Former Slacker... do i have a chance?

Colleges & Universities University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
1

<p>Hey guys,</p>

<p>I REALLY slacked in 9th and 10th grade. As a result of that my GPA is low. I made major improvements in 11th grade, showing an upwards trend in my GPA. It would be really cool if you guys could chance me on getting into U Illinois Urbana Champaign. and also UMich and Wisconsin Madison please</p>

<p>-out of state
-asian (indian)
-major in Political Science</p>

<p>Overall GPA (unweighted): 2.7
Overall GPA (University of Cal weighted): 2.9 </p>

<p>11th grade only GPA (unweighted): 3.26
11th grade only GPA (UC weighted): 3.9</p>

<p>Class Rigor: 4 AP’s so far. 3 AP’s in 11th grade. Honors English throughout High School. Spanish for 3 years. Trig/Math Analysis 11th grade. </p>

<p>12th grade: AP Economy Micor/Macro, Honors English, AP Environmental Science, AE Biology, Art and AP Calc or AP World Hist.</p>

<p>Extra Curriculars:
-Over 100 hours of Volunteering at local Hospital
-Karate for 5 years.
-2 years of Track & Field.
-2 years of Cross Country (Varsity letter)

  • 4 years of MSA, semester as president and semester as vp
    -President/Captain: QuizBowl team (1 year)</p>

<p>Letter of Rec:
can probably get 2 letters of Recommendations describing my upward gpa trend, improvement and potential (one from a really good English teacher that can write.)</p>

<p>So please chance me. and also when does the application come out. Thank you!!</p>

2

<p>You have a good upward trend, and although you have a low GPA, your ECs, ethnicity, and the fact that you’re out of state should help. What I would reccomend is keeping your grades up this coming year, nailing the personal statement, and maybe some more ECs to balance everything out. Also, don’t send any letters of rec, U of I shreds them and doesn’t even look at them.</p>

3

<p>You might have a tough time getting in since U of I is very numbers driven and your grades are on the low side. However, maybe if you did really well on your SATs or ACTs and wrote great essays there is a slight chance since your ECs are good. Also don’t bother to send letters of rec, they don’t read them.</p>

4

<p>Have you taken the ACT with Writing, or the SAT yet? What were your scores?</p>

5

<p>ACT with writing: 26 composite.
SAT: 1670 (it sucked because i miss bubbled on the section 10)</p>

<p>retaking both of them. </p>

<p>SAT subject test: US History: 660. English: 600</p>

<p>and do i mention my upward trend somewhere on the app other than the essay?</p>

6

<p>Although they do take into consideration an upward trend in GPA, and look upon it favorably, even with your current GPA trend and Standardized test scores, you would have to consider UIUC to be a reach. You don’t indicate the major you are interested in. At UIUC, you apply to a specific program within a college, not just to the school as a whole. Both the College of Engineering and the College of Business are very competitive, and your stats fall well below the middle 50% of those that have been admitted. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is quite competitive as well, especially the “hard science” majors like Math, Biology, Physics and Computer Science. You’d still have to consider yourself a reach there as well.</p>

<p>Having said all that, I’d still encourage you to submit an application for the program of your choice, and to do so during the priority application period which is non-binding, and requires all materials to be received by November 1st. That means that if you’re going to retake eith the ACT, the SAT, or both, you need to do so by early September at the latest, specifying UIUC as a college to which you want to have the scores submitted, in order for those test scores to make it on time. You don’t need to take the writing portion of the ACT again, but at least one set of scores sent to U if I must contain a writing score. Below, see admissions statistics on entering freshman classes:</p>

<p>[U&lt;/a&gt; of I Admissions: Freshman Admission Requirements](<a href=“http://admissions.illinois.edu/apply/requirements_freshman.html]U”>Page Not Found, Illinois Undergraduate Admissions)</p>

<p>To sum it up, applying is the only way you’ll know for sure. Applying early is best. If you don’t get into your requested college/program, your application will automatically be considered for DGS (Division of General Studies), which may be your best shot at getting into U of I.</p>

