Admissions Beast

I'm taking AP Physics B as a sophomore and not doing very well in the class. First semester I scraped by with a C, and if I improve at all second semester, it won't be by much. My GPA dropped significantly first semester this year. My cumulative went from a 3.9 to a 3.71. My semester GPA was 3.2, and second semester freshmen year I managed to have a 3.95. So it's a significant drop. If I improve my grades, how will this look to colleges? One bad semester?

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 13:30:08 -0500

Hi there,

It is to tough bounce back from a GPA drop like that, but in your situation, you have two factors working in your favor. One, that you’re challenging yourself by taking a really demanding class early, and two, that you have a high overall GPA that’s going to make it easy to recover . One C is definitely not going to break you, especially in the case of an obviously rigorous class like that.

Thanks!
AB

I am in the second semester of my senior year so all of my apps are in and I have received some acceptances already. However, I am concerned about a sport that I listed on my applications. I said that I would play this sport on its Varsity team during my senior year on my apps but I am thinking about dropping it second semester. If I do drop the sport, should I report it to all the colleges I applied to? And would this be grounds for my acceptance to be rescinded from colleges I already got into

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 10:54:31 -0500

Hi there anon,
This can be kind of a tricky question because it depends on how the sport in question is being used in your admissions decision. Are you being recruited as an athlete at the schools you’re applying to? If you’ve spoken to coaches and made plans to play the sport at the college level, then, yes, you probably need to inform them of your decision. However, if you aren’t being recruited and you’re just worried about having less extra-curriculars, don’t be. As long as you weren’t intentionally dishonest about your involvement, it’s pretty unlikely that schools will rescind over something like that.

Thanks for asking!

—AB

Would college look down on me if I have no "major awards"? Because I only have a few student of the year awards at my school, and hopefully will get an AP scholar one, but that's it.

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 12:32:56 -0500

Hi there, thanks for the question,

In most cases, awards look good if you have them, but aren’t the sort of thing that will be held against you if you don’t. If the rest of you application is good, I wouldn’t worry too much not having enough awards.

Thanks for asking!

—AB

You Are Not Your GPA: Four "What-If" Scenarios and Why They're Not The End of the World

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 03:47:00 -0500

GPA anxiety seems to be the new epidemic among the college-bound slice of the internet these days. We know your GPA represents years of hard work, but at the end of the day, how much can one little number really say about you as a student? Here’s five common GPA-related worries we’ll do our best to reassure you about.

Scenario 1: What if…you had a bad first year?

AB Says… As long as you have an upward trend, you’re probably okay.

As much as feel-good high school movies try to tell us otherwise, high school can be a seriously rough place to make a transition. If you happen to be one of the many students in the world whose first few months involved more homework than spontaneous musical numbers (looking at you, High School Musical) don’t feel terrible if your GPA wasn’t amazing at first. The truth is, colleges—even the highly selective ones—are all about upward trends. A GPA going from low to high is definitely better than vice versa. Colleges are usually more forgiving of freshman year grades than you’d expect them to be, especially if you went on to perform really well in the next few years. An upward trend shows your ability to adjust and improve after a rough transition, something that really comes in handy when you start college.

If you’re skeptical, just know this: someone we know (who may or may not write for Admissions Beast) currently attends a school ranked in the Nation’s Top 5 after earning a whopping 1.9 GPA her first semester of high school. You never know what can happen; don’t write off your chances just yet.

Scenario 2: What if…you failed a class (or think you’re going to)?

AB Says…If you can, take action. if you can’t, embrace it (without excuses)

Firstly, take a deep breath. Failing a class does not mean your future is over or you’ve failed as person. Secondly, if you think you’re going to fail a class and there’s still time in the semester, (calmly) schedule time to meet privately with your teacher now. Yes, now, even if he or she is the spawn of Voldemort and Darth Vader and you’re convinced he or she will spit straight in your eyeballs if you so much as mention your grade. Sometimes the most evil of teachers will surprise you if you show that you take the class seriously and are willing to do the work to catch up.

