Chances Low Gpa Upward Trend

<p>I’m a going to be a senior at a prep school in SE PA. I have some extenuating circumstances and my grades suffered until this year. I will address that in my college essay. Do I have a chance? My school doesnt rank. I wasnt sure whether to apply or not, however with my December ACT score I feel that I have a chance.</p>

<p>Applying: Undecided</p>

<p>Freshman: 2.65
Sophomore: 2.66
Junior 3.53 (Current Cum 2.95)
Senior (So far) 3.6</p>

<p>ACT: 32</p>

<p>Recs: Excellent, Guidance counselor rec should be good citing extenuating circumstances.</p>

<p>Awards: 9th Grade Academic Achievement award in Programming, 10th grade JV hockey all star, JV hockey coaches award</p>

<p>I Went on service trip with Augustinian volunteers to South Africa</p>

<p>Leadership: Head of Programming robotics team, Senior captain of Varsity Ice Hockey team.</p>

<p>ECs: FIRST Robotics, academic competition, March for Life club, varsity ice hockey, Theatre Society, stock market club, intramural soccer and basketball, Club ice hockey, eBay powerseller, jv lacrosse, and 250+ hours of community service.</p>

<p>There really is no way around the low GPA at this point to be honest. I would not imagine that it would place you close to the top 10% of your class, which >80% of BC’s Freshmen class generally is. Your ACT is definitely in the solid middle-50% range for enrolled freshmen and your volunteer work is a plus. I do think it is still worth applying, particularly if you can address the issues that burdened your academic career. Nevertheless, BC is a reach school.</p>

<p>Dear laxdude43 : Extremely interesting case here - if you had not disclosed your freshman and sophomore GPAs, we would likely be talking about small incremental adjustments to best showcase your profile. Unfortunately, the fallout from your C/C+ averages will be broader than just GPA. For example, one could suppose that you have not been on an AP/IB course trajectory due to those earlier grades. Normally, one does not find “honors classes” with a 2.65 GPA - perhaps we have that wrong. Not for disclosure here, however clearly you need to explain the rapid improvement in your grades - again, that is a private issue best held in your essays.</p>

<p>Note that a 3.6 GPA with AP/IB course work itself is not a guarantee of admissions success. The ACT score of 32 is solid although the sectional breakdown (particularly English sections) could give us more insight.</p>

<p>The freshman and sophomore awards while interesting do not offset the academic performances. More about your leadership profile might yield some additional insights to your personality.</p>

<p>Overall, this profile does not match Boston College on the whole and will be a stretch application. That said, the effort that you put into preparing this application for Boston College will provide huge benefit to any applications that you are filing.</p>

<p>Happy Holidays and Good Luck!</p>

<p>if I were to submit an application due to my school being closed would it be okay if everything was submitted by the deadline except for the transcript?</p>