<p>*Please remember that the terms "bad" and "good" are relative, and in no way do I mean to imply that my SAT score is amazing, or that my GPA is horrible. Different people have different standards.</p>
<p>Hello =]</p>
<p>I will start of by listing my stats.</p>
<p>GPA: 2.9
HPA: Probably around a 3.5 - 4.00
SAT:1440 out of 1600
AP:11</p>
<p>AP English Language - 5
AP Biology - 5
AP Spanish Language - 5
AP Statistics - 5
AP Human Geography - 5
AP Psychology - 5
AP Calculus AB - 4
AP Environmental Science - 4
AP Physics B - 3
AP Chemistry - 3
AP World History - 3</p>
<p>For AP Human Geography, AP English, and AP Psychology, I have either F's or D"s as my semester grades, mostly F's.</p>
<p>I am currently a senior, so I still have another year left to help bring the GPA up, however I will begin my college applications soon (University of Florida being my first choice). I am curious, will a low GPA severely hurt my chances of getting into a top 50 College? and What does an admissions person think when he sees something like this?</p>
<p>In my school GPA means unweighted and HPA means weighted. In an AP class an A is worth 6.0, in honors 4.5, and in regular 4.0 so yea. Yea I'm hispanic, Peruvian actually. I came over to the US when I was 10.</p>
<p>If anything, your great AP scores show you know the material of the class even with a not so great grade. Maybe you can talk to your teacher about adjusting your grade after the AP scores? My teacher said she'd add points on our grade if we did well on the AP test, but I'm sure other teachers wouldn't.</p>
<p>The fact that you're a URM can only help you, and your SAT score is great. I have no authority to chance you, but your stats other than GPA are impressive.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input entracestone and Artofmind_21, I greatly appreciate it. I agree with what you said entrancestone, and I hope colleges see it that way, that even though I may have F's, D's, and C's in a lot of my AP Courses, they won't count it against me since I score mostly 4's and 5's. I don't know if the teachers would change my grade, most of them just feel slightly insulted when I get a good AP score yet fail their class.</p>
<p>In answer to your question, "What does an admissions person think when he sees something like this?" My first reaction is that you blew off your classes because you felt you didn't need the instruction. That's what self-study is for -- you are able to take any AP test you feel qualified for and can afford. In signing up for a class, you are agreeing to follow a set of rules and curriculum. You failed in this. Why? This needs an explanation, because at first blush it looks like you just didn't care about the classes.</p>
<p>I would agree: Colleges might look at it as if you blew off your academics, even though you're more than capable of handling them (and achieving grades in the B range or better). It might look weak, but in context, maybe you could or your counselor could explain it away.</p>
<p>I really have no idea. I haven't seen such an extreme case of excellent SAT and pretty bad GPA. You may want to talk it out with your teachers and counselors because a 2.9 with pretty much B/B- grades is a lot different from 2.9 with copious D's and F's. What's even weirder is that you earned a 5 in some exams where you earned a D or F in the class. But honestly, especially with the URM hook thrown in, I have no idea where you can be admitted. I'd apply to a wide, wide, range of schools if I were you. I'd like to see what happens. Good Luck!</p>
<p>F's, D's, and C's in a lot of my AP Courses, they won't count it against me since I score mostly 4's and 5's. I don't know if the teachers would change my grade, most of them just feel slightly insulted when I get a good AP score yet fail their class.</p>
<p>Dude, thats total ownage!!! WOOT! YOu're teachers are like ***?</p>
<p>yeah that makes nosense...how did you get 5's in the classes you got F's in...do you just get intense in class and then blow off homework?....and tests somehow?</p>
<p>In reply to entrancestone and SoCalGal09 who asked the "Why" to my F's and D's in most AP Classes. </p>
<p>The reason why I get F's and D's in those classes were because I did NO homework, barely any classwork, and wasn't interested in doing some of the dumb "fun educational projects". I was usually present on test/quiz days, and scored in the A range and sometime high B range (This was my way of showing the teacher that I was keeping up with the material). Since my teachers use a weighted grading system, and tests are usually worth only about 50% of the grade sometimes 60%, even if I get perfect grades on every test I will only earn a D or F.</p>
<p>In reply to Tzar09, who asked why I chose to take AP classes if I could have done perfectly well in lower level classes</p>
<p>The answer is I wouldn't have done well, in fact many honors and regular courses at my school are FILLED with more busy work, stupid worksheets, boring assignments, and did I mention busy work? So I would also end up failing the "lower level classes". The only classes I am able to do well in are ones that rely more on test/quiz grades and include MINIMAL hw and classwork.</p>
<p>The problem is, colleges want to know that students are willing to buckle down and do the work, even if the work seems to easy or boring. I can related to the feeling of "OMG, not another busy work stupid boring homework assignment!!", but I still forced myself to do them (or most of them... I'm not perfect either). You need to get over that attitude and start doing the work, even if it's not helping you learn the material, because that will help you in the long run.</p>
<p>Things will probably be harder in the future if you only do the parts of a job/assignment that you are interested in. If you wanted to increase your chances, you might think about trying to do your best (everything, since you're capable of it) since it would make you more desirable to schools. </p>
<p>Something I would suggest to maybe support your grades would be to get a rec from a teacher/counselor/other that would explain your work ethic, the reasoning behind it, and showing them a better angle to it. I think it might be hard to explain that yourself without coming across badly.</p>
<p>Spike I used to have the exact same attitude as you did (I never got d's or f's though, have my parents to thank for that). I never found school important and blew off homework and dominated tests and i would end up with a B in the class and i thought that was fine. My only difference with is i dont do that well on standardized tests (a bit above average). So because of that I had to get my GPA up. Honestly though I think colleges are not going to like it that you didnt do the work. Even though you demonstrate you are capable of doing the work they could get the picture "this is going to be a kid who doesnt show up to class or take his work seriously and might end up dropping out or becoming the real Van Wilder." Just start doing the homework even though it blows. Thats just my two cents. If your instate though i think you can get into U of F.</p>