Now let’s say, despite all your best efforts, you’ve failed a class (or gotten a really low grade) and you’re positive nothing can be done to change it. In most cases, it’s better not to try to gloss over it in your application. Mention the class in specifically in the “Additional Info” part of your Common App, or during an interview. When it comes time to to talk about it, try to shed light on the situation without making excuses. Maybe the material was too hard or your course-load too heavy, maybe you had an extenuating circumstance in your life, or maybe you just weren’t able to organize well enough. Whatever the case is, be honest and show that you learned something from it. Colleges will be more impressed by a student who embraces their mistakes in a mature way or who demonstrated effort in spite of personal crisis, than one who seems like they’re making up an issue to try and gain sympathy points.

It’s totally understandable if you had an extenuating circumstance that affected your grade. If this is the case, 1) Be specific about what happened and 2) word it so you show that you powered through as best you could given the circumstances. Long story short, don’t tell them ”____ happened and failing that class was in no way my fault”. Tell them, “Even though ____ happened, I continued to put in effort to best of my abilities. My result was not perfect but I was able to learn from the experience”.

Scenario 3: What if…you’re worried you don’t meet the GPA “cut-off” for a certain school?

AB Says…There’s usually no such thing as a GPA cut-off.

Very few schools have an actual minimum GPA for admission. Scholarships might, and university-specific Honors Programs usually do, but colleges themselves aren’t in the habit of taking one look at an application and throwing it out if the GPA is under a specific number. Check College Board for a college’s GPA range before speculating if ___ GPA is good enough for ____ University.

Many well-meaning advice-givers will say things like ” ____ GPA? Definitely a reach!” without considering the fact that such a over-simplification completely flies in the face of holistic admissions. Obviously, if your GPA is in range, the college has considered other students with your GPA to be qualified. It’s all about being well-rounded.

This being said, if you find that your GPA is not in the admitted range, or is in the bottom 1-15%, you may need to go ahead and classify the school as a reach or consider applying elsewhere. It’s not that you have no chance—you never truly know for certain who’ll get in and who won’t— it’s that you’ll need something exceptional in your application that makes you more qualified than those with stronger academic records.

Scenario 4: What if…you’re worried your GPA is so low you may not be admitted to any schools at all?

AB Says…First make sure your GPA is actually as low you as you think. If it is, consider alternatives like transferring from a community college or taking a well-organized gap year.

First things first, make sure your situation is actually the way you think it is. Recently, the trend on the web has been to act like “C” students have no chance in admissions anywhere. This is completely ridiculous! If your GPA is somewhere between a B and a C-, and your standardized test scores are not significantly below average, you’re actually in the same boat as most of the students in the country. You have plenty of options. Believe it or not, hyper-achieving, ivy-bound super-students are actually a very small minority. Because they have a big presence in college-prep conversations, especially on the web, it can be easy to get confused and think most students in the US are like that, when in reality, this could not be farther from the truth.

If, however, your GPA is critically low and you’re not eligible for admission to any of your state’s public universities, don’t lose all hope. Regardless of your high school record or why it ended up that way, you can absolutely continue your education if that’s you want. Every year, thousands of students who didn’t have stellar academic records in high school are able to transfer to a university after starting out at a community college. Community colleges can be a great place to prove yourself and save money. You can also consider taking online classes or plan a gap year to gain new experience. As is the case in any gap year, make sure you plan well in advance what you’ll be doing and how you’ll benefit; schools will want to know what you did with your time.

Okay so, it’s true: this is by no means a comprehensive list of all the concerns a student could possibly have about their GPA. We don’t blame you for stressing. Keeping up a good track record can be a lot of pressure. Just remember, above all, that you are not a number. As we try to mention a lot here on Admissions Beast, things like test scores and grades are only part of your application; at the end of the day it’ll be you, not a three-digit number, that gets accepted to college.

