<p>Well I do feel very out of place in this website.</p>
<p>I think I'm pretty smart but my GPA is well, quite below spectacular.</p>
<p>I've taken all honors/APs since Freshman year. Freshman year was awesome, unweighted GPA of like... 3.8 I'd like to say?</p>
<p>Not only have I had a downward trend but it's steeper than the Sears Tower. Sophomore year was bad- I'd like to say a 2.9 maybe 3.0 unweighted gpa. Junior year, even worse. Around a 2.7. A mixture of B+'s, B's, B-'s and one C. </p>
<p>ACT: 29, hope to raise it to at least a 31.</p>
<p>Class Rank (weighted GPA): 30/300- top 10%
So yeah, I feel like I'm pretty smart just I don't know maybe it's the teacher, maybe the classes are too tough, I'm just not giving up on these classes and I never seek help. I do my homework but in some classes it never helps, the tests just kill me. ANyways I can't make up excuses.</p>
<p>I'm an incoming senior and I need to know colleges that will accept this GPA along with other accomplishments!! (ISEF, NHS, Founding business club, BBYO leadership, etc.)</p>
<p>First of all, you don’t pose this kind of question in the cafe. It will be more appropriate in the College search section and the mod may move it there anyway.</p>
<p>There are tons of college will accept you, just not the top 50, but you can find home in the top 100 easier, if you do not require a scholarship. It would be more difficult if you ask for more than needed base aid.</p>
<p>You need to give more than grades here in order to have us help you. We’d want to know what kind college you like, big, small, east, west, state, private etc. and your intended majors and financial conditions.</p>
<p>Ok well there are many threads in this Cafe about college searches. Colleges for the Jewish students, colleges for the 3.0 students, so I think I am fine in that regard.</p>
<p>I don’t have many preferences and I don’t know what I will want to study. I just know I will need a lot of financial aid, as both my parents don’t make too much.</p>
<p>^ No those threads you refer to are in the Parents Forum, but the Parent Cafe is a sub-forum of Parent Forum that is for non-college related stuff. You know, in here are topics like “how have your body parts changed since you turned 50?” and “Why is my brother in law such a jerk?”</p>
<p>It sounds like your HS grades on a tougher curve than others. It is great if you are the top 10%. What is your weighted GPA? How many APs, and which ones? How about your ECs? If you provide details, such as those you find on the ‘chances’ threads, along with some details about what state you live in, what kind of school you are looking for (e.g. big uni, smaller LAC), and specifics about your financial situation, parents can help. But otherwise, your question is perhaps much too general for others to be able to really help you.</p>
<p>If liberal arts colleges appeal to you, Willamette in Salem, OR weights test scores more than a lot of schools. They are very upfront about preferential packaging of their financial aid: If they want you, they throw a lot of $$$ at you. We know a number of kids who got offered a lot but ultimately chose to attend other schools.</p>
<p>When College Board and College Data dot com list admissions information on schools, they describe the weight the particular school give to GPA, class rank, test scores, ECs, essay, character, and all manner of other aspects. Those sites also give some info about financial and merit aid. Because the data only describes averages, YMMV. Since your ACT is relatively quite a bit higher than your grades AND you need significant aid (which can be a bit unpredictable esp. with private schools), you will probably need to cast your net fairly wide and apply to a lot of schools.</p>
<p>Im not sure about weighted GPA, but freshman year I had mostly B+'s, A-'s, and A’s in all honors classes and sophomore year and junior year were a mix of B+'s, B’s, B-'s and just a few C+'s and C’s. But still in all honors, which is probably why my class rank is still so high (Freshman year- my best year- I was 14, now I am 30)</p>
<p>AP’s, overall will be 8 I believe:</p>
<p>AP Euro sophomore year- 4
AP U.S. History junior year- 5
AP Physics B junior year- 3
AP Chemistry junior year- 1 (ouch, I know. Hated this class)</p>
<p>Next year- AP Gov, AP Stats, AP Econ, AP English Lit- all stuff I’m good at so I’m setting myself a goal of 4 for all these.</p>
<p>EC’s: Well I founded Business Club which is a big plus since it is one of the biggest clubs and I’m still co Vice-President with one other student. I’m a leader in a youth group called BBYO for Jewish teens and I’ve been vice president of that (ran for president and lost) for a good year and a half. I went to ISEF (prestigious international science fair) freshman year and have also done research in a laboratory at a nearby university that summer (before sophomore year). Umm swim team, National Honor Society… Work experience- I worked for a company using my Hebrew skills (I speak Hebrew) and very quickly moved up the ranks (it’s a project related to the Holocaust and Israel so a lot of Hebrew was needed) but now I’m only doing part time because school is starting again.</p>
