<p>I go to a highly competitive public high school, so academics (in general) are pretty rigorous. However, my courseload, for now, isn't the most rigorous compared to other students.</p>
<p>Freshman year - took the most rigorous available (took max honors allowed), but seriously slacked off majorly. Got pretty much straight B's with a spatter of A's here and there. 3.65 weighted :/.</p>
<p>Sophomore year - Only taking two honors (rejected from the rest because of my poor performance freshman year), but I have straight A's, except for a really annoying string of B+ in History. I'd put my GPA at around 3.5, unweighted. Hopefully 3.7 weighted? Not really familiar with the whole GPA calculation thing, to be honest.</p>
<p>Junior year, I'll be taking all APs/Honors, so pretty much the most rigorous course available. All my electives are either AP or honors, as well. </p>
<p>However, say, with an SAT of around 2300+ (2200, if pushing it), could this offset my long line of B's during freshman year? Would the college weigh in the caliber of the school heavily in this decision when looking at my academic record?</p>
<p>^^ Uh, I hope you’re joking.
Adcoms will know the rigor of the school therefore everyones academic index is calculated differently. The rigor of your school plays a part in this, and if you get a 2300 on your SAT, while having many B’s, it will most likely show that you are intelligent, but your school is very tough.</p>
<p>Greens, I doubt NWdivisionCHAMPS is kidding. It’s true that class rank counts way more than SAT’s. I got 2380 on my SATs (first try), high 700s on my SAT 2s, but my class rank was somewhat low and that screwed me over for the ivies. I’m still going to a school I absolutely love, but I want to be honest here.</p>
<p>“It’s true that class rank counts way more than SAT’s.”</p>
<p>WAIT a sec, ^no way. Some schools dont even have school ranking, how are colleges supposed to compare applicants if what you said were true? Colleges take everything into account, its not what “counts more”. How do you know that your class rank was what screwed you up? It could have been anything.</p>
<p>What Bs mean at your school is unknown to us but high SAT scores will not make up for grades that are not up to par at top schools. The exception is that at some state schools that use formulas a high score can offset a weaker GPA.</p>
<p>My sister heard that there are high school rating services that colleges can purchase to supplement their personal knowledge of a school (along with the high school profile that the school provides). </p>
<p>Does anyone share information on that? Intuitively it sounds quite possible but I haven’t heard anything about it. Perhaps schools don’t like to talk about it so they don’t get questions such as ‘what does your ranking service say about my son’s school.’</p>
<p>You should look on the naviance system for your particular school. That will give you a better idea than people who don’t know the reputation of your school. Most colleges are aware of the competitive nature of certain schools and take that into account. Plus, just like there is grade inflation and deflation at certain colleges, it exists in high school. Colleges know that an A at one school is not the same as an A at another. Otoh, at competetive schools there are usually a higher number of qualified applicants to top schools and if they consistently get better grades than you, you may not get accepted. They will only take a certain number of kids from any specific school. (That is the real detriment to all the talented students who cluster together in these high ranked public school districts)… It just works against you. Because, first, you are competing with the kids in your district, even if your school does not rank, and then, after that, the rest of the applicant pool.</p>
<p>It’s good, though, that you have an upward trend. And the california colleges don’t look at freshman grades, so think about those, too.</p>
<p>The fact is, having a 3.6 and 3.7 weighted is not going to impress any adcom’s eyes despite a 2300+ SAT score.</p>
<p>To Greens: The reason for class rank over GPA is to offset certain ‘rigors’ of schools. An upward trend is always better than no trend, however.</p>
<p>True that some schools do not calculate the class rank, but for a top 15 college, competing with thousands of qualified applicants that have a 3.9+ gpa, it is tough to get around with a 3.5 unweighted, despite the SAT score. Having a high number of B’s will make a student look that much more “lazy” when they achieve the 2300+ SAT score.</p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong, the SAT is important. But GPA/Rigor is more important. by far.</p>
<p>hmom: there is a poster on another thread looking for state schools where a “higher score will offset a weaker GPA”…do you have any idea which schools these are? PM me or readytoroll…</p>
<p>einnob: True, some schools (mine included) don’t rank students, but all have of showing where you stand in the class. For example, my school was the decile system (so top 10%, 20%…)</p>
<p>NWdivisionCHAMPS: My final weighted gpa was 4.3 or 4.4 I believe, and unweighted was 3.7. Nothing terrible, but my school suffers from severe deflation and a large number of competitive kids. I was actually in the top quarter of the class, but since we go by deciles it put me in the top 30%… not too good. I’m going to Rice though, so it all worked out.</p>
<p>Here’s another idea: get a 5 on the AP if the class is an AP course. I think that’s what saved me… as you have worded it, I had a “really annoying string” of B’s in one class junior year but my AP score proved otherwise about my talents in that area of study, I guess. I got one B+ in Spanish but won a national award for my Spanish studies, so maybe that took care of that. I also had solid recs from the teachers of those classes (coincidence kind of) and did well on my SAT’s. It might also help that my school doesn’t rank or calculate GPA, idk. Just don’t let you B’s kill you… counteract them, and get better grades right now so that you don’t even have to worry about it. I didn’t get straight A’s but I still managed to get into Penn somehow.</p>
<p>Point of my rambling post: I really do believe that you can help offset your B’s, but there will always be the kid with everything you did to offset them AND straight A’s, which sucks but you deal. Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re automatically screwed because I believed that about myself as well, which was a mistake.</p>
<p>On our college tour all the schools said they take into account, grade progression. That is, if you did poorly in your first year, but showed steady improvement through your last three, they’d weight the earlier year less. Of course, they’d also weight the difficulty of the classes taken too. What this basically means is they’d favor someone going from a 3.5 to a 3.75 over someone going from a 4.0 to a 3.75. </p>
<p>We didn’t go to any ivy league schools, so i don’t know what they would do. I’d have to think they would consider grade progression too.</p>
<p>MIT is notorious for not being extremely concerned with somewhat lacking freshman year grades in high school because MIT’s first year is also famed for being its “hardest year.” Many colleges understand that high school can take students off guard–students who recover, mature, and take control after their “fall” are valued as much (perhaps even more for MIT) than students who were perfect from the start.</p>
<p>If you start off with straight As and always have straight A’s, that’s nothing compared to going from a B to an A to an A+ :)</p>
<p>For the record, my school doesn’t rank (thankfully).
The type of schools I’m looking at are basically, top 15, yes.</p>
<p>NWdivisionCHAMPS - Thanks for the feedback. Another question, though. Most of my B’s are in freshman year. Would this put me at a heavy disadvantage, or just a disadvantage compared to people who made straight A’s? If this would be a heavy disadvantage, would it matter at all if I continue to make straight A’s in high school, or should I start focusing on extracurriculars instead?</p>
<p>hmom5 - What do you mean by… formulas? Formulas just for GPA or something?
poetgrl - Is that ALL cali schools, or just the general trend? I assume you include the UCs, but would that also include, say, Stanford?</p>
<p>Sugar Magnolia - Thanks for the advice on the AP things xD. I’ve actually been self studying for the APs that I were rejected from in school and am anticipating getting at least a 4 on all of them :D. Well, at least, according to practice test results.</p>
<p>RedCatharsis - Ahahaha. MIT is my dream school. Thanks for the encouragement. I never really… looked at it from that way.</p>