Match Me - Please help out a student with a 3.48 UW but 1580 SAT [OH resident]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics

  • US citizen
  • State/Location of residency: Ohio
  • Type of high school: Competitive public school
  • Other special factors: None

Cost Constraints / Budget
No major constraints

Intended Major(s): English, theology, philosophy, potentially finance (would switch later on)

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

The dip in grades was due to my father’s cancer diagnosis and the extensive time spend by my parents at the hospital during sophomore year.

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.48 (anticipated)
  • Weighted HS GPA: 3.9 (anticipated)
  • Class Rank: Not reported by school
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1580 SAT

List your HS coursework

  • English: AP Language and Composition, AP Literature
  • Math: Honors pre-calculus, AP Statistics, AP Calc BC
  • Science: AP Physics
  • History and social studies: APUSH, AP Microeconomics, AP Macroeconomics, AP Comparative Government, AP Psychology, AP European History

Awards

  1. JLI essay contest shortlist
  2. New York Times blurb contest winner
  3. Moderately known poetry contest winner
  4. DECA international finalist
  5. 4 moderately prestigious Model UN awards

Extracurriculars

  1. YouTube channel on novel analysis with approximately 15k followers.
  2. Worked at local and state levels on cancer legislation and advocacy. Presented at a scientific facility’s conference. Non-profit writer for a colon cancer advocacy group. Inspired by my father’s own cancer diagnosis.
  3. Secretary of Training for Model UN club with 70 people (largest club in our school).
  4. Editor of an online literary magazine.
  5. Senior editor of school newspaper.
  6. Kumon center assistant for 3 years.
  7. Employee at an antique store for 2 years.

Essays/LORs/Other
I devoted a lot of time to writing my essays, and it is likely one of the strongest parts of my application.

LOR 1: History/AP psych teacher/MUN advisor: We’re very close and have been interacting every single year of my high school career. I always excelled at her classes and she spoke to both academic and personal virtues.
LOR 2: AP Lang teacher: Mainly spoke on the quality of my writing.
LOR 3: Local priest: Not sure whether to include this, but I’m an atheist. I wanted to better understand the Christian practice and atmosphere and sat in on sermons regularly. He was very kind in answering my questions and mainly spoke about my genuine interest in religion and my ability to have an open mind.

Schools

Safety: Indiana University, University of Cincinnati
Match: OSU (?)
Reach: Initially wanted University of Michigan, but I understand GPA may eliminate this, Oxford University (have been invited to interview recently) – otherwise taking recommendations!

Thanks guys!

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You can add Miami of Ohio and University of Dayton.

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With your interest in theology, you might think about St. Olaf? (Here’s an intro/campus tour video.) It’s a liberal arts college (in a cute college town in Minnesota) that has a Christian heritage, but is very theologically open. I think your story is really compelling, and I imagine their admissions office — which seems extremely empathetic and caring — would understand the difficult road you’ve walked.

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Is there a region of the country you’re looking for, or any particulars (size, urban/rural, etc.) about the kinds of schools you find attractive? I was also thinking you might find the Jesuit schools interesting.

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I’m happy to go anywhere other than the South, and tend to prefer more urban schools with a midsize or large population, but would be happy in a town or the suburbs as well. I’d be open to Jesuit colleges but am a bit concerned about whether or not I’d be able to blend in well culturally, given that I’ve always been nontheistic. I find the description of St. Olaf very appealing though, so I will definitely be researching it – thank you!

Not sure how familiar you are with Oxford’s (UK) academic style, but would you potentially have an opinion on whether it’d be of greater value for law school to stay in state (likely for English or finance) or to study theology abroad? I received invitations for two interviews for Oxford’s theology program and recently completed them. Admission would be unlikely, but I wondered if it’d even be worth it if I were accepted. Thank you so much for your time.

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Sadly, I’m not equipped to weigh in on either the Oxford question or the law school question. Will try to ping another member of the boards here who might have some insights on those fronts.

