Hi. I am a junior in high school and I am very interested in Clemson. I have been to the school for PeerWise, EMAG!NE, and Summer Scholars. My school also has an Engineering Program, that I am in. My weighted GPA is a 3.7. I have not taken the SAT or ACT officially but I will soon. I take no AP classes and my rank is 70 out of 303. I also scored gold on the ACT work keys and attended a Disney leadership summit. I am in the National Technical Honor Society. I am also an Officer for my school’s Robotic team. I don’t know my chances and I am worried that I won’t get accepted. And I could easily get an letter of Recommendation from my Engineering teacher, who has graduated from Clemson. Please tell me my chances and any tips or advice would be gladly appreciated.
But I have taken basically all college prep classes too.
@Dasin22 As mentioned in other threads, ACT score and unweighted GPA are important factors in admission decisions–additionally, rank and rigor of course load are important. Unfortunately, nobody on CC will be able to tell you about your chances. I recommend looking at the admissions data for this year once they are released, this will give you a good idea of where you sit in the applicant pool. Best of luck to you!
Thank you so much for replying.
I can tell you that if you REALLY want to be a “Tiger”, you need to be in the top 10/15% in your class AND have an excellent GPA & ACT/SAT score.They do not really care about extracurricular’s, Clemson was extremely competitive this year and I feel it will only get worse. My son was bridged and he had very good stats and we were shocked. Good luck and make it happen if that is truly what you want.
@shemcreek is exactly right. Many very high stats students , with rigorous course schedules including AP and IB classes were waitlisted, bridged and deferred. ECs are not considered. No recommendations letters for acceptance into the school. These things are considered if applying to Calhoun Honors, but not for admission to Clemson. Clemson looks at GPA, test scores , rank and rigor for admission. They admit to major and some majors, engineering being one, are more competitive . Your application will be evaluated against others , not just on its own merits. Are you instate or OOS?
It is extremely difficult to transfer into engineering at Clemson @Jocassee . ECs are not considered in the general admissions process at Clemson. OP is taking college prep classes with no AP classes which will ultimately affect his GPA. Many students attempting to be accepted will have similar , if not better stats for admission.
These are stats provided to us by Clemson for 2014 acceptances , it has gotten even more competitive over the past 2 years. 55% of freshman were ranked in the 10% of their class, 78% were in the top 20% of their class 98% were in the top 50%. 50% of SAT scores were between 1190-1340. 50% of ACT scores were between 27 and 31. The mean WGPA was 4.23. These stats are 2 years old. To get more current info , I would look at the current Common Data Set . You will also see there what they weigh most for admission, and ECs are minimally weighted in admissions. I also suggest looking at the Bridge, deferred , waitlisted and acceptance threads to get another picture of students that were accepted .
Admissions at Clemson have changed considerably since 1996 @Jocassee as you can see from the stats provided by the university itself. Students that would’ve easily been accepted just 3 years ago are being waitlisted , bridged and deferred . Students who’s siblings were accepted with lesser stats just a year ago, are being deferred , bridged and waitlisted. While I don’t necessarily agree with what Clemson weighs for admission, the school itself determines what they weigh and has provided this information as a guide to applicants. No one is telling OP not to apply. What people are saying is do your homework to see how he may compare to other applicants for admission to remain realistic as well as optimistic regarding their chances for admission. OP Is a junior. There are things that he can do to boost his chances given the information provided. He should be emphasizing the things that are weighed more heavily like GPA, test scores and class rank and rigor .
I don’t know how else to explain it to you @Jocassee . He is taking college prep classes, no Honors , AP or IB classes . He will be “competing” with other students who may also be taking engineering classes in HS , as well as Honors, IB or AP classes. An AP Calculus class or Physics class is going to be considered a more rigorous class for admission . By only taking college prep classes, he does not get the advantage of a higher weighted class , which ultimately will affect his GPA which also puts him at a disadvantage over someone taking higher rated classes . A lower GPA will also affect his class rank which is also heavily weighed in the decision process. His stats are evaluated against applicants from all over the country and the world . The school will choose who they feel is the best for their program based on their criteria for admission. You can believe whatever you want . As I suggested to the OP, look at the waitlist, bridged and deferred threads and you will see that extremely high stats kids are being bridged , deferred and waitlisted. The info I provided is from Clemson itself. I’m trying to help the OP focus on what he can do to make himself competitive for admission by focusing on what will be weighed most heavily in the process. I also asked the OP if he is instate. If he attends public school in SC a weighted GPA of 3.7 out of a possible 6.0 would not be considered rigorous or high stats.
