Will I get accepted with my tough classes and awards for research?

marya135
Sun, 31 Jul 2011 18:29:10 +0000

What confuses me is that you seem to be a killer student in all aspects… except your ACT score and GPA. Even your GPA isn’t very bad, but you must be able to do better on your ACTs. So I’d say take those again, or at least try the SAT!

Here’s the basic formula Grinnell uses in admission, which I got from Quentin Clay himself: 50% weight on grades and classes, 25% on standardized tests, and 25% on “everything else,” meaning extracurrics, essays, letters of recommendation, etc. You’ve certainly got that last 25%, and your class selection is obviously impressive. The thing about Grinnell, though, is they like to see creativity and flexibility as well as passion in your activities. Do you do music? Sports? Theatre? A foreign language club? If science is your ONLY passion, it won’t be quite as impressive as various interests.

So, in closing, I’d say that you would have a very good chance for admission if you could raise your ACT score. You’d be almost guaranteed acceptance if you can show a different side to yourself in your essays. They already know you love science, so don’t write about science.