I did major in Religious Studies at a non-religious school (I work as a computer engineer now, though ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ), and I know someone who graduated from the same school as a Religious Studies major, went on to UVA law, and then became a law professor. So it’s definitely one possible path. (You probably know this, but as you look around for departments, you might use the terms “Religious Studies” or “Comparative/World Religions” rather than limiting your department search to “Theology”, as several religious traditions are, themselves, nontheistic and I believe most programs outside of divinity schools are big tent programs.)

In terms of the culture at Jesuit colleges, I suspect you’d have no problem blending in at many of them, as they’re far more progressive than a lot of people think they’d be. For example, I knew two gay, tenured religious studies professors at Fordham (one has since moved on to another school, but not out of any dissatisfaction with Fordham).

For schools in cities, you might take a look at the programs (not just religious studies, but also English, philosophy, finance, etc.; I’m not sure which schools have which programs) at Seattle University (avg. GPA = 3.62; SAT = 1270), Fordham (New York City) (3.69; 1400), the University of San Francisco (3.7; 1310), or Loyola (Chicago) (3.74; 1300). As you can see, your SAT score is much stronger than those; I’m not sure what the best way is to strategize around your GPA/SAT mismatch, but looking at the Common Data Set for different schools could help.

I’m not actually trying to push the Jesuit schools over other schools; I just thought they could be a good fit. As to other schools you might think about, I’d highly recommend taking a look at Pitt. They have one of the strongest philosophy departments in the country (more here). Average SAT is 1360, average weighted GPA is 4.13. It’s in a college-friendly neighborhood of Pittsburgh called Oakland. People seem to really love it. Also, the University of Vermont could be good to look into as well.

You might also check out College Navigator to search for schools. Here’s a pre-seeded query for schools with 3k–10k undergrads, in cities, with religious studies majors, with a 25th percentile SAT score of 1200. Play around with the absolutely terrible interface to select other majors or make other tweaks to the search and see what else comes up. It’s not the perfect way to find programs, but it might help expand the list a bit.

Hopefully others here can chime in with more insights on Oxford, or on law school, or on how to best present an application with extenuating circumstances, such as yours, to account for the GPA/SAT mismatch. I’m rooting for you.

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Many excellent US law schools are going to be fine with applicants from prominent UK universities with all sorts of degrees. Just understand you will want a high LSAT (your SAT is promising) and the best possible academic record. You can also poke around and find advice about which highly selective US law schools seem relatively more or less open to, say, an Upper Second rather than a First. But an Upper Second and a high LSAT will open a lot of doors, indeed possibly get you significant merit.

If this is something you are really interested in, I might throw in a pitch for potentially applying to St Andrews as well. They are pretty friendly to US applicants.

In terms of US suggestions, I absolutely agree with looking at Jesuit colleges. You definitely do not need to be Christian or religious in general to appreciate what they offer, and they are going to have the right sort of curriculum for your interests, usually have excellent pre-law advising, excellent networks in law and business, are often in nice city locations, and so on.

Pitt is a great suggestion too, for the reasons given. Apply ASAP (they are rolling).

Finally, if St Olaf sounded appealing, I would also look at Kalamazoo College. Really nice college, good for your interests, and it is in a vibrant small city of the same name. It is basically a big college town (Kalamazoo College shares it with Western Michigan).

Edit: By the way, there are so many Jesuit colleges worth considering, it is hard to narrow down. I think it would be worth applying to even ones like Santa Clara, Loyola Marymount, or Fordham, which are in very popular cities and so pretty selective. But I would also look at colleges like Gonzaga, Marquette, Saint Louis, Loyola Chicago, San Francisco (which has a great location), and Seattle (ditto).

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One quick thought: If Oxford and its tutorial system appeals, do not overlook the Honors Tutorial program at Ohio U. It would be in-state pricing which is always a nice benefit, particularly when you’re thinking about law school which is generally $$$.

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