Hello everybody. I am looking to apply to the U of M and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get in. I am a white male and a Minnesota resident. I received a 26 on my ACT (28s in reading and math) and I have a 3.6 weighted GPA with 10+ Honors classes and 5 APs. I am involved at school and I am captain of my debate team. I have had 2 family members that have gone there (mother and uncle) and I live in a single parent household. I am applying to both the College of Liberal Arts and Carlson School of Management. What are my chances of getting accepted into each school on campus?
Do you have naviance or another way to compare your ACT and GPA with other students from your high school who have applied to U of Minnesota? If so, how do you compare? Being in-state should help you but of course that will be reflected in the results for other students from your high school.
One thing that you can do is look at sites such as prepscholar to see what average GPA and ACT scores are for other students accepted to any particular school. Looking at this IMHO makes it unclear whether you will get in – it looks like you have a reasonable chance but that you should have another safer option as well when you are applying to schools.
Also, the easiest thing to improve quickly is your ACT (or SAT) score. With this in mind I am inclined to ask: How much preparation did you do? SAT or ACT preparation can make quite a bit of difference in terms of how students do on these standardized tests. We used both a class at our local community center, and a small amount of tutoring. We found both very helpful. The tutoring has the advantage that they can either give you a practice test or look at the results of the test that you already took and quickly focus on the areas where you can get the most improvement with the smallest amount of studying. Also some students do better on the SAT versus the ACT, or vice versa, and so some students take both and send in whichever score is better.
Thanks for the feedback. I’ve taken it twice but I have not studied. I am planning on taking it this fall so I will look at the ACT prep books I just bought. I appreciate your tips.
Carlson will be a reach. CLA is a possibility. Here are the stats by admitting college:
https://admissions.tc.umn.edu/academics/profile.html
What is your unweighted GPA? (typically this can be calculated).
Thanks! I just calculated it and it is a 3.4. My school is also ranked #12 out of all Minnesota High Schools
With an upward trend
With an upward trend
So - they’ll know how rigorous your school is (they are very familiar with the curriculum at all the MN high schools, obviously). It’s going to be hard to get into Carlson with those stats. Your ACT is in the 25% percentile for admitted students to CLA. your GPA is a tad low but, depending on your class rank (if they provide it) you might still be safe. The upward trend helps and you should probably provide some reasons why your grades were lower earlier, in order to help them understand the trend and allow them perhaps to give less weight to the earlier grades than current.
For the ACT, focus on the kinds of questions you’ve been missing and figure out how to turn those around. If you are leaving any questions blank, make sure to give yourself a few seconds to fill in the remaining bubbles since even a random guess has a chance of getting something correct.
Good luck to you!
Carlson is obviously a reach, but if you are interested in business majors, you can find an Economics major in CLA, and also an Applied Economics major in CFANS. CFANS also has a couple of other business-oriented majors – one dealing with marketing and a couple of others dealing with management, including a joint program with Carlson called Agricultural and Food Business Management. You will be more likely to be admitted to CFANS than Carlson, so look carefully to see what possible majors suit your interests in CFANS:
Thanks for all the helpful tips! Does anybody have ideas about where I should apply to as my back up schools? I think I’m going to apply to UMD but does anybody knows of other schools in MN and surrounding states that have good reputations where I can get accepted?
Public or private?
Seconding the idea of Applied Business in CFANS.
You get reciprocity with Wisconsin as a MN resident and you’d have a shot at Eau Claire for sure.
Good colleges in Minnesota you could get into would include Gustavus Adolphus, Concordia Moorhead, St John’s, (maybe St Olaf as a major reach); outside of MN, try Luther, Illinois Wesleyan, Drake (reach).
For a safety, Augsburg in the Twin Cities and UMD?
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