<p>I’m an African American High School soon to be senor.
I Struggled a lot my Freshman and half of my sophomore year but was able to turn my grades around for my junior year. My unweighted GPA is a 2.8 and my Weighted GPA is 3.25. I was planing on applying to Grand Valley, Western Michigan, and Central Michigan; but I wanted to know if there were any colleges anyone would recommend me applying to. I’m willing to go to any state in the continental United States.</p>
<p>What can your family afford? Presumably you live in Michigan. OOS schools will generally be very expensive but if your family is willing to pay $50K/year there should be a good number of schools available to you.</p>
<p>With those grades, unless you perform superbly it will be tough to get into any US school. Maybe you should think of a Canadian school Like U of Windsor which is right across the river from Detroit because Canadian schools only look at grade 11 and 12 marks so your troubles in your first two years wont be held against you. I also suggest Windsor because it has a special discount for American students where it is only $5000 per semester, so it may be a good choice if your financial situation is a little rocky.</p>
<p>[University</a> of Windsor slashes tuition cost for Americans - Windsor - CBC News](<a href=“http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/story/2013/05/02/wdr-university-windsor-international-students-americans-tuition-cut.html]University”>University of Windsor slashes tuition cost for Americans | CBC News)</p>
<p>There are other more prestigious Canadian schools but they are further away from the border and they don’t have any special packages for Americans</p>
<p>The above poster is incorrect. There are hundreds of school that would accept you in the US with a low GPA. There are tons of schools besides the ones in the Ivy League or hidden Ivys.</p>
<p>Let me rephrase: There are not a lot of GOOD universities that would let you in with a 2.8 gpa (at least not predictably and reliably let you in with a 2.8gpa, exceptions of course exist) I am of course excluding for profit schools like the University of Phoenix, which will let anyone in provided they can hook you up to massive student loans.
My point was he may have better luck aiming for a school that wont look at his early grades and will solely focus on his SATs, and grade 11 and 12 marks (like Canadian Universities) I only mentioned Windsor because it is on the border with Michigan and has generous prices for Americans.</p>
<p>I think Grand Valley, Western, and Central are probably matches for the OP. Plenty of people are successful graduating from directional/regional universities like that if they keep their focus on grades and work on finding work experience in the summer and even during the year related to their major. Windsor may have generous pricing, but they are also not going to be a recognized name (I am from the lower part of Michigan and have not heard of it… but have heard of GV, Western, and Central). </p>
<p>OP could apply to Michigan State. It is a reach, but given his URM status and upward trend it might be achievable. And still has in-state tuition.</p>
<p>I never claimed the University of Windsor was well known, even in Ontario it is generally regarded as a lower tier school. I only pointed it out because it is cheap and close to the border and if his upper year grades were better than a 3.0 (he said his low gpa was primarily due to his freshman and sophomore year) he is virtually guaranteed admission at Windsor and I dont think there are many universities in his list that could be considered safeties with his cgpa. So while I definitely wouldn’t put Windsor as my first choice, I think because of its generally low admission standards, emphasis on upper year marks and extremely cheap tuition as well as its close geographic location it would make an excellent safety school.</p>
<p>Applying to Michigan State is a good idea, but you cant just have a list of high matches and reaches, you need to find some safety schools.</p>
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<p>Of the three I think you might find WMU to have the most multifaceted opportunities, and Kalamazoo is a pretty cool community. I have several friends who went on to fine careers after WMU. The key at any of these 3 schools is to avoid the party culture and to lean hard into schoolwork.</p>