Hello, I am currently a freshman in high school and it my dream to attend a top school for college. However, the first semester of this year I did not perform to the best of my ability and as a result my weighted GPA is low for the schools that I want to go to. While I am able to improve my GPA, it will overall be a little lower than average and I don’t want freshman year to come back and ruin my chances of ivy league. How much does my freshman GPA matter? I have heard that some schools such as Stanford and Princeton don’t count freshman year, is this true? I am going to take the hardest courses possible at my school for the next 3 years and I really plan to try my hardest. Have I hurt my chances of being accepted to Ivies and other similarly hard schools, such as MIT and Stanford?
Thanks for your replies.
By low I mean that I am about .2 below the admitted students to Ivy League from my school, as of this year.
I’m going to try to be patient with you, because I know you are very young, but this is just silly. .2 below anything doesn’t matter. What matters is your unhealthy fixation - particularly at your age! - on Ivy League schools. This is the third or fourth thread you’ve started asking essentially the same question. Just do your best in school, get involved in activities that interest you and not because you think they will look good on a college application, and enjoy your time in high school. Don’t waste 4 good years trying to package yourself for 4 later years.
Even if you are a perfect student with outstanding extra curriculars you STILL have a low chance. Get over it and do what @suzy100 suggested.
@Suzy100 is right. There are thousands of universities and colleges in the US. There are a few hundred that are very good for very strong students. There are more outside the US. Getting in to an ivy league school is both unlikely for pretty much everyone (assuming that you are not a former president’s child) and is also entirely unnecessary for everyone.
There are a few highly ranked schools that don’t consider freshman year of high school. There a lot more that would overlook being 0.2 below their standards for freshman year. However, it is far too early to think about what university you want to attend, and being fixated on a highly ranked “Ivy-equivalent” university is not healthy for anyone.
Also, if you are only 0.2 below the average GPA for kids going to ivy league schools, then CONGRATULATIONS! So far you are doing very well. Pat yourself on the back and take a break (at least when the school year ends in a few weeks).
@StudyFoxx - you should be able to get your cumulative GPA up to the “acceptable” range. However, like others have said here - there is no guarantee that anyone will get into any top school by maintaining a perfect GPA or perfect SAT/ACT or both. Take courses that you like (and are rigorous), but please don’t take them only because you think that will get you into Yale. Do activities that you enjoy (and are useful), but please don’t do them only for the sake of adding something to your resume. Enjoy the next couple of years in school. Good luck.
I know I’m piling on, but you’ve listed schools that have only one thing in common, high ranking. They are all VERY different. Depending on your major, some would be very poor choices. Don’t obsess about this. Your success will be FAR more about what you do in school than it will be about where you go. Good luck.
It is way too early to think about specific colleges (especially the hyper-competitive ones). You just one full year’s GPA and you have no standardized testing. You also need to recognize that HS should be an experience in and of itself – a time of learning and growth and not just a 4 year college application prep experience.
It is good to take school seriously and know that college will be on your horizon, but it is too early to start planning for specific colleges. I would highly recommend that you get off of CC until your junior year.
For now you should focus on:
–Working hard, learning, and doing as well as you can in the most challenging curriculum you can manage.
–When the time comes study for standardized tests.
–Continue your involvement in activities you care about and work towards making meaningful contributions to those activities.
–Enjoying spending time with your family and friends.
When it comes time to look for colleges cast a wide net and find reach, match, and safety schools that make sense for your academic stats, that appear affordable, and that you would be happy to attend. Stop the prestige obsession and don’t focus on schools that a reaches for everyone… There are tons of amazing colleges and universities that can give you an amazing 4 year college experience and can get you where you want to go in life.
while I agree with what everyone has written, I think the chances of the OP (someone that has started 5 threads about the same thing in the past week or so) listening is on par with the chances of getting into an Ivy school.
I’d like to thank all of you for your replies, I appreciate all of your feedback.
P.S. Sorry for starting so many threads about this I just wanted as many opinions as possible because I have seen many different things on different websites and threads.
I guarantee you that every single thread or website you have seen says some version of this: high grades and test scores get you to the gate. Getting through the gate is about how you make yourself stand out to admissions committees. And remember that those schools basically reject 90% or more of their applicants. You ultimately need a list of schools that has well-chosen safeties and matches. The reaches are easy.
ETA: Forget the whole dream school business. Without fail, eveytime I see kids use that term, it leads to disappointment. You can be happy at many different schools, not just one in the Ivy league.
To be honest, I was just like you in freshman year of high school. I REALLY wanted to go to an ivy league school because I didn’t want to end up at a state school. While it was incredibly foolish of me to think that at the time, my desire to apply to an ivy league allowed me to have the academics and EC’s necessary to qualify. Ultimately, I never applied to an ivy league school because none of them had what I was looking for. Right now, I’m really happy with the small private school that I currently go to, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, where I currently have a 3.72 GPA and a 20k scholarship. I know that if I did choose to apply to an Ivy or some other big-name school, I would not be as nearly happy as I am today.
Now, it’s nice that you like to apply to an ivy league school, but you’re in freshman year. Things change. Even if your GPA isn’t up to your standards, you have time. Take the SAT and/or ACT. get involved in extracurriculars, and most importantly, enjoy your four years of high school. Those four years will go by in the blink of an eye.
When it comes time to apply, see what makes you unique from the other applicants. Was it because you were on a varisity team? Was it because you spent your weekends helping those in need? Was it because you designed something that could change the world? These are just some of the things you need to consider before applying to an ivy league. Ultimately, it’s OK if you don’t to an Ivy League. In fact, you might end up being happier at a state school because you’re not in loads of student debt.
I hope this helped and best of luck with high school!