<p>Does anyone know anyone who has gotten into a competitive/selective school with a GPA of around 3.0? My GPA is around there and I am REALLY stressing out, I have always heard that there are exceptions so any stories of those exceptions would be appreciated!!</p>
<p>IE: Schools with 40-50% acceptance rates</p>
<p>You should really try to stop stressing out because no one rationally should be hoping for a spot in any of the very competitive schools. When you hit “submit”, you should have put it out of your mind. Now, 2 mos. away from decision-time, you’re begging for miracle stories. A 4.0 GPA applicant to HYPS has under a 5% chance of admittance.</p>
<p>Really, you should be focused on enjoying your remaining HS time, with your family and friends. This isn’t what you asked for – but I think it’ll serve you better than to continue to straw grasp.</p>
<p>@T26E4 when I meant competitive, I meant along the lines of 40-50% acceptance rate. Not HYPS standards haha. Sorry for the confusion, I should have clarified.</p>
<p>The obvious question is, can you handle a competitive school? If you have a 3.0 in high school, perhaps a top tier school would be difficult for you to keep up with. Many 4.0 students are overwhelmed by how much more difficult college courses can be than high school classes.</p>
<p>@KKmama Yes, I believe I can, and I believe everyone who personally knows me would agree. My GPA is low because my father passed away during the second semester of my freshman year of high school. Junior and senior year grades are solid and I already have taken some college courses through dual enrollment programs.
Would you say there is a chance of being accepted though?</p>
<p>Acceptance rate is not a reliable indicator of selectivity. One school may have a 50% acceptance rate from an applicant pool with a median GPA of 3.5, while another school may have a 50% acceptance rate from an applicant pool with a median GPA of 2.5.</p>
<p>You can also write a note about your father’s passing in the “additional information” section, to help explain your early low marks. If you’ve consistently been getting As and Bs in challenging (honors, AP, IB) classes since then, and if everything else is great (SATs, Recs, ECs) then you might have a shot… just make sure you have some good safety schools in your list as well.</p>
<p>If your 3.0 is in mid-level classes, though, it’s going to be a lot tougher.</p>
<p>What are some of the actual colleges you’re thinking of?</p>
<p>People get into Harvard with 2.0 GPAs. People get rejected with 4.0 GPAs. It is only one of the criteria used in a Holistic approach. </p>
<p>^ you need to check these things out. Here and other threads. Harvard tells the world, in their CDS, that for GPA 3.0 - 3.24: .72% (less than 1%.) For 2.5-2,99 or any lower, zip. That’s enrolled, but indicative.</p>
<p>OP,stacy’s comments are good- depends on how you did in what levels of classes. And there are other factors. We sometimes tell kids to calculate their gpa without freshman year, to see what the improvement itself is. Adcoms will see your full transcript, not just go by gpa. Good luck.</p>
<p>@Sarah1002 I thought you said that you had a father that was bipolar and had multiple suicide attempts. You also said that your father remarried four times. Why are you now saying that your father died? </p>
<p>@lishabello it’s all in reference to a timeline. My dad passed away during the beginning of my high school career which I used to explain my poor grades. My dads behaviors prior to high school were mainly discussed to explain “overcoming of adversity” and how it has shaped me into the person I am today. </p>