low GPA...? what should i do?

boilingwax
Sun, 03 Oct 2010 12:20:30 +0000

i (like most people here) am in complete and total love with Wes. i think would be pretty good candidate for the school, i am very active in my community, learn for the intrinsic joy of, do a lot of creative work, etc… however, my GPA is very low for prospective Wes students, and my ACT merely average.

i’m thinking of arranging a campus meeting, an overnight stay and an interview. however, i am not sure if that would be futile in this case. i feel like i could give admissions officers a better view of the kind of person i am in an interview, but i’m still so apprehensive. anyway! on to the stats.

Background:black female from single parent home. i went to Australia for two weeks with people to people when i was 12. i’ve been playing bass for 5-6 years (electric and upright), guitar for about 1(classical/acoustic), alto sax for 7. i can play trumpet and a few other instruments, but i’m not as fluent with them.

major: music/anthropology. i want to teach at the college level.

ACT: 30

GPA: 3.3 UW.

Courses: my first two years I took the most rigorous schedule i could. starting junior year i began post secondary, so I’ve been taking college classes since. there was a heavy dip in my second semester GPA junior year, but that was due to taking too heavy of a courseload, and not dropping a class when i should’ve. so far, this semester i’m sporting straight As.

i’ve had 3 years of french, one of which was college level french.
i will graduate with (all high school courses are honors and all college classes are measured in semesters):
3 years of lab science (high school biology, high school physics, two semesters of college chem)
4 years of math (hs geometry, hs algebra, hs algebra 2, college trig, college calc, college algebra)
4 years of social science (hs world history, hs US history. college government, psychology, anthropology, not sure what for next semester)
4 years of English (2 semesters composition at college level, college british literature, college speech [i’m not sure how that’s counted as an english class, lol] )
4 years of band (all of marching band, jazz band, and concert band.)
1.5 years of business/tech through an alternative program my school offers. (i create a business program and do the equivalent bookwork.)
(not my full schedule, although i can post that if necessary)

ECs/additional stuff i do: (projected for time of graduation)
mock trial - 3 years (our school’s mock trial team is rather victorious, we make it to states every year.)
FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) - 3
marching band (alto saxophone) - 4
jazz band (bass guitar) - 4
concert ensemble (alto saxophone) - 3
~100hrs volunteer work in the community (most of which are music related, lol)
joined a club at college, but we were never active, despite my numerous attempts to get in contact with the leader.
i work at the Jazz Festival at the college I take PSEO courses at.
played bass in our school’s musical last year, I’ll repeat it this year.
i conducted a brass ensemble that volunteered for holiday parties
a lot of graphic design-- i’ve designed tee shirts and various things for marching band for the past two years.
i took bass lessons for about a year.
i’ve done so much music related stuff, i can’t remember most of it, lol…
i do a lot of [url=http://octofish.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/]art[/url] on my own, but i’m not sure if that can be submitted/is even relevant as i’ve never entered any contests for it or anything.

now, the question is. should i apply ED II and submit part-term grades (can i do that?), or apply RD and submit semester grades? i want to show that i did have a strong upward trend, save for a dip second semester. i am very familiar with college level work and i know that i will succeed at Wesleyan.