What do colleges think of a student with, say 3.2-3.5 UW GPA and a 1700 SAT, however through the essay the college can see the student is a very bright, mature individual with great analytical skills as well as artistic potential?
It depends on the school. But their first question is always whether the student can do the work. A bright, mature student with good analytical skills would generally have good grades and test scores. Don’t count on your essays or ECs to get you into a school where your academic qualifications are on the lower end.
Schools are looking for substance. A stunning essay in the face of less than stunning grades would make me wonder who wrote it. But if there was a compelling reason for less than stellar grades that would be another story.
@lostaccount Cousin made mostly Cs, Ds yet was admitted to a gifted and talented school after some individualized testing. Is this an example of a compelling reason?
I don’t see that having a parallel in college admissions.
Wouldn’t “mostly Cs, Ds” result in a GPA lower than 3.2-3.5?
@ucbalumnus Yes, but I was taking a more extreme approach to get a very secure yes or no. I don’t think I am very gifted (it is possible, I was tested highly enough to enter schooling at age four, started speaking at eight months with a very fluent vocab I have a lot of the characteristics and overexcitabilities but it isn’t set in stone) nor were my grades consistently that low. I just slacked off and was very disconnected from the outside world (autism/aspergers)… also the bullying made me feel just disgusted with going to school. However I have grown to love learning s lot, I even watch college courses online and am planning to do my own research after I take some more classes at my community college. I am posting this because I do feel I really could benefit from a great education, my circumstances and maturation levels just have not been great. I do believe I’m bright enough (I’ve taught myself piano for the most part in a little under a month) and I seek things that are ‘different’ (heavy interest in avantgarde literature and research). I really wish the AdComs could see past my grades and see the potential/actualities and how much I have improved. but they can’t if I don’t present myself correctly. How would I do this?
@intparent I do believe it’s possible to have great analytical skills and still be a 3.2 student. It really depends on how you abstract things, some people do really well taking concrete information and memorizing it enough to apply to a test. However abstraction is a spectrum, you can take information and fill up a page with analysis yet no get the correct answer and not anywhere near it. Creative thinking isn’t about predetermined results, it’s about complexity, of which you can’t tell solely from grades (though it can be an indicator.)
Believe what you want. Admissions at top colleges want people who will not fail in their classrooms. College is harder than high school. If a B average and mediocre test scores (by top college standards) are all you can muster in HS, you would struggle in the classroom with mostly A/high scoring students. There are plenty of good colleges for B students. Just don’t expect a college where you fall below their 50% stats to accept you because of your other qualities. You can still go to college and get a good education, but you need to target schools that match your stats.
If by “average” you mean your stats fall within the middle 50 percentile of incoming freshmen, you stand a chance for admission. otoh, if you mean an average high school student, then you may need to recalibrate your approach. Look at the CDS for schools you think you want to attend. Look at the percentages of freshmen with a 3.5 and below to judge your chances.
Grades matter. There is just no getting around that. That said, 3.2-3.5 won’t doom you to no college. It just means you likely won’t go to an highly selective school (say, less than 35% acceptance rate).
Good luck
FYI, CDS is Common Data Set. Google it for each school you are interested in. You can see the average test score ranges (25-75%). Your matches will be schools where your scores are in the middle of those ranges. Remember that athletes, URM, legacies, and other hooked applicants will take up a good portion of the lower stats slots.
You are who you are. Some kids have early language or other skill development but it does not mean that person would be smarter 10-15 years down the road. There are actually plenty of famous scientists with late development academically. If it does not show in SAT, ACT, grades, research publications, etc, how can you convince the adcom that you have great analytical skills. Nevertheless, there are colleges that accept students with GPA 3.2 to 3.5 and average SAT scores. Also, some students perform better in ACT than SAT. You probably should try that too.
It looks from http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/transfer-students/1839846-transfer-chance-me-for-best-match-schools-unique-applicant-autism.html that you are enrolled in a community college with a college GPA of 3.8 after finishing high school with a 3.3 GPA and a 29 ACT (which is considered equivalent to a 1940 SAT by the concordance tables).
If you build up enough of a college record with a good college GPA, you may find that some four year schools that would not consider you for frosh admission based on your high school GPA would consider you for transfer admission with a good college GPA.
However, many of the super-selective four year schools accept very few transfers to begin with.