Do I have a CHANCE of getting into Emerson?

mtngoat1
Tue, 14 Aug 2007 00:02:41 +0000

Let me preface this by saying Emerson is BY FAR my first choice. Everything else pales in comparison. This is, without a doubt, my #1 school.

I’m applying to Emerson early, and, well, to be frank, my GPA is abysmal. It’s about a 3.2. My class rank is in the bottom half, but BARELY. I do, however, take a few AP classes. My schedule is moderately rigorous. I got a 5 on the AP English exam and a 3 on the AP US History.

Conversely, I got a pretty good score on my ACT (30) and one of my main strengths is my writing ability. I’m applying to the WLP department. I think my essays are shaping up pretty well, and I should have them completed within the next few weeks. I know that Emerson is looking for somebody unique, singular, and I think my essays competently fit those criterion. I also have a couple other factors helping my case, i.e. I set up an informal interview with Emerson’s Southeast Admissions representative (I live in Alabama) when I was in Boston this summer and he seemed to be impressed by me and told me that he wants to see me go there, I intern for a newspaper and a record label, I went to a summer college program at BU, my AP scores were pretty good, I write for a couple online publications and the school newspaper, etc. I wish I would have done more in high school, but there’s nothing much I can do to change that now. My recommendations will probably be average, though, because of my poor grades.

Okay, what I’m getting at, can all of this POSSIBLY outweigh the gravity of my GPA and class rank? I mean, according to college board 99% of Emerson’s Freshmen were in the top half of their class. And I’m not. My school is relatively competitive and my grade is large, but there’s no way for Emerson to know that.

I’m really freaking out about this…I’ve been having a veritable mental breakdown wondering whether or not I’ll be accepted, which I’m sure isn’t too rare these days, but it’s still distressing. Please help to assuage my fears (or tell me the truth), I can’t stand this. I feel like I HAVE to get into Emerson, no matter what anybody else says.

Thanks.