superstarslp

I also got into the UofA! To be honest, I felt my application was just meh. There wasn't anything that really put me head and shoulders above the rest of the field. I thought I had done enough to get myself waitlisted, but I never imagined I would get accepted right away! With that said, here are my stats Linguistics major, 3.6 sGPA, 3.0 cGPA. I started off in STEM, where the course difficulty and my lack of interest tanked my grades for a while. That was a huge source of concern for me, since GPA is the number one factor for most schools. 1st quartile casper, which was my second area of concern. I thought that score would be a red flag to the admissions committee, and make them hesitant to accept me. Now onto the more positive stuff. Was an RA with the CSD department. This was probably the biggest strength of my application. I will say though that my role was minor, I just transcribed a whole bunch of backlogged data. I also took an independent studies class in where you work on one with a prof to learn more about their research. I didn't receive any undergrad research stipends, nor did I do an honours thesis. No presentations or publications either. Worked for a special needs organization in two of their programs. One of them was a program for adults with varying diagnoses, many of which were medically fragile. The other program was specifically for kids with FASD. There were a few more minor roles I put in my CV, but I don't think they influenced my application as much as the previous stuff. That's stuff like my customer service job and volunteering at the library. So for anyone who's doubting themselves, please remember that you don't have to be a superhuman genius to get in. I think the UofA taking a more holistic approach to admissions really benefitted me. I talked a ton about EDI in my LOI, so I'm guessing they liked that. I'm so grateful for this opportunity, as I would've been rejected by McMaster for sure (and probably McGill b/c of cGPA + casper). Best of luck to those who are still waiting, and anybody who's applying in the future! Edit: after posting I realized this is super rambly, so I've tried to trim things down a little