Confused about GPA and how they work...

Applying to College
1

<p>If your GPA is already really low, but you want to apply to a competitive school, but there's not a chance that you can bring your grade to a 4.0, if you show a sharp enough upward trend (say you get a 4.0 the next year for both semesters) will it be enough to show that you've changed? or is it just hopeless because you screwed up a semester or two?</p>

<p>Also, i heard that colleges rate your GPA based on the people around you as opposed to the general applicant pool so that they can evaluate you based on people in your similar situation (whether it be financially or the school's national ranking and its resources) can anyone confirm if this is true?</p>

2

<p>Define really low
4.0’s aren’t always possible at every school, at mine a 4.0 uw will be a 100 in every class which is really difficult to do.
Upward trends are good but consistently high grades are better. It’s not hopeless. Your chances could be lower or the same, it depends on how low is low, if you have a reason, and the quality of your school. They typically compare you to others from your school. Admissions officers have said that they do at a bunch of schools</p>

3

<p>Like a 3.3 to a 4.0? My concern is whether to even worry about getting a higher GPA or if I should jus start focusing on college apps.</p>

4

<p>It depends on how bad you did. And a 3.3 isn’t bad so a shot at some top schools is possible. Of course GPA isn’t the only thing considered. My school is very rigorous. A 5 point grading scale with teacher’s tough weights as well (tests equal usually 80%). I know many people who have gotten into great top u’s (ivies and other top 15) when their UW wasn’t great but their rank, compared to the rest, was.</p>

5

<p>Do you think I have a shot at Babson, Texas A&M and University of Texas, Ausin at least? I plan to apply to these EA for back up.</p>

6

<p>Yes if your other stats are good</p>

7

<p>Do you think it’s worth my money to apply to cornell if i get into these schools EA? And also, I hear that colleges usually don’t look at the overall GPA they look more at the quality of each grade (so that’s where the trend question came from).</p>

<p>Do you guys also know how they take into account any college credit classes like ones you’ve taken over summer as well as the ones from community college if you took them WITH HS classes? B/c my college classes GPA is much higher than HS. Would they take that into account?</p>