<p>@browneyedgirl,</p>
<p>First - congrats on your perseverance. I wasn’t trying to be dismissive. I was trying to point out that schools will request and review the earlier grades. If your school isn’t rigorous or you felt you weren’t challenged, the question will be “then why aren’t the grades better?” </p>
<p>The EC’s and interests are strong, but not enough to overcome the academic issues. Think of it this way - the rigor at a BS is much, much harder and they’re screening for students who can meet those requirements and hit the ground running now. Not because you’re not a good kid, but because they’re looking a pile of thousands of applications from students also looking for a challenge and needing to weed the list down to anywhere from 25-100 students depending on what grade you’re applying for.</p>
<p>Add to that you’ll need a lot of FA. That last requirement represents a significant hurdle. There are many schools which have a higher rate of acceptance than the ones often discussed here, but their endowments are lower so the FA becomes less certain. Several students on this board reported last year that they were accepted at some schools but without FA. Or rejected specifically because they needed it.</p>
<p>So I’ll tell you what Adcoms quietly tell everyone else with that question - to overcome the prior grade deficit and to make yourself compelling for FA - get your SSAT scores into the high 80’s or 90’s and earn straight A’s across the board on all current and future classes. </p>
<p>Then cast a wide net. The link in a previous post will lead you to a wide range of schools so you have options.</p>