Why was I denied from Florida State?

Applying to College Admission Stories
1

Hey everyone, I’m new to this forum and need some input, albeit from strangers, on my situation. I’m active duty Army and applied to Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida for fall 2016 a couple of months ago. I applied early. I found out that I got denied a couple of days ago. Not deferred or offered a future term of enrollment, but denied.

If any of you know anything about Florida State, it’s about how pro-military/veterans they are. They are ranked among the top 10 schools nationally for veterans and aspire to be the most “veteran friendly and empowering school” in the nation. They are also very geared towards minorities, being among the top 10 schools for hispanic students in the medical/law disciplines. As a half black, half hispanic soon to be veteran female, I thought I had a good chance of getting in. But first, let me give you my high school stats. I graduated in 2012 from a Florida high school.

Class rank: 7/319 students (top 10%)
GPA: 3.84 (unweighted); 4.53 (weighted); maintained a 4.0 my senior year of high school, all AP classes throughout high school, never earned a “C” or below grade
ACT score: 23
150+ hours of community service (in a hospital)
Graduated with the 100% Bright Futures scholarship among others

Okay, I’ve thought about this situation a lot. So some drawbacks: I did not take math my senior year of high school and I was not involved in any student government or extracurricular activities besides volunteer work. My ACT score was in the 25th percentile of those admitted this month (the middle 50% scored a 26-30 ACT). When I graduated high school, I went to college for a semester for a vocational program and earned an 80%. Unfortunately, this came out to be a 2.0 “C” grade because of the grading scale (78-82%) was a “C.” I explained this in my essay, that working full time while enrolled in full time academics caused my grades to suffer but was not indicative of my ability to handle college level coursework.

When I applied to Florida State I had just come back from a deployment from Iraq working military intelligence against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL). It was a very rough deployment mentally and physically, working every day while receiving indirect fire (or the threat of it) multiple times a month. My intended major was Criminology. With my experience, this would have set me up well.

My question is, why was I denied? What do You think? Not competitive enough? I’m not a traditional applicant. I didn’t write about my role in student government positions or my position on a varsity sports team. I wrote as someone with real world experience who was deployed to a war zone. I didn’t expect an admission to be handed to me because I am a service member or a minority. However, I do not understand this decision. I already mailed out an appeal and even personally emailed the admissions office. Any input would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

2

“Unfortunately, this came out to be a 2.0 “C” grade because of the grading scale (78-82%) was a “C.” I explained this in my essay”

You shouldn’t explain low grades in your personal essay. That belongs in the section at the end of the app for additional information. Your essay is the place for you to show colleges your voice as a writer and how you think. If your essay seemed too focused on making an excuse for a bad grade rather than showing what is interesting and unique about you, that may have hurt your chances.

3

While you went to a FL HS, did you maintain FL residence?

Many MI specialists in the Army get assigned to AZ, TX, and GA so they change state residency to those locations. You could have been considered an OOS.

Essay may have been an issue. Structure? Grammar? Spelling mistakes? Want me to take a look at it? PM me the essay.

HS profile. FSU may be familiar with your HS. Is it a HS with a profile that suggest grade inflation?

4

Yes, I was considered a Florida resident and sent in the paperwork to prove it. I appreciate the offer of help, I won’t be releasing the essay, but to sum it up, I addressed the topic. 1. How I came to be the person I am 2. How I will benefit from the university 3. How the university will benefit from me. I detailed why my grade came out to be a 2.0 in college, I explained family life circumstances that were very hard on me earlier in life, I explained my interest in their Criminology major and what I wanted to do with that degree, I showed I knew certain information about the school. In my biased eyes, I wrote a very concise narrative on who I was, what I wanted, and wanted to contribute. If that’s not good enough then I’m at a loss.

My high school offered the AICE diploma (don’t know if you’re familiar with that) which I earned. There is no grade inflation of which I am aware, even when we graduated. Just weighted and unweighted GPAs.

I appreciate the feedback, nobody else seems to have any answers. Have a good evening.

5

Equestrian Dream, while that is true, I have been out of college for years. As far as they know, my only attempt at college resulted in a C. So, how can I handle coursework at a competitive state university? That’s why I explained it.
Thanks for the input.

As far as the essay, I addressed it. “Tell us how you came to be the person you are today, and about your passions and future expectations. Describe how you will benefit from our community and how our community will benefit from you.” If a deployment to the U.S. Embassy in Iraq working intelligence against the Islamic State, the current #1 terrorist threat against America isn’t a unique experience I don’t know what else is.

6

http://admissions.fsu.edu/freshman/requirements/. See the SAT and ACT minimum requirements. Maybe your standardized tests did not meet their cut offs.

7

I hate to say this but it may be a combination of your ACT and HS profile.

I just looked at CollegeData and the reported middle 50% for the ACT is 26-29. Only 5% of accepted students have an ACT of 23 and below. Not trying to generalize too much here but many of low ACT scorers may be those with a special hook like recruited athletes, long legacy, relatives of high donors, etc.

Also, a school like FSU may not look to kindly on a HS where a top 10 student gets a 23 on the ACT.

Again, hate to be blunt but @JasonMath may be on to something when he suggested ACT as one of the causes for denial. You planning to retake?

8

Hey guys. Thanks for the responses. As far as meeting the subscores of the ACT if that is what you’re asking, and other academic requirements, yes I did. I know that the ACT test scores of the middle 50% are 26-30, that’s on their website.

Where did you get that 5% have a 23 or below? That seems like a long shot.

Nope, not planning to retake at this point as I separate from the military next year and I won’t apply to get in as a freshman again. I’ll either go to Tallahassee community college and transfer over or try Univ of North FL since my new major isn’t limited access there.

Thanks again guys.

9

Go on CollegeData.com and look up FSU

http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=817

For ACT, is says 21% scored 30-36, 74% scored 24-29, and 5% scored 18-23.