Will my GPA be my downfall?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm applying Vanderbilt ED but I'm worried about my grades.</p>

<p>I have a 3.5(uw)/4.0(w) which is about average for my school... luckily we don't rank, but the top of the class has around a 5.0 weighted</p>

<p>9- All B's and one C (all honors)
10- 4 B's 2 A's (all honors)
11- 3 B's 3 A's (2 APs)</p>

<p>I am hispanic.</p>

<p>My ACT is a 34 composite.</p>

<p>My extra curricular activities:
-President and Founder of HELP Club, for underprivileged children and battered women (Junior)
-Vice President of FRAT (Fostering Relationships with Autistic Teens and Children) (Junior)
-Volunteered at Memorial children's center for 20 weeks, 2 hours a week. (Sophomore) (Junior)
-Went 4 years in a row to Congres (French competition in Orlando)
-Part of Friends of FRAT, went to autistic child's house for 20 weeks, 2 hours a week. (Sophomore)
-Volunteered at Kesher, a program that provides a an education for children with learning disabilities from pre-school through high school. (Junior)
-Head of snack food drive for children at the respite shelter in Women in Distress of Broward County. Collected over 600 individual snacks. (Junior)
-Head of school supplies drive for children from low income families so they can do school work at an after school daycare. Collected over 1000 supplies. (Junior)
-Volunteered for a month in Fiji, heading various projects for rebuilding communities and the environment. (56 hours, 2009)
-Studied Classic Civilizations in Rome with Blyth Academy (A).</p>

<p>My essays and recommendations are fine.</p>

<p>Schools:</p>

<p>Vanderbilt (ED)
UMich
Emory
Cornell
WashU
Tulane
Wisconsin
Florida
Brandeis</p>

<p>So basically, my major downfall is my grades.
How much do you think they will hurt me? Do I still have a chance at Vandy, and the others? </p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

2

<p>Help anyone?</p>

3

<p>Sure, you absolutely have a chance at all those schools. You are a URM, you have a great ACT, and your grades are not nearly as bad as you make them sound. A lot of schools discount or even ignore freshman year, which would help you. But even if they don’t you have a decent shot at Vandy, not quite as good a chance at WUSTL but still decent, Tulane, Wisconsin and Florida you should be fine, the rest you certainly have a shot at about the same level as Vandy.</p>

4

<p>Thanks, anyone else with personal experience with low GPA and high scores?</p>

5

<p>I can’t chance, I don’t know enough.</p>

<p>But I don’t see how you get a 3.5 UW out of that. How may pts for a A, B, C? What would all As be UW?</p>

6

<p>All As is a 4.0 UW</p>

7

<p>bovertine - some courses might be worth 4 credits and the others 3 or 2, that kind of thing. If his A’s are in the higher credit hour courses, a 3.5 is possible.</p>

8

<p>I agree with bover, there is no way you have a 3.5 unweighted, unless you’re just counting your junior year, or left out your senior year.</p>

9

<p>It does seem difficult to make it come out 3.5 on a 4.0 scale, even with some generous assumptions about your classes where you got A’s counting more than the others. You had better double check that, or else clarify what you meant.</p>

10

<p>sorry it’s a 3.4*
A=4.0
A-=3.7
B+=3.4
B=3.1
B-=2.8
and so on…
Chances?</p>

11

<p>Well I’m sure that communicating with the school in some way (personal statement) and providing your senior year grades may be helpful. That’s just a thought, maybe you can provide an explanation or infer a reason to your poorer grades early on in school.</p>