As usual, feel free to drop us a line or ask us a question at any time—we love feedback!

—AB

Note: sincerest apologies for the lull in posts these past few weeks. It’s been a hectic time for the Beasters. Hope you’ll forgive us!

Do major university, such as University of Washington or University of California Los Angles, prefer a student taking AP courses at high school or a student taking the dual enrollment programs at local community colleges?

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 17:07:00 -0500

Hi Anon,

This kind of question depends entirely on the kind of school you go to. If your school offers no AP classes, dual enrollment in challenging courses at a local community college will most likely give you the same boost in admissions that taking a rigorous, AP-heavy schedule would. In fact, you may even get additional points for seeking out a challenging course load when your school doesn’t offer one.

However, if your school offers both a lot of AP courses and Dual Enrollment, they’ll probably be about the same in the admissions committee’s eyes (assuming they’re equally challenging).

Keep in mind that Dual Enrollment is great if 1) you want to get started on a specific or unusual area of study, or 2) your school offers no AP classes, but it can be tricky to manage and not all your classes will transfer like AP’s do. Make sure you know all the details before you get started in something like Dual Enrollment.

So sorry about the delay, hope this helps!

-AB

College Profile: Occidental College The Blurb: a private Liberal...

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:22:36 -0500

College Profile: Occidental College

The Blurb: a private Liberal Arts college located in Los Angeles, California, Occidental is affectionately known as “Oxy” by it’s students and alumni. The College features a unique core curriculum common to many liberal arts programs and is ranked by the Princeton Review as one of the Best Western Colleges

The Stats:

Acceptance Rate: 42%
Location: Los Angeles, California
Size: Medium-Small (roughly 2000 undergrads)
Housing: First year students are guaranteed on-Campus housing, with 80% of students overall living in campus housing
Financial Aid: Occidental meets 100% of demonstrated need, with slightly more than half of freshmen receiving financial aid of some sort. Merit aid is available.
Additional Notes: Oxy offers many unique joint-degree/cooperative programs: students can take classes at Cal-Tech, Art Center College of Design, and others. Students interested in Law can apply to Occidental’s accelerated law program with Columbia University.

Hi! So I just got into a really good college BUT I am really worried that my acceptance might be withdrawn because I am struggling in AP Calculus AB. It has a reputation of being super hard but people with Cs will most likely get a 4 or a 5 in the AP test. So I'm getting a C right now, I'm really trying to pull it up to a B. But is there a chance that they might remove my acceptance even though I have As in the rest of my classes?

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 12:05:06 -0500

Hi Anon!

We knew this question would come once acceptances started rolling around, and we’re so glad you asked—

Thankfully, we can almost promise you that your acceptance will not be rescinded over one C. Honestly, colleges go through a lot of time and paper work to select you; one mediocre grade will not be enough to make them do the additional work to retract their offer. Yes, there are things that can get your offer rescinded—getting all F’s, not graduating, getting a felony charge, lying on your application—but if there’s a few bumps in your transcript at the end of the year, don’t sweat it.

Thanks, and good luck with Calculus!

—AB

Hi AB, I just got deferred by my First Choice to which I applied ED. I know that only around 5-10% of the deferred applicants will be admitted during RD and that my chances are really slim... but I still wanna hold my hopes high and do whatever it takes to increase my chance. Can you please suggest what I should do now? I read that I can send in supplementary materials and a letter, but I don't know if I can include an extra essay (kinda a way to make up for the Common App one). Thanks a lot!

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 11:07:48 -0500

Hi Anon,

First off, congrats on being proactive. You’re definitely right about the letter/supplementary materials, and with most colleges, sending in an additional essay shouldn’t be a problem, especially if it sheds more light on you and your background. You can also send in things like additional letters of recommendation, or, if it applies, additional awards/honors/activities. Above all just try to establish a healthy, committed-but-not-obsessive contact with the school and remember that just being deferred means you have already shown great potential.

