Hi everyone so I am a current junior in high school and will be applying to colleges in about 7ish months now.
I am really unsure of what my future holds and I think I screwed up my chances of going to a 4 year college…
3.32/3.61 GPA
1200/1600 SAT
24 ACT
Do any of you know of anyone who made it to college with similar stats, and if so, which university?
What is your state of residence ? In state schools often offer reasonable admissions standards at affordable tuition rates.
No, you should not be worried, but you need to be reasonable in your college search. There are about 3,500 four year colleges & universities in the US from which to chose.
@Publisher NC, I know I know I am not going to get into Chapel Hill or Duke, or probably even State or Wake Forest and I am ok with that.
@xeno1331, you have absolutely not ruined your chances of a 4 year college. Can you give us your state of residence? Some of your state schools may be good options. For example, the average SAT at Suny New Paltz is 1200. There are also many colleges that are now test optional. You don’t have to send your test grades at all if you feel they don’t represent what you are truly capable of. Your guidance counselor should be able to give you an idea of where students with your stats from your school got accepted. That is your best indicator. If you give us some more info about yourself, we might be able to make some recommendations as well.
I think that you should be fine for a good 4 year college. If there are 4,000 universities and colleges in the US, you should be fine for more than perhaps 3,500 of them.
Doing well this year should help your chances considerably. Since you are a Junior, this is the last full year of grades that universities will look at before they make their admissions decisions. I would try to pull up your grades for the rest of this year as much as you can.
You should find out what your budget is for university, and take a close look at your in-state options. For example, East Carolina university might be one for you to consider. Your guidance counselor at high school should be able to suggest some other good choices.
You are in NC? Lots of good choices. Just to give you a loose idea -I am not sure if this is 100 percent accurate
https://www.thoughtco.com/act-scores-north-carolina-public-university-admission-788806
UNC-Charlotte; UNC-Wilmington; East Carolina University; try Elon University;
Also could look at privates -Queens, Warren Wilson , Mars Hill
One more comment in regards to the SAT. Being a junior, there is more time to take it again and improve your score.
Look at the various 3.0 - 3.4 GPA threads for advice and inspiration. My S17, a 3.4 GPA, 27 ACT, is at a SUNY school in the honors program. He’s not at Binghamton or Stony Brook, but neither of those offers his program so even if he had a 4.0 and 32 ACT, he wouldn’t be there.
There are many, many schools for “average” students. Think about what you are interested in studying, think about the size and type of school you would and browse through school websites. My kids all preferred smaller schools in the 5,000 or so range, with no football and little to no emphasis on Greek life. Their schools have Greek life but very few kids are involved. Their schools do have sports, other than football, but very little sports spirit and that’s how my family prefers it. For my D, an active a capella program was a must.
You may want the big football or basketball experience. You may want theater or music as a major or an EC. Whatever you want, it is out there.
Good luck.
I’ve taught hundreds and hundreds of kids over the years with similar stats; all got into colleges.
The trick is to find the colleges that will accept you as you are.
Take a College Match survey or two, and start coming up with options.
Maybe UNC Asheville
I don’t think your prospects are nearly as grim as you are making them out to be. You can easily find a 4-year college without looking out of NC.
you have lots of options in the UNC system
https://www.northcarolina.edu/content/our-17-campuses
I think you would get admitted to East Carolina. App State and Wilmington are very good schools and you could also try Charlotte, Asheville, Greensboro, and Western Carolina.
NCA&T is a good school too and there are several other HCBU options.
lots of kids here save $$$ by starting at community college and transferring to ECU or other NC schools after 2 years.