mandarin (Chinese), can read and write Spanish, and Cantonese (Chinese) is spoken at home.

I feel like I had a great Chapman University interview. I’m also applying for no financial aid.

My Extracurriculars are club captain for the best soccer team in my area, I’ve had 2 internships as a youth counselor (In 1 internship, I was voted best youth counselor), I buy and sell limited shoes (indicated that I made 638.5% profit margin in first 9 months of selling), I had a job at my school cafeteria as the cashier, I’ve played the piano my whole life, I’ve only done like 12 hours of community service for a food pantry, and I have been sailing/racing in the SF Bay most of my life.

My Weighted GPA is 2.95 (I know, it’s low). And I’m not submitting test scores. I also haven’t taken any AP’s or honors.

I got a high school counselor recommendation letter and a recommendation letter from a teacher that I am close with. I was supposed to receive a recommendation letter from my coach, but he never followed through.

My personal statement prompt is that one about an event/realization that started a period of growth or whatever. I talked about how my dad had an alcohol problem, and how I was always worried about him, then I talk about how I stopped caring whether he was sober or not after he relapsed on my 14th birthday. And from that point on I started worrying more about myself, and not him. I feel like all my supplementary essays were solid too.

I write in my additional info how I have improved as a student when the pandemic hit, and how I incorporated new study techniques. I prove that statement with my second-semester junior year grades and first-semester senior year grades. So I ended with an upward grade trend.

I also took 3 courses at a local community college for Chinese. I withdrew my grade from the first course, in the second course I got a C, and in the third course, I got a B.

What do you think my chances are of getting into these colleges? Please answer truthfully. Thank you, I appreciate it.

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“Already accepted” is about as strong of a “safety” as you can possibly have, particularly if it is affordable and has your intended major. This should take quite a bit of the stress off of the rest of your applications.

All I can say is thank-you! Physical therapy has been enormously helpful to me and a few people that I know. It is amazing the huge difference that a very small amount of carefully designed exercise can make.

You high school GPA does indeed make it hard to know your chances and to find good safeties. Your uptrend should help you. You should plan to focus hard on your studies and make a very strong effort in university. I do think that you have applied to some reaches.

However, you are already in at a solid university. You have a proposed major that leads to a solid job and will really help people. Having a pragmatic major that will lead to a job and that will help people in the long run is going to be more important than which university you graduate from.

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Thank you! I appreciate the kind words! Saint Louis University was my number 1 choice but I didn’t get into their physical therapy program unfortunately. I’m just thankful I already got into a university. I love helping people out, which is why I want to become a therapist, whether it’s physical or occupational.

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What would be required to get into your desired major at Saint Louis? Would you need to get good grades for your freshman year and then apply for the major, or is there some other process?

I did quickly look up the ranking for Saint Louis, and saw it just a couple of spots away from a different university where someone I know got their bachelor’s, and then immediately went into a solid career in the health care field.

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I already talked with my admissions counselor. I asked her “If I were to attend, would there be a chance I can try to get into that major again?” She told me that it wasn’t very likely, since it’s super competitive.