What are my chances at UMW or CNU

Hello, I’m in my Senior year in Highschool in Virginia and I’ve been really stressed out about actually getting into any of my colleges I’m applying to… What’s particularly worrying me is my course load, gpa, and if I’m well rounded enough. I appreciate anyone taking a look at this and any feed back or responses you leave!

Here’s a little summary of me…

Caucasian, Male;

Course load(Core + AP):

Freshmen Year: Biology Honors, English 9 Honors, Geometry Honors, World History Honors

Sophomore Year: Chemistry Honors, English 10 Honors, Algebra II, AP World History

Junior Year: Pyschics, AP Language, Pre-Calculus, US History Honors, AP Psychology

Senior Year: Oceanography, AP Liturature and Conposition, Probability and Statistics, AP US Government

GPA: 3.2 Weighted - I really did poorly my Freshmen year but I’ve been on a upward trajectory since then.

SAT: 1240 (New)

ECs:

-Crew (9th, 10th, 11th, 12th) - Finalized at states and went to Nationals Junior year. Fingers crossed for Senior Year. *My common app application is written about this and how it’s taught me to push myself etc…

-Model United Nations (12th) - Didn’t know this existed until this year, thought it would be fun and look good on college apps since I’m looking to major in Political Science or Business.

-Future Business Leaders of America (12th) - Don’t know much about this club, but thought it would be interesting and also look good on college apps because of the majors I’m looking at. (Political Science or Business)

-Minimal community service, occasional volunteering at my local senior center and crew related events.

List of Schools I’m looking to apply to:

William and Mary (Reach)
University of Virginia (Reach)
University of Mary Washington (Target) #1
Christopher Newport University (Target) #2
James Madison University (Target)
Longwood University (Target)
Radford University (Safety)
Old Dominion University (Safety)

Edit: Unweighted GPA 2.9

Sorry for the late editing/double posting but here’s some edition all info…
-Philosophy Club 9th and 10th
-Lettered for Crew 10th through 12th
-Science Fair 9th and 10th
-Participated in several National and International Regattas for Crew most notably the Stotesbury Cup Regatta 10th through 12th
-After this year I’ll be one year of fitness classes away from being a certified Personal Trainer
-Crew is a huge part of my life, I work out 2 to 4 hours a day, 5 to 6 days a week, 9 months out of the year for the last 3 years.
-Graduating with an Advanced Diploma
-Homeroom Faculty Rep (12th) *Non Student Government

I know this is weeks later, but just thought I’d comment:
Last week, one of the admissions counselors from Mary Washington came to my school for on-site admissions. It was actually pretty intimidating. Regardless, I was accepted. I have about a 3.8 GPA, 8 AP classes, tons of extracurriculars, I’m in 5 honor societies, I’ve been in every VA honor choir, lettered in academics, and usher at church.

From what you listed, you would be deferred if you applied early because your GPA isn’t quite the average and people I know that have similar stats as you were deferred. It might be the same for CNU & JMU too just because most people applying there have over 4.0 w. I think you’ll get into Longwood. Radford and ODU definitely. It is good that you took AP classes though. Depending on your grades, that will help. The admissions officers want to see sometbing about you that stands out. It seems like crew is the thing, so it’s good that that was your essay. I talked about my passion for music although I want to go into pre-law.
Make sure you keep your senior year grades up. Also, get strong recs from teachers that know you well (preferably that have had you more than once).

Umm, I don’t think CNU is a match school for you either, but more of a reach school because the school’s average GPA is 3.76 weighted, and your GPA is 3.2 weighted, showing a 0.5+ gap in GPA. Also, your SAT score is barely above average SAT (average is 1230), so you won’t be considered as a competitive applicant. In addition, CNU look at extracurricular activity background much, so your background won’t help you either. It’s kind of too late to make up.

Well that’s tough news to swallow but I’ll admit I had an inkling that was probably the case. Regardless, I really appreciate the feedback and wish you both happy holidays!

@SprinkleofLuck I applied early decision & was accepted into CNU. My stats are similar to yours. Also got into ODU, but haven’t heard back from JMU. CNU uses a holistic process, so I think my letter of recommendation, essay, and activities list helped them look past my GPA. I worked with my counselor to make sure I only applied to colleges where my SAT or ACT scores were within the 50% range & I’ve been accepted into 5 colleges. Didn’t attempt W&M, UVA or Tech. What about GMU or VCU? I was accepted into WVU and qualified for an out of state scholarship that brought the cost close to VA in state prices.

@99FlyBoy Thank you for the feedback & congratulations on your acceptance to CNU and ODU. Good luck with JMU! I scratched W&M from my list in favor of adding VCU and GMU. My school has a nifty site that can filter schools based on whether they’ve accepted students similar to you, which is the list I selected my schools from. The only exception to this being UVA. According to the averages on this site I have a fair chance of getting into each of my schools. I’m a bit skeptical of this though b/c according to the site I even have a fair chance of getting into UVA which I don’t necessarily believe… The website also keeps a scatter plot that depicts the acceptance records of students from the last six years from my school to various colleges/universities. My scores tend to fall within these acceptance histories, albeit toward the bottom of the clusters… while is a tad worrying, it still means I’m within the historical margins of acceptance which does give me some confidence.

I don’t know about CNU, but I got accepted to Mary Washington with similar stats. I think you’re competitive for admission.

@brainscistudent Thank you! Happy holidays!

My son got in early action to CNU and UMW with similar resume. Deferred JMU. I think it helped that he went to the interview at CNU.

@katcap Thank you for the feedback, and congratulations to your son! Did he chose which school he is attending yet?

He is going to scholarship interview weekend at High Point and Open House at CNU before final decision. Probably not going to UMW though he liked it and i am sure he would be happy there it just wasn’t as inspiring to him.