<p>I shouldn't be worrying about college, especially not at a young age. However, a matter has been brought to my concern that my grades are not as excellent as I once expected them to be. I've been receiving A-'s up to A+'s this year, and after looking at certain chance threads, some people had 4.8 Weighted GPAs and only one A-? They were concerned whether or not they would get into college, and now I'm starting to worry... If my overall average is a 96 this year, and I'm taking all Honors program classes, including higher math and Spanish, will I still get into one of the top three? My goal is to get into either Princeton or Yale, and for some reason up until this point, my outlined plan seemed successful. I'm in the top 5% of my class, and I would possibly be even higher if I were not involved with so many extracurricular activities. I got to a private boarding prep school in the town of Princeton, and our classes and curriculum is considered to be very challenging and hard. In reference to public schools, I would feel confident saying that our classes are not necessarily harder, but far more challenging even at the regular course level. Will the colleges take this into consideration? I do not think my GPA will be a 4.0+, but it is certainly around 3.75-4.0. </p>
<p>Any remarks?</p>
<p>(Also, is GPA calculated by averaging the GPAs of Freshman to Junior year?)</p>
<p>Also, our school cuts off the grades at 100, so even with extra grade points with honors and AP, it won't go above 100.</p>
<p>"my GPA will be a 4.0+, but it is certainly around 3.75-4.0."</p>
<p>Contrary to what you may see on these chance threads, not everyone will have perfect 4.0 GPAs. I do, but that is no guarantee whatsoever that I'll get into Princeton or Harvard or Yale or MIT, etc. There are numerous people with 3.7s, 3.8s, and 3.9s who are getting into these schools. Of course, you want your GPA to be as high as possible (a 4.0 is, of course, advantageous), but there is more to applicant than just these numbers (GPA, test scores, etc., at least there is more to a certain degree; they most likely won't accept a person with a 3.5 GPA and a 2000 on the SAT). </p>
<p>"I'm in the top 5% of my class, and I would possibly be even higher if I were not involved with so many extracurricular activities."</p>
<p>If you're in the top 5% of your class AND have a lot of ECs, then that is perfectly fine; you're on the right track to improve your chances of getting into Princeton. </p>
<p>Btw, what is a 96 / 100 on a 4.0 GPA scale? In terms of straight conversion (96 / 100 = x / 4.0), I get it to be a 3.84 GPA on the 4.0 scale; correct me if I'm wrong). And if it is a 3.84, then really, I don't think that will be the reason you don't get in. Also, you have 3 years left, plenty of time to really crank up the GPA as close to 4.0 as you can.</p>
<p>Top 5% at Lawrenceville? You'll be fine.</p>