I live in virginia and am pretty lost to where i want to go. 9th grade was by far the worst year of my life inside and outside of school in so many different ways. I took all honors classes that year and ended up getting staight C’s and a couple B’s. Last year was ok. I got all mostly B’s accross the board with a couple A’s s in a mix of Ap, Honors, and Regular classes. I looked at my overall wieghted GPA and its only a 3.3. Im starting to look at colleges and am getting really discouraged. UVA/ WM seems out of reach and VT averages a 3.9 Weighted and I dont want to go to JMU, GMU, or Christiphor Newport. Im taking APUSH this year along with IB HL math and IB psych. The rest are all honors. Classes are tough and im pretty bummed out right now.
No, you are never screwed. Maybe you have to adjust your sights temporarily. First, you have this year to bring things up. You are looking at average GPAs, they do accept lower GPAs, but you have to give them a reason. Get involved in something you care about now. It does not have to be school related, so look around. Then, get really involved. Some good extra curriculars helps overcome a lower GPA.
Also, consider the VA community college transfer programs.
Fundamentally, were you go to school does not determine what you do in life. Go to the best school that fits you, then work your butt off in the real world. You will achieve whatever you want.
NedMart is right when he says: “Fundamentally, were you go to school does not determine what you do in life. Go to the best school that fits you, then work your butt off in the real world. You will achieve whatever you want.”
IMO, the only way you are “screwed” is in what I see is an irrational fixation on name brand schools. Is it because you think you will get a vastly better education in your reach colleges or you perceive a status associated with them? I have 2 kids who went to one of the VA schools you don’t want to attend. One graduated in 2014 & had a great$ job offer before the start of senior year. The other is a senior there now & is deciding between 4 also great$ job offers. Both have been very involved socially, academically & in leadership positions. I have to say that my senior’s friends from H.S. (2 @ UVA, 1 @ W&M) do not have job offers yet. So, the status boost you might feel by getting into one of your top choices is temporary. What you DO in any school is what is important in the long run. I know this is hard when some of your peers seem to be getting into all the big name schools, but it is pointless to be “bummed out” about things you can’t control.
Thank you. And yeah… i mean my dad went to georgetown and my mom went to texas. so their expectations are higher for me. I really regret messing up freshman year. as far as the status thing goes, a lot of my friends are practically getting sports scholarship offers from unc, uva, w&m, maryland, gtown, duke, etc…like kids in a candy store so i guess im pretty bummed out because of all that
Consider a gap year. Not only does the extra work experience out in the world put things into a different perspective, but it will also let you factor your (much better) senior grades into your GPA, give you an additional year of maturity, and help you gain clarity about what you want from college.
What you don’t want, is to be looking over your shoulder at high school friends and comparing yourself to them. It’s totally pointless and has nothing to do with where you end up in life. The Gap Year Advantage is a great resource: Karl Haigler and Rae Nelson are the authors.
And while I like NedMart’s overall message, I have to disagree with him that good ECs will make up for lower grades. ECs are what you do on the side, after you’ve made your best effort academically - for most schools, they count for nothing. For those that care, your GPA and test scores will matter much more.
Yes, you’re basically screwed. At this point, no matter how good you perform in your remaining high school years, your unweighted GPA will be very low when you apply to colleges. This means that your chances of getting accepted by a good university will be practically nil.
GMU is a great school. You could do much worse.