Chances to BU with low GPA?

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Basically the story is I messed up a lot sophomore and junior year, I was dealing with a recent death in the family so I tried to pile it on with school work, ECs, electives basically the works. While trying to keep it all intact with this grief I still really messed up, getting a lot more B’s and more C’s than ever (I had a 3.800 freshman year, except I failed Geometry and made up for it over the summer getting a C, which isn’t great I know but I wasn’t any good at math and still really am not). I took a few online classes but that proved to be WORSE for me because I would get caught up in physical school and basically fail them because it would be difficult to get to that work instead of what is due tomorrow right as I enter class. So all in all my GPA is messed up, I have a 2.933 unweighted and a 3.633 weighted. My SAT is 2000 (2020 possibly but it’s been a while since I’ve honestly checked last) and a mediocre 22 ACT, 24 Reading, 23 English, 24 Science, 16 Math (told you I was bad). On top of this I have a load of EC’s and Volunteer [Work] experience. I’m ranked 183 out of 720 students in my class.

Consecutive Perfect Attendance Honor Roll, Green Valley HS, 2012-2015,
Upper 30th Percentile Class Rank, Green Valley HS, 2012 to present,
Earned Varsity Letter, Green Valley HS Chamber Orchestra, 2013,
1st Place Heritage World Festival Vancouver, Canada, Green Valley HS Orchestra, 2013,
3rd Place Heritage World Festival Chicago, Illinois, Green Valley HS Orchestra, 2015
IRONMAN 70.3 Silverman, Henderson, NV, October 8, 2014
Walk with the Heart of a Child - Children’s Heart Foundation, Las Vegas, NV, January 14, 2015
Best Buddies Friendship Walk & 5k, Las Vegas, NV, March 14, 2015
Las Vegas Roots Garden, Las Vegas, NV, April 18, 2015
Current Volunteer Member @ The Animal Foundation, 655 N Mojave Rd, Las Vegas, NV 89101
Lifeguard, Wet N’ Wild, Las Vegas, NV, Summer 2014
Babysitter, Alexis’s Babysitting Services, Henderson, NV, 2009 to present
Sales Associate, Tilly’s World of Jeans and Tops, Henderson, NV, Summer 2015 to present
Feature/Entertainment Editor, The InvestiGator, 2013 to present
New Reporter, The InvestGator, 2013 to present
Vice President of Green Valley Symphonic/Chamber Orchestra Council 2012 to present

I’ll actually be getting another job in about a month and plan on retaking both my SAT and ACT to buff up those scores a little bit. Thoughts?

2

If you want the straight truth, I would give you a hard no. Your UW GPA is way too low. I hate telling you that, but alas, I struggle with a low uw gpa as well so you’re not in this alone. You SAT is good; average for BU, so there’s like a very slim chance that something could happen. TLDR: It would take a miracle.

3

how many hours of volunteer service do you have ? and how many jobs do you have currently? i counted two, is that correct?
i believe you have a shot at BU. you have lots of volunteer and work experience, which is impressive, and if you explain to them the circumstances that negatively affected your grades, they’ll probably be a little more understanding when looking at your app. that said, it will help if you can afford to pay tuition without financial aid, and if you apply to an early deadline. i’d also strongly recommend that you re take the SAT or ACT and try to bring up your scores (i would recommend re taking the ACT since your SAT score is actually within BU’s accepted range.)
i, too, have a low class rank, but i believe you can still get into good colleges on the basis of your other achievements. good luck!

4

AH well I appreciate the feedback, even if it’s not exactly what I wanted to hear. Given both your answers I see it’s kind of mixed? I do plan to make up for my low UW GPA in other areas, and I know that BU is a university that looks over their applications more holistically than others. In response to sahar, I have about 250+ hours of volunteer work, two jobs (one is a babysitting business that I actually started up myself), with a possible addition of a third in the coming month. I also have a lot of teachers who are willing to write me fantastic recommendation letters (I have about 5 teachers I’m currently close with, I’m hoping to get 2-3 really good ones). Looking at my grades currently I’m dominating my classes and have a 4.0 as of right now (our first grading period I believe is in October?) and things grade wise are looking up, but I’m not expecting to automatically fix the damage I’ve made to my UW GPA. Anyway thank you! I guess this is a bump.