Hi guys! I am a senior at a highly ranked public school in California. I have a 3.24 W GPA, 1900 SAT, and 28 ACT.
Accepted:
Iowa State (lots of automatic merit, pretty much my last ditch financial safety at this point)
Indiana U
Syracuse U (10k merit, 1st choice was Newhouse, but got into CAS)
Deferred:
Butler U
U of Colorado Boulder (surprised by this one, but will probably get in w/ my senior grades)
Waiting:
UC Riverside
UC Irvine
UC Davis
UC Santa Barbara
Long Beach St
San Diego St.
SF State
Cal Poly SLO
My daughter is a senior at a well regarded public high school in Connecticut. She has a 3.25 UW GPA (a few honors classes, but no APs), 1510/2400 SAT, 22 ACT, but great (service oriented) ECs and some great recommendations. She applied to mostly test-optional schools (not submitting any standardized test scores), with the exception of our state flagship university, UCONN (which requires them).
Accepted (Early Decision):
Hobart and William Smith Colleges (No merit aid – merit aid requires test scores and greater than 1250 M+CR SATs)
@Booksmart27 A this point getting into UCONN is moot. She really wanted a small liberal arts college, but as a parent I “strongly encouraged” her to UCONN for the very reasons you point out. Her ED acceptance to HWS means she will be withdrawing her other applications.
Graduated this year. Ended up with a UW GPA of 3.3 and with a UC GPA of about 3.75 (failed several courses my freshman year.) Only took 3 APs in high school. SAT score was a 1870. Did track and XC for three years and am also a URM.
Accepted:
CSU Cal Poly Pomona
San Diego State University
CSU Long Beach
UC Riverside
UC Santa Cruz
UC Irvine (waitlisted at first)
UC Santa Barbara (attending)
Loyola Marymount University
Occidental College
Rejected:
Cal Poly SLO (applied for CS)
Santa Clara University
UC Davis
UC Berkeley
UCLA
… A bad freshman year does not mean the end of the world!
Graduating this year…
2.66 UW GPA (Ds in Chemistry, Spanish 2, Multiple Cs spread throughout freshmen and sophomore year)
3.4 W GPA
Most honors, a few standard, 4 AP
1670 SAT (590 M/560 CR/520 W)
High school class of 2015, graduated with a 3.3/4.0 and a 1670 gpa from a public school in mass, did not apply for FA so that may have helped, took mostly honors classes with 3 APs
Accepted
UMass Amherst
University of New Hampshire
University of Rhode Island (honors college)
Marist College
Boston University
Keene State College
Emmanuel College
Temple University
Quinnipiac University
Not a parent but figured I’d post to help future students in my situation. My info: Public high school student in California, applying for financial aid (family income of 80K), UW GPA 2.9/weighted GPA 3.1 (but huge upward trend-2.0 freshman year to 3.8 senior year UW), ACT score 28, URM.
Accepted:
Ohio Wesleyan University (with merit aid of 23K per year renewable for 4 years which was surprising) (applied Early Action II)
Deferred:
George Washington University (applied Early Decision I)
Still Waiting For:
Boston College
Beloit College
Trinity University
American University
I already posted, but I thought I’d do an update since I’ve heard back from all but three schools. I am a senior at a highly ranked public school in California. I have a 3.3 W GPA (was a 3.24 going into senior year), 1900 SAT, and 28 ACT. I mostly applied to communication related majors if not to all of the schools below. One note: About half of the schools I applied to were UCs/CSUs for which I was reviewed with a lower 10-11 GPA.
Accepted:
Iowa State (lots of automatic merit)
Indiana U
Syracuse U (ED, 10k merit, 1st choice was Newhouse, but got into CAS)
Ithaca College (10k merit)
Butler U (10k merit, originally deferred)
U of Colorado Boulder (originally deferred, didn’t get into major)
UC Riverside
SF State
Rejected:
Long Beach St
San Diego St.
Cal Poly SLO
Warren Buffet got his BA from Nebraska. Sure, he went on to Columbia Business School, and so could any of these students go on to amazing success. Lots of other examples of CEO’s and Nobel Prize winners who went to less competitive admissions schools undergrad.
So let’s not feed the uninformed, but rather let them starve for attention as you go about the business of this thread.
Not gonna lie, I was kinda offended by the “second and third tier schools” comment. Syracuse was my number one choice and I’m still considering it since it’s not binding, but that doesn’t mean I “settled” for for the other schools that I applied to that all actually have strong programs in my major. I hope that everyone who comes across this thread, looking for a bit of hope realizes that even if you can’t get into a top 25 school (which you can in some cases) knows that there’s a place for them somewhere and that they can be accepted to a great school even when they’re told that they’re a lost cause due to their GPA or test score.
@sadovaya: Arrogance is not a top tier behavior. There are lots of great schools in this country. People who base their sole opinions on colleges on rankings are missing the point. Rankings are best used like horoscopes - great for entertainment, not so good for decision making.
Son is 2 months in 11th grade and a competitive, public HS in PA. Ranked 1029 in the US and 24th in PA. GPA at end of 10th grade was 3.0. We are hopeful his GPA will increase but at best we’re figuring on 3.2. He is really a B- student and will most likely get a 20 on ACT, not expecting anything higher. No honors classes, no AP. Yes college prep courses however. Some extra curricular activities and the push to increase more school involvement. We are out of state as well for these schools below.
Are University of Hartford, Hofstra University, Manhattanville College realistic choices ? Does test optional mean that GPAs need to be much higher or are schools looking at a lot of factors for determining admission?
His 1st choice would be Temple but it has become very competitive - and test optional leads me to believe they are looking for a higher GPA to make up for the test optional aspect.
This looks like the perfect discussion as I have an 11th grade son who will no doubt be a 3.0 by graduation. We are praying he can make it to 3.3 but we are trying to be realistic. He is taking college prep courses - no honors or AP courses as he has to work very hard for his B- / B level. We are also praying that he can get higher than a 20 on his ACT. He is taking a prep class.
This discussion is inspiring but when I see the dates of the posts - they are fairly old and SO much has changed in the last few years 2014, 2015, 2016 that the once 3.0 - 3.3 schools like Temple University (my son’s #1 choice) are more selective now, as is West Chester University.
Can any 3.0 - 3.3 students from 2014, 2015, 2016 accepted to schools in PA, DE, NJ, NY, CT, MD post where they got it?