Low GPA? Try some last-ditch efforts!
Most “literature” being written about college admissions counseling these days are about getting admitted to top-tier schools. It seems as if students who have not done so well with their high school classes don’t exist.
While many students and parents who hire counselors like me care a lot about getting into top schools or programs, no one can deny that the majority of high schoolers are not even harboring thoughts of the Ivies. With most top colleges, students with a GPA lower than a certain number probably have a better chance of winning the Powerball than getting admitted. It’s akin to dreaming about becoming a billionaire by winning a lottery: we can dream but reality is what we live in, so we find out what best outcomes we can get with what resources we have.
Of course, college admissions decisions are not made solely on GPA alone. All is not lost if one has a low GPA. Most colleges adopt a holistic approach with every applicant, taking other factors such as extracurricular records and recommendations into consideration. And, in one’s applications, one can give a short explanation of why your academic performance was not as good as it could have been. In addition, there are strategies during application that can be tried, such as choosing the right schools to ED or EA.
My belief is that every student can push for one second chance before college application season is over, which is why I am as keen to help a struggling student who isn’t giving up as much as I welcome students who only need a little boost to get a nod from top-tier schools. (Of course, I also believe that life offers countless more second chances as we go along but that’s a topic for another context.)
For whatever reason a student ended up not having a strong academic record, my advice is that he/she should still try for the best outcomes possible. As an illustration of how last-ditch efforts are still worth trying, I’d like to share a case of a student who many may see as having “messed up” his high school years. This student is a foreign student who came to the US at 9th grade. The language barrier was one major factor his grades suffered. Not being able to communicate well in English also explained why he was not involved in any significant extracurricular activities. With a GPA of only 2.9, no mentionable extra curricular excellence and being weak in the English language, he was among the more challenging cases I have seen in recent years.
He actually got admitted to a research university ranked in the top 60s in recent years, across different lists. His story is anecdotal, but he is not necessarily that one special case that cannot be replicated. Here’s a brief outline of some last attempts from him to make up for a very low GPA and lack of extra curricular activities.
* Talked to the teachers of ALL his current courses about extra work/credit to pull up his GPA.
* Researched extensively colleges that have rolling enrollment, and with preferences for early enrollment.
* Cast a wide net of colleges in different tiers and geographical regions to up his chances.
* Worked closely with the teachers writing his recommendation letters and showing them his sincerity, motivation and potential to do better in the future.
* Worked on nth number of drafts to perfect his personal statement and supplemental essays.
* Got a 3rd recommender from his workplace attesting to his diligence and work ethics.
* Accepted admission offer to a less popular campus of a large public research university with assurance of transferring to the desired campus after sophomore year.
In all things, luck plays a part. This is one lucky student. But as the famous saying goes, “fortune favors the bold,” and this student fought valiantly in the final stages of his high school. He was bold to try for schools beyond his reach, and did what he could to improve his chances. Working with him, I see not only boldness but hard work. Let us say, fortune favors the bold and the diligent.
