<p>I'm worried that lowering my GPA this year has ruined my chances of getting into the top schools like Harvard, Princeton, Yale, etc.
Freshman Year I had a 4.0
Sophomore year I got two b's first semester and one b second semester - (all honor classes)
Junior Year I had a 4.0
Does my lower performance during sophomore year take me out of the running for a potential student at the top ivies?
I know extracurriculars and other things have a play but I'm just focusing on this right now - everyone tells me you need a 4.0 to get in to these schools.
Basically, if anyone could provide insight on exactly how important GPAs are, that would be great. </p>
<p>“Does my lower performance during sophomore year take me out of the running for a potential student at the top ivies?”</p>
<p>No.</p>
<p>Not at all! Relax</p>
<p>GPAs are important, but your personality, extracurricular, essays, and accomplishments all matter almost equally as much when you get to that level. Many of those students have the grades to get in but also have something that stands out about them, so no 4.0s aren’t required, but consistency or something to make them go “wow” sometimes is.</p>
<p>Contrary to popular opinion, you can get into a good school (even an Ivy League) with one or two B’s. No college will base a decision on GPA only and students will 2300+ on the SAT and 4.0 GPA’s get rejected at top schools all the time because they didn’t spend time focusing on other aspects of the application like EC’s, volunteering, recommendations, etc. </p>