Hello, so a little bit of background. I am a resident of california and i’ve taken online classes since I’ve ever done school. however, since starting highschool, i’ve done completely horrible. freshmen year i ended up with a gpa of 1.08 and i just finished the first semester of my sophomore year, with a D+ in biology, english 10 and personal fitness. i also ended up with a D in introduction to psychology. my highest grade was a C in world history. however the worst part is i failed algebra II (i’ve previously passed an algebra 1 course in 8th grade, and i passed a year long geometry course in 9th) and so i’ll have to take consumer math for the second semester in it’s place.
my question is, is it too late to change things around? If i do a complete 360 for the rest of my high school experience, assuming i do nearly perfect during this second semester, my junior year and the first semester of senior year, will it even matter when it comes to universities? I’m somewhat panicking because i really don’t want to be a failure even though thats what i am right now and i realize i really need to to better. But the thing is, I don’t know if it’ll even matter anymore at this point? Am i doomed? Or is there a chance for redemption?
edit- i have not taken any AP or honors classes yet. and i have yet to take the PSAT or SAT but i plan to in junior year. if theres any other information i should include please tell me.
Further information: I want to get into a good school or at-least a decent one but based on my grades im panicking because i’m fairly sure (in my limited knowledge) that i might as-well not even try. For background I intend on going into music hopefully, majoring in music education and double majoring in something else as a back-up. At least that was my goal, but at this point I feel like i might as well get ready for a life working at mcdonalds.
further information, i did some calculating and my GPA for the first semester of this sophomore year was a 1.5? according to this http://www.ohe.state.mn.us/sPages/gpa.cfm
If you are a California resident, you have 23 Cal States, 9 UC’s and many many private schools that will give you a good to excellent education.
Doing a complete 360 is not impossible, but it may not help since many schools will determine your college acceptance based on 9-11th or 10-11th grades due to application deadlines.
My advice is that the California community college system is an excellent option with articulation agreements to the Cal States and UC’s and your HS record will not be required for transfer since they take Junior level transfers.
It is very important that you get a solid background during HS for the courses you will need to take in college. Getting D’s in many of your HS courses may not even qualify you to apply to many of the colleges since most will require minimum passing grades in Math/Science/Foreign Language/Arts/Social Science/English etc…
Buckle down now and try to get your HS graduation requirements completed first.
Explore the following options at your local community college and know that it is very possible to transfer to a good college in the end.
For Cal States: https://www2.calstate.edu/apply/transfer/Pages/ccc-associate-degree-for-transfer.aspx
For UC’s: http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/transfer/guarantee/index.html
For Private schools, you would need to research the transfer options by school.
Best of luck.
@Gumbymom
Thank you very much I feel somewhat better. So to summarize what you are saying, for an optimal chance at college, I would need to first do well in the rest of my high school experience, then enroll in california commmunity college where I could then transfer to a UC or cal state possibly?
Your 1st step should be to graduate HS or get your GED, then onto community college and then the eventually transfer to a UC/CSU or private university.
https://home.cccapply.org
It is great you recognize you need to start making some changes. Remember there are any different paths to get to your goal, just take it slow and steady.
@Gumbymom
thank you. do you recommend still taking any AP’s or the SAT exam? or is it essentially too late to get into any university going down that route?
You need to calculate your CSU GPA at end of Junior year. There are several non-impacted campuses that will take CA applicants with a minimum Eligibility index of 2950 SAT and 694 ACT for most programs. This means you need a minimum 2.0 CSU GPA to even apply.
EI= (CSU GPA x800) + (SAT Math + EBRW) or (CSU GPA x200) + (ACT composite x10)
The non-impacted Cal states are Dominguez Hills, Bakersfield, Stanislaus, East Bay and Channel Islands.
If you are interested in any of the non-impacted campuses, then it is worth you time to take either the SAT or ACT. Definitely prep before taking this tests.
How to calculate CSU GPA and EI tables:
https://www2.calstate.edu/apply/eligibility-index
You will also need to meet the CSU course requirements. See link below for requirements:
https://www2.calstate.edu/apply/freshman/getting_into_the_csu/Pages/admission-requirements.aspx#hsReqScroll
Cal State impacted and non-impacted majors and campuses:
https://www.calstate.edu/sas/documents/ImpactedProgramsMatrix.pdf
@boymeetswhat, don’t despair. Colleges do look for an upward trend in grades; even if you’ve had a rocky start, putting in the effort for the new semester and the next two years of your high school education will show you’re adaptable and determined. If you have an explanation for your turnaround that you can work into your application, all the better.
Doing some light research, it seems like your cumulative GPA might not play a role at all, depending on where you look. Grades in college prep courses and your classes in general are more important, and I certainly imagine the significance of your performance academically increases year to year. In no sense are you at the point where you “might as well not even try.”
Also, your progression is more important than an aggregate like GPA, which is often subject to grade inflation and manipulation by students and schools. If you’re afraid of how colleges will respond to your transcript, you can also consider some smaller schools that take even less of a numerical approach. Goucher and Bennington are actually two schools that have alternative application requirements, so you don’t have to submit a transcript at all (if my information is still up to date). These colleges are excellent institutions, and there are many others: keep your hopes up that you’ll be able to learn from your past and make the most of the semesters ahead.
I’d do a Google search for “schools that don’t look at gpa” and see what you can find to expand on the ideas in this post. Simply put, a rough start will only destroy your chances of ending up at a suitably rigorous school if you let yourself stay on the same course. Although low grades freshman year might be a warning sign, what you do starting now to turn that trend around will demonstrate a resilience that is as important and impressive to colleges as a straight-A history.
Best of luck, and please remember to always try your best!