Clemson does use class rank as part of their admissions process. You are right that students taking an AP class do get a higher weighted score , but a B in an AP class is not automatically an A. It depends on what the numeric score for the B is . If it is a low B , it is not automatically a 4.0 in an AP class. That is how students get a higher GPA. While you may believe that a student is not “penalized” for not taking any AP classes, the opposite can be true that students who take higher ranked classes are rewarded for their efforts . If higher level classes are not available at their HS , a student is not “penalized” , but when they are available and the student chooses not to take them , they run the risk of a lower GPA which can be detrimental . You are right @Jocassee a 3.7 weighted GPA is not a low GPA if it is on a 4.0 scale. That is why I asked if he attended an instate public HS. And just to clarify , I never stated that OP would not be admitted.
@Jocassee, Clemson DOES use class rank. Again,please look at what carolinamom2boys is saying.I wished it were a bit different. It has been more and more difficult to get in even with those stats you mention.Take a trip to any in state high school and do a survey…the kids will tell you differently. Pay them the $100 as you leave…
@Jocassee ,Which school in Florence did you attend?
Good to know. My daughter is in the Packaging Science major. I believe you should look into how rigorous it is to get into Clemson today. Things have changed in the last 21 years since you were accepted. I think I need coffee now…
@Jocassee no one in this thread or any other thread said that they use rank exclusively . On another one of OPs threads he stated that his school offers 12-14 AP classes and that he did not take any advanced classes , nor did he intend to because he thought that CP would be enough. So your assumption that he is taking AP Calc is incorrect , he is not planning on taking calculus at all.AP classes increase ones GPA and increases ones rigor , 2 of the 4 things ( GPA , test scores , rank and rigor) that Clemson weighs the most for admission , so in that respect Clemson does show preference for weighted classes like AP and IB classes. SC no longer uses a 4 point scale. I urge you to go on the CDS for Clemson and actually look at the data to see who has been accepted lately. It is data that Clemson is required to provide . I think you’d be surprised .
Carolina HS in Greenville, SC has a pre engineering tract @Jocassee . Several SC schools have this. You certainly are entitled to your opinion. I tried to provide data provided by Clemson to help guide his admission plan. I hope that you are right for his sake.
Maybe other students who take more rigorous, weighted classes can get into a state university. Maybe these students can get into OOS schools. Students that have been waitlisted, bridged or deferred have been accepted to USC, University of Tennessee , and Bama with merit . It’s all supply and demand. They had over 24,000 applicants to Clemson this year. Not enough spaces for high stats students Just out of curiosity @Jocassee when’s the last time you navigated the college application process ?
https://www.clemson.edu/oirweb1/fb/factbook/PastCDS.html
You can look at exactly what Clemson says they consider important. Most recent common data set, section C.
A high school pre-engineering program is not going to be anywhere near the difficulty of actual engineering, so I’m sure it helps expose more people to the option of majoring in engineering, but it’s not an indication one way or another of making it through the university engineering program.
I’m a junior in ChemE.
Since we’re stating opinions and not facts here @Jocassee IMO a student who takes AP level Calculus and Physics classes are just as prepared if not more prepared than a pre engineering student taking college prep classes. AP classes can be used for college credit , college prep classes cannot .You are right I have no idea how much weight Clemson gives a pre engineering program , but I do know based on info provided to me by Clemson that they use GPA, test scores , rank and rigor in their application process. It is a pretty rigid process. Believe what you feel comfortable believing, but the stats and facts are available on the CDS and publications that Clemson sends out to accepted students .