Thanks so much for you question! We truly hope it works out in your favor.

—AB

Best of Luck from AB to You

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:06:54 -0500

Fingers crossed and best of luck to everyone who will be receiving an Early Decision or Early Action decision today!

For those of you who still have a few days (or months) to wait, or whose decisions have already come, we hope everything turns out swimmingly and remind you that no matter where you end up, you have already accomplished incredible things.

Don’t sweat it,

College Profile: Middlebury College The Blurb: Many colleges...

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 20:11:40 -0500

College Profile: Middlebury College

The Blurb: Many colleges offer a unique history, but few can match Middlebury’s truly exceptional past. A highly regarded Liberal Arts college in rural Vermont, Middlebury started off with seven students and has grown to offer almost 50 majors in various fields of study. Middlebury was the first college in the US to grant a degree to an African-American and is acclaimed, among other things, for being one of the nation’s colleges most beloved by their alumni.

The Stats:

Acceptance Rate: 17.74%
Location: Middlebury, Vermont
Size: Medium-Small
Financial Aid: Middlebury is needs-blind and meets 100% of demonstrated need.
Housing: 97% of all undergraduates live in campus housing, and housing is guaranteed for all four years
Additional Notes: Middlebury operates on the 4-1-4 schedule, meaning there is two semesters with one winter term in the middle for independent study, research, internships, etc.

I've spent years wanting to live in Boston after graduating. When I began my college search, I noticed that Boston is pretty much THE college town - and got my heart set on attending school there. My question is, should I try to separate location from the equation? Is it one thing to aim for an urban campus, but extreme to zero in on one city? I applied to only one school in Boston, should I apply others if I think location will get in the way of my making an informed decision? Thanks!

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 23:20:44 -0500

Hi there,

Many people will tell you not to pick a school based on it’s location. While they’re correct in saying you shouldn’t make it the ONLY criteria, the fact remains that location is going to be really big part of your life when you’re on campus. This is a place you’re going to be living for four years, and it’s wise to take into account what kind of environment you work best in. If you know for a fact that you are happiest in cities—even one city in particular—it’s worth making it a priority on your list. Luckily, you’re right; Boston is a major college town and there’s many options for you to choose from.

That being said, it’s wise to have a few schools in other places just so you don’t leave yourself too few options. You never know how your preferences might change, and the school fit should always be more important than the location fit.

Thanks for asking!

Does having a few C's on a transcript disqualify an applicant for the Ivies, Stanford, and other top top schools? (and there is no like family or medical issue to explain them, they were just due to my lack of aptitude in a subject)

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 13:44:42 -0500

Hi Anon,

A C or two by no means disqualifies an applicant from top schools. Quite honestly, very few things will cause a top school to not consider your application at all, and these are things that are hard to do on accident—things like a felony charge or plagiarism/dishonesty on your application. This isn’t to say you should try to keep your grades as high as possible, but you definitely shouldn’t abandon all hope entirely if your GPA isn’t perfect.

Thanks for asking!

-AB

A lot of privates say they don't need the SAT 2s if you're submitting your ACT, but should I turn them in anyways? And if I don't, will it lessen my chances?

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:37:50 -0500

Hi there, thanks for asking!

If you have your SAT 2’s and feel good about them, you should by all means send them. However, odds are that if the school says it will accept the ACT alone, you won’t be at any disadvantage by not doing so. If you feel like double checking you can always take a glance at their College Board profile and look under “admissions”—colleges rank how heavily certain factors, such as test scores, influence their decisions.

Hope this helps,

College Profile: The University of Chicago The Blurb: You may...

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 16:47:00 -0500

College Profile: The University of Chicago

The Blurb: You may know it as a number of things: The US News and World Report’s fifth-ranked college in the nation, an Economics powerhouse, or, if you’re sports-saavy, home of the first Heisman Trophy winner. However, what UChicago is perhaps most known for is it’s uniquely intellectual and demanding environment. The University is famous for it’s eccentric atmosphere, long standing if unusual traditions, and devotion to a holistic, earnest and rigorous education.