<p>In order to support your upward trend in grades, you might want to have your school send in a transcript with your 1st semester mid-term grades, although I’m not certain they will consider it in evaluating your application.</p>

<p>As with any advice you get on College Confidential, you should verify it with your high school counselor and/or contact UIUC Admissions directly.</p>

<p>Good luck and keep trying to improve your grades. You’re not unique. Many high school students don’t realize until their upper class years that they actually need to start getting ready for college in terms of dedication to their education. It’s your job. It should take whatever percentage of your time is necessary to study for and do well in classes.</p>

7

<p>Thanks for the advice Balthezar.</p>

<p>by the way, i did mention my major in my first post: Political Science</p>

8

<p>Oh, sorry I missed that. Drusba might be able to provide additional information regarding the competitiveness of the political science program specifically, but I can say that it’s not one of the programs that have been talked about on this board as being in the same league as the most competitive programs at U of I. Still, as I said. Keep up the good work, and use some study guides and practice tests to prepare for your retake of the ACT/SAT.</p>

9

<p>You got a chance because political science is the major anyone can transfer into at UIUC so it is not very competitive. That being said, why would you go to UIUC for political science unless you’re from the state of Illinois?</p>

<p>Unless you’re an international student from India, UIUC is not worth the out of state tuition for political science, not at all. Frankly, it’s not worth the tuition even if you are from India.</p>

<p>A friend of mine got booted from Computer Science, and did not like CS anyway. He went to political science because they let everyone in and because he wants to be a lawyer. He just graduated and is going to law school next fall.</p>

<p>As a history and politics aficionado I asked him if political science at UIUC will help him in law school. After all, you learn about the constitution, how government works, and how laws are made and function. He said, and I quote “it is the biggest bull s**t major ever.” I’m not making it up.</p>

<p>Now I believe he is exaggerating, and UIUC is great in the state of Illinois for political science. However, it is low enough nationally that it is absolutely not worth your money if your residence is in Michigan or Wisconsin, not at all. Unless you’re a dolt, and there are plenty, you will learn a lot in poli sci but also have plenty of brain cells and time left over for some serious partying. You can do that in other places too you know…</p>

10

<p>NAFTA,
im from California and am planning on going to Law school.
and at the moment i cant apply to uc’s becuase my gpa is so low. (i have 2.9 uc gpa and you need a 3.0)
and i saw UIUC in the top 50 in the US News and Reports National University list with a very high acceptance rate so thats why i am applying there.
Would you still think its a bad idea since im planning to go to law school.
Im gunna apply for sure, but do you think oos money isnt worth it even with my bad high school resume</p>

11

<p>First, I commend on you on planning to go to law school. If you were just planning on getting a political science degree, I would say that college would be a waste of money… unless you’re planning on being a military officer or have a family business to fall back on.</p>

<p>Second, UIUC is number 68 in social sciences world wide; way below some of the UC campuses. I definitely see your dillema though. You can’t get into your state’s flagship university, UC Berkeley, or even batter up UCLA. You’re thinking, why don’t I go to Illinois, where at least I’ll be in a flagship university and probably get accepted because of diversity, and by that I mean because you’re from California.</p>

<p>Honestly, I still don’t think it’s worth your money attending UIUC. UIUC is low enough on the totem pole in political science that the only way you’ll get into a high speed law school is if you get a really high GPA there and high LSAT scores. My point is, unlike an actually good social sciences school, like Stanford, where you could get a 3.5 GPA in poli sci or maybe lower and still get into a good law school, UIUC will not make that happen.</p>

<p>For that reason, it’s a waste of your money coming out here. A better option would be to go to a lower tier California university, do really well, and then transfer out to UCLA or Berkeley. If I remember correctly, the UC system automatically accepts transfers from community colleges if they have a certain GPA, so definitely check out that option as well.</p>

