Hi everyone, sorry if these types of posts annoy you, I’m just very stressed.
I’m a white female from Oregon applying to the CLA, here are my stats:
SAT: 1450
UW GPA: 3.787 (My school doesn’t do weighted, and I’ve embarrassingly gotten Cs in both my PE credits.)
Class load: I’ve taken 4 AP classes- AP US History AP Chemistry, AP Gov, and AP Calculus. I’ve also taken a good handful of honors classes.
Extra Curriculars: I was in robotics club my freshmen year, and I’ve done a lot of theater since. I also ran a book drive by myself outside of school and donated over 700 books to my public library. I also am on my school’s thespian council.
I applied on November 27th and I still haven’t heard back from them or had the text on my application tracker change from “All of your required application materials have been received by the January 1st application deadline. Thank you! Admission decisions are sent on a rolling basis. All students who submit complete applications by the January 1st application deadline will receive their admission decisions on this website by March 31st.” I did not use the common app.
Is this expected? I’ve seen online that normally by the time a month passes there’s some change. Is this just because I didn’t apply with early action?
[Edited for clarification]
@halliescomet they are still getting through the early round. This year, with the introduction of two specific rounds as well as the possibility of deferral, things might be dragged out a bit longer Please know that your stats are fine for CLA and that they most likely couldn’t care less about gym.
Don’t worry at all about getting in, your stats are great for CLA. They are still going through the applications from the first round, as I applied in October and haven’t heard yet, so don’t get stressed. Good luck!
@mycroissant are you sure we should not worry. why are they taking so long. where did you hear that they are still going through the first round? My D applied in October too.
I’m a bit worried too. DS has a high SAT score (1530) but grades that are meh – 3.25 UW, 3.9W. Lots of interesting extracurruculars and great essay though.
This is pure speculation, but, my school counselor was telling me that they didn’t receive as many applications as expected earlier this year due to the fact that they were only accepting them via the common app and had gotten rid of their institutional app that had been available all years prior. My theory is that they may be waiting for more second round applications to come in as kids receive their ED and EA decisions from other schools.
really, so they would rather have kids who think of them as second choice and ignore kids who really want the school.
@mom0126 I don’t think they factor in the timing of the application at all. In fact, the counseling staff have been telling us that the U bases the majority of their decision on GPA & ACT. I have a friend that applied in August with stats slightly below CLA’s median and he still hasn’t heard back.
"where did you hear that they are still going through the first round? "
First round decisions are completed by Jan. 31. It’s not Jan. 31 yet.
"my school counselor was telling me that they didn’t receive as many applications as expected earlier this year due to the fact that they were only accepting them via the common app and had gotten rid of their institutional app that had been available all years prior. "
They still have their institutional applications:
https://minnesota.my-online-application.com/
@JBStillFlying Yes, but they didn’t have it up earlier in the year; not up until a few months after they opened up admissions.
Does this mean my kid, with lower GPA, will automatically not be considered even though he has a 1530 SAT? He also has 7 APs, all 4s and 5s.
This waiting is awful.
@Hagiograph - not sure what college your student has applied to but the 1530 will very likely get him to all but CSE . . . and even then he has a fair shot at CSE. A 1530 is a fantastic score. It will just take awhile.
@JohnStamoskian1 - seriously? LOL. They must have tried to transition to the CA only. It was weird when one of my kids (either D16 or D17 can’t remember) applied because the CA showed up mysteriously in the midst of that application cycle. They should continue to offer both options. All the MN and WI kids are used to seeing the institutional application and it’s very easy to complete.
And by the way they have all they are gonna get, right? The last day was Jan 1st.
FWIW - the wait is probably beyond frustrating, especially as you watch others in your HS get their decisions prior to Christmas and Winter Break. Keep in mind that this is the first year they offered “deferred” as an outcome to the early round and they are obviously playing it safe. And perspective is helpful, too - only a couple years ago they were still stringing kids along till mid-late Feb. Hearing back in Jan. is a bit frustrating given that most colleges have released early-round decisions, but you are still hearing back a month earlier than those who went before you 
@mom0126 - if someone with a 36 ACT and a 4,0 uw gpa applies Jan 10th that kid will probably get accepted into first choice well ahead of others who are still waiting. But UMN isn’t alone in that. Also, UMN’s admissions process is sorta confusing. Consider: they have rolling decisions so does that mean that strong candidates who applied for 2nd round might hear back earlier than those with weaker stats who applied first round? They tweak the process every year so it’s hard to figure out a consistent pattern.
My student applied to CLA from OOS.
@Hagiograph are the grades trending up or down? Does your DS know his rank? (Many schools don’t rank now so no biggie if that’s the case here but then they go off GPA). UMN looks at unweighted, obviously, as different districts and schools use weighting differently. He’s WELL above the 75th percentile on his SAT so unless he has a bunch of C’s during Junior year he’s probably ok. Not sure how it will ultimately play out timing-wise, however. What is his 2nd choice college for UMN?
No ranking at his high school, grades aren’t really trending. He gets mostly As and Bs — has had a few Cs scattered throughout and one D. Basically a late bloomer/underachiever. However all of his classes have been honors or AP (with the exception of things like gym) and he has some national awards and other interesting ECs.
EC’s and awards are secondary factors in a UMN admissions decision but can certainly push you over to the good side in an on-the-fence decision. Primary factors are GPA/Ranking, ACT/SAT, and course load. The C’s and one D are slowing his process down even if some of those are honors/AP. The complication is that from the perspective of the admissions committee, the student should be challenging himself but not become overwhelmed by or disinterested in the subject. That’s why you want to pull decent-to-high grades in the hardest subjects you can muster. Hopefully his essay explained what was going on and the steps he took to address the shortfalls. If he ends up deferred, then his GC might be able to submit a LOR attesting to his academic strengths.
This sounds a lot like my oldest who was diagnosed with severe ADHD late in her sophomore year. She’s very bright (33 ACT one-and-done) but pulled some crappy grades during sophomore year because she finally hit the rigor-wall and couldn’t get over it. Her junior year was a complete turnaround including grades, academic awards, etc. She explained the entire thing in her essay including the steps she took to turn it around and ended up admitted to CLA (her first choice) but she would gladly tell you how “unreasonably” apprehensive I was before that decision came down! [-O<
BTW, one indication is whether your DS specified a less competitive college (CEHD, CFANS, CDES, etc.) as his 2nd choice. If he was going to be dinged from CLA they may well have placed him by now in 2nd choice. Since that HASN’T happened, then that might be a good sign for the time being.