The Stats:

Acceptance Rate: 15.8%
Location: Chicago, IL
Size: Medium (about 5000 undergrads)
Housing: First years are required to live on-campus and housing is guaranteed for four years. Students select one of ten halls, which are themselves split up into Houses—long standing communities of about 50-70 students with their own traditions and House Councils.
Financial Aid: The University meets 100% of demonstrated need with merit aid available for academic achievement.
Additional Notes: The University is home to a host of unusual traditions, such as Scav, an annual school-wide scavenger hunt where things are known to get a little insane. One year, university students actually built a breeder reactor in a shed—we can’t make this stuff up.

Does submitting your application for RD early really help you? Also, since we are allowed to make multiple versions of our Common App, should I write a "Why ______?" essay as one of my common app essays to show interest in a school?

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:12:54 -0500

Hi Anon!

Submitting early for RD won’t be particularly helpful, since admissions committees don’t start considering applications until after the deadline. This is done specifically all RD applicants will get fair treatment.

As for you second question, we’d have to strongly discourage making the “why us” essay one of your common app essays. First off, you would most likely be forced to repeat yourself on the school’s supplement. Additionally, the common app essay is supposed to showcase you, your passions, and your unique perspective. Writing it about the school will only take away your main opportunity to shine.

Thanks for asking!

Visit Report: Sarah Lawrence College by Imani First Name:...

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:44:00 -0500

Visit Report: Sarah Lawrence College by Imani

First Name: Imani

College You Visited: Sarah Lawrence College

Your Tumblr URL: autotuneheadache

Intended Major: Chemistry/Engineering

What Kind of Visit Did you Do? Overnight Visit

How was the campus? The campus was beautiful . It wasn’t too small, it wasn’t too big. Surprisingly, it looked exactly like the pamphlet I received in the mail! There were students studying and socializing outside, the weather was nice. The campus almost reminded me of Hogwarts.

The campus isn’t located in in the city (more like a suburb) so it’s very quiet, but, according to the students, it isn’t far from a train station that will take right into New York City. Overall, the campus was AWESOME.

How was the food? Once again, AWESOME. However, a lot of students on campus cook their own food in the kitchenettes inside their dorms, so I was able to eat non-cafeteria food.

How were the dorms? HUGE. All the dorms I saw were apartment style.

How did the community strike you? The community seemed very tight knit. Everyone seemed to know each other.

Tell us about your day. I arrived in New York (I’m from Chicago) on Monday. After driving to Sarah Lawrence, my host, Lola, took me to the dining hall where I got to meet a few of her friends and talk to them about classes at Sarah Lawrence.

Afterward, she took me to a meeting she had to go to with her professor concerning her conference work (a huge project that every student works on with their advisor. Lola’s was, I believe, a paper explicating an art exhibit she was in love with). We then went to her dorm, which was a co-ed apartment style dorm she shared with three other people, two boys and a girl. After putting my luggage down, she took me on a tour of the building and to a small grocery store located in the building to get REESES ICE CREAM. It was awesome! After going back to her dorm, more of her friends came to visit and talked to me about various Sarah Lawrence things and also took me to their dorm. After returning to Lola’s dorm from our adventure, we ate PB&J sandwiches, did homework, tumbled, listened to dubstep, and then went to sleep.

The next morning we went to get breakfast at another on-campus eating area called The Pub. We then parted ways (she had a class) and I wandered campus aimlessly until I had my interview. After my interview, I did another full campus tour. Did I mention the campus reminds me of Hogwarts? Because It totally does… After that, I unfortunately had to gather all my luggage and go home.

Did your impression of the school change based on the visit? Yes! I was expecting nothing but snobbish rich kids, but everyone seemed to be very friendly and welcoming! I did notice, however, that theater is a HUGE deal on campus. Almost everyone I met was either in something theater related or music related.