<p>Think of how much money you would save, not to mention avoid 4 years in a town that gets small fast, with a school that is over 50% from the suburbs of Chicago. If you were picking Engineering, I’d say pick UIUC, but poli sci… the people taking it here are average suburban schmoes partying it up in college town. Maybe that’s your thing, but I’m sure you can find the same atmosphere with better weather and much cheaper tuition in California.</p>

<p>As for Wisconsin, check out this opportunity. I’ve heard that if you go to law school in Wisconsin, there is no Wisconsin bar exam, you automatically become a lawyer. Look into any pre-law programs there that are guaranteed feeders to Wisconsin law schools. Maybe that’s not your goal, and you want something a little more high flying and international, but it’s still an option. Certainly going to UIUC poli sci will not open the doors to the world; and neither will UIUC’s law school which is great regionally but not awesome nationally or internationally.</p>

<p>Ultimately, you’ll get similar opportunities going to college in California as doing it in Illinois but at a cheaper price. Study hard in college, and there is no reason you won’t be able to transfer to a UC campus after two years.</p>

12

<p>Yeah, just go to a community college to get some general classes there, study hard, get a 4.0, join some clubs for ECs, then transfer. California citizens get a HUGE priority on their applications to UCs. You’re lucky to live in such a great state, use that opportunity.</p>

13

<p>NAFTA, thanks for the advice. can you post the link of the social science rankings. </p>

<p>Dante and NAFTA, community college is a very good option for me. Its just that im also flirting with other options like this. Ultimately, the only way i would truely end out of state, now that i think of it is if i get into UMich, but thats a SUPER reach. </p>

<p>ill keep looking at UIUC with your guys opinions in mind. Thanks for responding becuase it really made me look into tution fees of OOS like UIUC and i can see how your saying its alot of money for not alot back.</p>

14

<p>Hey friendlyNemesis; I posted a link to free rankings in a new thread. It is not the original source previously mentioned, but in fact, is better because it specifically ranks political science.</p>

<p>UIUC is definitely not in the top 13 political science programs. Berkeley is tied with Yale for number 5, UC San Diego is 7, and UCLA is 10. U of Michigan is number 3.</p>

<p>Where should you shoot for I wonder?</p>

15

<p>NAFTA, as ive looked into UIUC it has become less attractive to me.
also, it was never a dream school for me. I would really like to go to UMich, and seeing that its number 3 on the rankings makes me feel good lol. (not that im already in or anything)
but those rankings dont look legit. its a blogspot blog so it doesnt have the legitimacy, if you get what i mean.</p>

16

<p>According to the guy, he’s just copying and pasting the information from the US News and World Report. It’s up to you to believe the blog or not.</p>

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<p>California citizens get a HUGE priority on their applications to UCs. </p>

<p>Dante, That’s changed somewhat of late. With some of the fiscal problems that have affected CA, the UC’s like getting that extra tuition from OOS students- particularly now that they increased it. Still an advantage to be in state no doubt about it, but I wouldn’t call it “huge”. I think a lot depends on your major. For example in-state Engineering applicants are still going to need impressive stats. It’s really not “all doom and gloom” either, with how the CA budget crisis is affecting the UC system, contrary to what many people think. I agree with the rest of your post. The community college system in CA is a good way to go. It’s not always about how you start the “race”, but how you finish.</p>

18

<p>jshain, Ya, we do have a great cc system but it is overfilling. before it took 2 years for pre reqs to get done now ppl take 2 and a half. this is mainly cuase the cc’s are being overcrowded. especially here in socal. But its still a good idea that has always been in my mind. and transferring from a CSU to a UC is also a good idea.</p>

19

<p>^friendlyNemisis, good point about taking longer to get all the pre-reqs completed in 2 years at the CC’s of late. That is a good reason to consider a CSU, although they have turned away qualified applicants because of funding recently. OP shouldn’t fall into this category should he apply to a CSU- any CSU should be considered a safety .</p>

20

<p>"OP shouldn’t fall into this category should he apply to a CSU- any CSU should be considered a safety . "</p>

<p>i have no idea what OP is? this sentence really didnt make any sense to me. can you clarify, thanks.</p>