Do Colleges look at whole GPA or purely academic?

Applying to College
1

<p>i was just wondering because when i was younger my GPA wasn't so good but as i got older and started caring more my grades went up across the board. I'll explain; disclaimer this will be a somewhat long post but i REALLY need help and advice and will really appreciate anyone who takes time to give me some advice!</p>

<p>8th grade - took algebra 1 H and Earth Sci H, and advanced french in the middle school and are on my transcript
got 88, 85, 88 - according to college board conversion chart that averages out to a 3.2 </p>

<p>9th grade - took all honors, one regular(did very poorly, the teacher REALLY did not like me, killed me by failing me on participation even though i did well on tests), and a few electives
81 (french R), 86 (geometry H), 94 (Global Hist. H), 88 (english H), 90 (Bio H), 100 (gym), 99 (chorus), 98 (sports/entertainment marketing)
Averages out to 3.3 main courses, 3.6 all courses for the year</p>

<p>10th grade- one AP, one regular, rest all honors
90 (Algebra 2/Trig H), 84 (Chemistry H), 90 (English H), 90 (french R), 91 (Euro AP), 89 (Accounting), 94 (health), 99 (law&society), 96 (intro psych), 100 (gym)
averages out to 3.6 main courses, 3.7 all courses for the year</p>

<p>11th grade- 4 Aps, 2 Honors, 1 Regular (i REALLY picked it up here after pickign it up a little in 10th grade)
96(AP Psych), 91 (AP US History), 89 (AP Bio), 88 (AP Stat), 94 (English H), 93 (French H), 98 (pre-calculus R; had issues with honors teacher had to switch out), took no electives
Average for all courses on the year was a 3.8 </p>

<p>Cumulative GPA unweighted: ~3.6-3.7 (closer to 3.7, lets say 3.65ish)
Cumulative GPA unweighted Academic only: 3.5</p>

<p>Now as the years went by i began to care about school more and put more effort in. I began challenging myself and my grades went up. Prior to 11th grade(i guess you could say "my breakout year") i did not put much effort into school but i really tried after this. I also kicked the SAT's ass and got a 2200 :) scored a 700 on bio SAT and 710 on US. I'm taking Math 2
hoping for similar results. Will colleges take weight into the fact that i did especially poorly in 8th and 9th grade? or will my academic performance this year and i guess 10th grade outshine my academic faults? I ask this because i'm really worried it's too little too late. I did my best on standardized tests and i did my best that i could in school this year. I'm working hard on my essays and i know my teacher recs will be good. My Weighted GPA will obviously be very strong because of the rigor of my courses (taking all APs and 2 honors Senior year as well). So can i get some opinions on how schools will look at this? My EC's are pretty good as well and i have a leadership position in a community service club. I'll put my list of schools down below! If you've read this far down, Thank you SO much !! Advice appreciated :)
Also i am a NY-state resident, Persian decent, middle class, and intend to go into business; sketchy financial situation so applying to a bunch of places to see where i get the best deal i'm working on cutting the list down as much as i can</p>

<p>List:
Macaulay Honors - Baruch
Cornell-AEM (possible ED)
Georgetown (EA)
UNC- Chapel Hill (possible EA, depends if i get my math score back in time/first choice)
NYU(stern)
Boston College (EA)
Villanova (EA)
Fordham (EA)
UCONN (EA)
SUNY Binghamton (EA)
SUNY Stony Brook
Ohio State University
Syracuse
Pittsburgh
Drexel
St. Johns
Hofstra(most likely to come off next...really don't want to apply here my moms kinda forcing me into it)</p>

<p>Thanks so much if you read all of this and i really appreciated all your advice...i just really need to know how the schools will look at my transcript. Thank you in advance :)</p>

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<p>EDIT: These are estimates on GPA my school goes out of 100 so my total GPA out of 100 is about 91.75 and academic classes only is about 89.7 because of the rigor my courses weighted is around 96-97</p>

3

<p>bump</p>

<p>really need some advice</p>

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<p>Colleges don’t really care about your GPA. They are going to look at the classes you took, how well you did, and whether you’re a good student Right Now.</p>

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<p>@Philovitist, well they obviously care about GPA or anyone would get into HYP :P</p>

<p>Well what i’m asking is will my grades from the beginning of high school be a detriment to my acceptances and chances at merit scholarships?</p>

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<p>bump…</p>

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<p>I think the point was that they don’t care as much about a single number as they do about your entire transcript, with your course schedule and grades considered in context. But they tend to sort of go together.</p>

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<p>@halcyonheather do you think the schools im applying to (moreso the upper tier schools will look down upon my poor 8th and 9th grade performance? :(</p>

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<p>Most colleges won’t even look that far back to 8th grade. I mean, some colleges don’t consider freshman year grades, so I’d imagine middle school (8th) grades would not matter much.</p>

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<p>i really hope so…without 8th and 9th grade my GPA is much better</p>

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<p>bump…anyone?</p>

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<p>Google the Common Data Set for each of your schools to see how much GPA is considered in admissions, section C7. The vast majority of schools do care about 9th grade. UCs and Princeton do not (except in how that affects class rank). A rising GPA is good, a consistently good GPA is better.</p>

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<p>No need to bump once an hour, really. It’s bad etiquette. You bumped with absolutely no extra information 3 times in 4 hours. That being said, your SAT is good for most of those schools, and a rising trend is better than it going down. You might want to narrow your list to ones that will fit you well, as 17 is pretty excessive, and will be hard to research that many colleges.</p>