Anything you’d like to add? Lots of hipsters… Also, if you do not have an open mind, you may not feel as very comfortable…

Thanks so much to Imani at autotuneheadache.tumblr.com for this week’s visit report!

I took the SAT I and did not do so great on it so I am taking the ACT in December and I'm expecting I'll do better. Will it hurt me when colleges see a mediocre SAT I score and good ACT score?

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:20:11 -0500

Hi there!

It shouldn’t, and in fact, you don’t have to send in the SAT score unless you want to. We promise that test scores, while important, are really not all your application rides on.

Thanks for asking!

Hello! I'm still indecisive on a major. I was wondering how do colleges look at undecided applicants? Is it better to apply with a major and then change later in college if I find myself interested in another major or to apply undecided?

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 14:57:24 -0500

Hi Anon!

This is another question we get quite a bit. Don’t worry—being undecided is a hundred percent okay. Colleges know that most people change their major eventually anyway, and the major you put on your application is in no way binding.

Thanks for asking!

Hi, I submitted my UC application and Yale supplement and after re-reading an essay I realized it had five typos. I had a counselor, an english teacher, both parents, a few friends read it and I read it myself numerous times and the errors just missed all of us. How bad will this affect me?

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 23:59:00 -0500

Howdy Anon,

Luckily, in this case, it’s safe to say “don’t worry”. If they were small enough typos that they were able to slip under the radar after that many readings, chances are they will have no effect on your application. Admissions committees will recognize that they weren’t huge mistakes made out of carelessness or incompetency—as long as your essay itself is thoughtfully written, there should be no cause for concern in a case like this.

Thanks for asking!

Writing the “Why Us” Essay, Part 1—What NOT to...

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 14:39:00 -0500

Writing the “Why Us” Essay, Part 1—What NOT to do.

Dearest Applicants:

A common concern we’ve been hearing a lot is, “What on Earth am I supposed to say when a college asks me to write the ‘why are you applying to blah blah” essay? Is there anything I can say that will sound original and stick out?”

Fear not, applicants. While there’s a lot of ways to go wrong with this essay, it’s surprisingly easy to go right if you just avoid some common mistakes. We’re going to go ahead and post two essays today: One where we tried to do everything right, and one, as you can probably guess, where we didn’t.

The “Why Us Essay?” Bad Edition

DEAR BEAST UNIVERSITY,

“Ever since I was born, I have wanted to go to Beast University, founded in 1877 by John. D. Beasterton. Beast University is the most wonderful place in the entire universe. It is the culmination of all my hopes and dreams. Beast University has incredible, state of the art facilities such as halls and windows. I have been told even the toilets at Beast University smell like magic and dreams coming true. Everyone at Beast University is really, really, ridiculously good looking. If ~~Yale University UC Berkeley~~ Beast University, does not let me in, I may throw myself off a building.”

What Went Wrong:

Throwing in gratuitous facts: Don’t do it. The admissions committee has seen the Wikipedia article on their school too.
Being over-the-top about the school: They get it, you want to go there. And they’re thrilled that you do. But there’s a fine line between showing enthusiasm and sound like your emotional stability rides entirely on this school.
Mentioning things that could apply to any other school: It should always look like you didn’t just copy and paste this essay from your other applications. It should also look like you took some time to learn about the school—guessing that it has “halls and windows” isn’t much of a reach.
Actually naming another school: This should go without saying, but the words “Yale University” do not belong anywhere near your application to Beast University—-a slip up like this is a huge no-no
Mentioning the Toilets: You should probably just avoid this all together.

Now, (hopefully) none of you will be writing an essay this off the mark. However, we do understand that it’s a lot easier to understand what you shouldn’t do than to actually write a creative, striking essay that will really shine. Stay tuned for part 2, where we discuss how to write a good essay.