hey! this is my first time posting. My 9th grade year just finished up and i ended with a 3.3-3.4 unweighted. My classes this year are harder than the classes I will have next year. I am retaking a few classes ( need on opinion on this), but next year i hope to bump my GPA to high 3.7 or low 3.8. I took a practice SAT and did very well. Also I am on varsity tennis, robotics club, student action senate, JV golf, volunteer at red cross, also captain of chess club. Do I still have a chance? Also I am instate, and had a family relative go to U of M
also is it a good thing if i retake classes?
bump
People sometimes post rumors that University of Michigan does not even account for Freshman year grades when calculating gpa. This may not be true, and may have just been true a few years ago though.
You definitely still have a chance, but I’m not sure a 3.7 will cut it. This will give you a gpa after junior year of high 3.5 or low 3.6 if you get a 3.7 your sophomore and junior year.
Also University of Michigan is expecting your schedule to get harder each year, not easier.
I got a 3.5 gpa freshman year and went on to get a 3.9 gpa senior year, despite having an easy freshman year schedule and a hard senior year schedule, so it can be done. I didn’t even feel like I put that much more effort into senior year than freshman year.
I do not know if retaking classes would help. I would recommend asking your high school councilor, however I doubt it’ll help. Also have you thought about maybe dropping an extra curricular or two? Colleges prefer 3-4 that you are very dedicated to. Maybe golf if it takes a lot of your time. Just a thought.
They tend to look at low GPA as being “lazy,” if you have good test scores alongside that. In your case it might be the opposite - too many ECs to focus on classwork. Figure out why your grades were low and work on addressing that, as with anything in life. I wouldn’t retake classes. That seems like a waste of time, when you could be learning something new.
I mean if you get perfect grades from here on, sure it might be possible. But don’t set your heart on something that can’t be done, or take short cuts with easy classes.
@thericeinthehice It was not a rumor. UMich did not count freshmen grades before they stopped recalculating GPA. When they resumed recalculating GPA the year afterward, they count all cores in each grade.
For OP, with 3.3-3.4 in 9th grade, you may bring it up to 3.65-3.7 in cumulative GPA if you get straight A in 10th grade. If you keep getting A in 11th grade, then you may be able to get up to 3.8. So yes, you still have a chance if you work really hard. The average admission GPA was 3.85 last year.
I Got a 3.4 GPA freshman year, applied with a 3.7 gpa in senior year and got into engineering. You will be fine
My S had a 3.6 freshman year and a 4.0 junior and senior year and did not get into engineering. You’ll need a really high ACT (like 34+) or SAT. If you’re applying to LSA you may be okay.
The average admission GPA for CoE has been 3.9 in the past few years. I know an in state student with 3.7+ GPA and 33 ACT got rejected by CoE this year. ACT 33 was the admission media last year for CoE.
Nevertheless, GPA has to be considered with school profile and course rigor. 3.7 for someone may worth >3.9 for another person.
I don’t plan on applying to anything engineering related. Will they overlook my grades if I do better? @billcsho