My 9th grade year just finished up and i ended with a 3.3-3.4 unweighted. My classes this year are harder than the classes I will have next year. I am retaking a few classes ( need on opinion on this), but next year i hope to bump my GPA to high 3.7 or low 3.8. I took a practice SAT and did very well. Also I am on varsity tennis, robotics club, student action senate, JV golf, volunteer at red cross, also captain of chess club. My school is top 10 in the state. I know I can get straight A’s next year, this year I was dealing with anxiety and was immature. Do I still have a chance? Thanks in advance!
it’s hard to tell since you haven’t taken the real SAT yet, but colleges always like to see improvement grades-wise. So, if you can improve your grades and get straight A’s, then you are putting yourself in a good position to apply. How can you retake classes? Did you fail them? Also, do you have an idea of what school you would apply into?
Yeah, it’s really dependent on what school you’d be applying to. Computer science with a less-than-stellar GPA and sub-perfect math scores? Don’t get your hopes up. Look into Information Systems (IS); it’s less math and CS theory and more business applications. It’s a little easier to get into, but with increased publicity, the acceptance rate is going down a bit each year. I’d say that IS at CMU is pretty equivalent or even better than CS at a university that’s less renowned for CS. If you’ve got those sub-perfect math scores and an unweighted GPA less than ~3.8 (or even higher) and you’re set on applying ED, where you can only apply to one program at CMU, apply IS not CS.
As only a rising sophomore, you don’t have to have it all figured out. Do your research and definitely visit CMU before the end of junior year. I personally like CMU and Pittsburgh, but it’s not a traditional school and it’s not for everybody. If you’re already dealing with anxiety, I wish you the best. Make sure that you get enough sleep during high school and that you only take on a course load that is reasonable for you. There are only 24 hours in a day, and an extra couple hours of sleep should take priority over a lot of other things. Focus on what you enjoy, not just what you think will look good on a college app.
Later on, if you’re still interested in CMU and want to show interest in the school, do at least a sleeping bag weekend and if you have the interest and money, go to the summer pre-college program. It’s a lot of fun and you can take some computer science classes for college credit, plus show interest in the school.