<p>That’s about it, not too impressive but not too shabby either.</p>
<p>My bad grades are not laziness I think, my friends and parents will testify to me staying up later than a teenager should and constantly being stressed due to homework. I do my homework, just when it comes to tests, I really think it brings it down. This year I had a handful of F’s in math and many, many C’s on tests even though I would study a lot and I guess what I regret now that I’ll do senior year is that I never swallowed my pride and went for help. I just thought it would get better and better when it never did. Too late for that now I guess.</p>
<p>^Have you ever been tested for ADD or LDs? Or have you taken any study skills courses? It may be that it is less a question of studying more as studying smarter. </p>
<p>My younger son for example has trouble memorizing formulas so he often ran out of time on math tests even though he understood the material. Luckily he’s actually quite good at math and could usually get the correct answers from first principals. His junior year math teacher appreciated him and knew he worked hard which counted for a lot. He does much better in courses that require lots of writing. Given your issues in math you might want to consider colleges that won’t make you take more of it unless you can figure out what the problem is.</p>
<p>I’m pretty good at math. I was a very science oriented person until like two years ago. I got an A in Algebra Honors freshman year and it was considered the “hardest class for freshmen” at my school.</p>
<p>THen came Geometry honors which killed me, so I just brushed it off and said “Im not a geometry person.”</p>
<p>Then this year came Precalc Honors and well the teacher was horrible and took off unimaginable amounts of points if you didn’t do things his way, but I guess that’s no excuse for a C+/B-.</p>
<p>Acceptance is not a problem. Question is whether these large state schools will give large aid to OOS students? num, you need to let us know your family financial conditions before a meaningful suggestion of schools. What is your EFO?</p>
<p>^ Instead of bumping, try reading the suggestions of additional information to post to get better answers. I stopped responding since you didn’t seem to want to do the work but expect it from others.</p>
<p>Part of succeeding in college is learning to navigate instructors that may or may not present information in a way that you like or readily understand. If it isn’t making sense, and the prep you are doing on your own isn’t working, you had better get yourself to a study group, your TA, office hours, etc. to work it out. The fact that you knew you weren’t getting the information and let ‘pride’ get in the way of going for extra help isn’t encouraging. Yes, you came out with a C+/B- which overall isn’t going to kill your GPA. The point is you are now headed into calculus without a solid basis of knowledge from pre-calc (you will have to take this in college). You are fighting an uphill battle just walking into the class, with or without a great instructor.</p>
<p>This may not be what you want to hear but you may want to consider a community college for two years and transferring. It’s always something to consider as an option.</p>
<p>I think many people have missed the fact you are in the top 10% of your class despite your sub 3.0 GPA, even though the downward trend will work against you. That will help a great deal in getting you admitted to schools.</p>
<p>Your downward trend is the big problem, seems to me. There LOTS of colleges you can get in to-- does your school have Naviance? If so you can investigate there and see where others like you have gone.</p>
<p>Being smart has very small effect on GPA. Genius who does not do anything in calss will fail. On the other hand, there is no reason not to have an A if you do all the work. Just do all the work, turn everything on time and you will have an “A” in every single class. I told that to my D. when she was 5 years old. It has worked, including college. So, get in where you can and just work hard.</p>
<p>^ The OP didn’t seek out additional help, that’s the problem. Not a matter of going to class and doing the work. They did that and got C’s. You have to have the ability to know when something isn’t working and be willing to try something else, like going to the teacher for extra help. The OP says they let pride keep them from doing this. In college/life/business there is a theory called fail quickly. If something isn’t working (ie failing) do if quickly and move on to a solution. The OP failed a slow miserable death last year. If he’d failed quickly, found a solution, he would have been much better off. Again, not a matter of just doing the work and turning it in on time.</p>