Waseda SILS and Sophia FLA

Hey everyone. I'm a student applying to SILS and FLA for the upcoming spring semester (April 2017). I have a few questions that I hope someone here can help me out with. I'd appreciate any advice from current Waseda/Sophia undergraduates or people who have application experience!

(1) My grades aren't shabby, but they're not honor roll quality. To be specific, only my math and science marks were low and they are what affected my overall GPA. Without them, I was a decent student as my English, second language, and social studies scores were fine.

Would this grade disparity (math and science versus English, second language, etc.) be significantly detrimental to my chances of being affected? In the case of Sophia, I have a positive recommendation letter from my chemistry teacher (I had some personal struggles but I constantly went to her for help after school, so she really liked me as a student). Could this help me at all?

(2) Does your TOEFL score make any difference? I tried talking to a lot of graduated students, and they've given me contrasting comments. Some say that a good TOEFL score will boost your chances of getting in while others say it's only a small part of the application.

If it makes any difference, my counsellor told me that my SAT (2040) and TOEFL (115) scores were very good in comparison to my 2.9 GPA (yes, I'm aware that this is pathetically low).

(3) Is it true that passing the Waseda documentation round (as in, receiving a notification that you need to take a test and interview) means you're pretty much accepted? I recall reading this kind of statement somewhere, but I don't know if it's accurate.

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Thanks to whoever replies! ^^

Hi. I applied to Waseda SILS in march and got accepted so I think I'm qualified to answer some of your questions.

(1) I don't really know the answer to this - since you're applying for liberal arts program it makes sense if your social studies grades are higher than science subjects! Don't worry too much about it.I had high scores in science subjects (physics, chemistry, bio, math, adv.math) and low scores in social studies and I still got accepted.

(2) English Proficiency test score is very important imo. Your TOEFL score is great.

(3) Yeah. If you get a conditional offer you have a 90% chance of getting in. Passing the 1st screening is way harder so if you get through the 1st screening you're pretty much safe.

Hi SayakaTakemura!

Thank you so much for your answers, I really appreciate them! I'm working on my essays right now because I'm hoping my writing skills will carry my application through, if that makes any sense.
Hopefully I'll be able to come back with good news in a few months ^^