<p>I'm really nervous because of my freshman year GPA. I took one honors class and ended with a 3.07 (I know, ouch.) and sophomore year, I ended with a 3.8! Junior year I (so far) have a cumulative GPA of 4.2! That's with all honors and an AP too. Anyways, averaged together, that's only like... a 3.5 or 3.6 in total. I know there are other factors in the admission process, but should I even bother with such a low cumulative GPA? I'm so nervous -_- I also know that next year I'll be taking 5 AP's... Lit, Calc, Stats, Psych, and French. Help?</p>
<p>Oh and P.S., I haven't taken the SAT's yet :/ Next month though! How important are SAT's in general? Because I'm not really a good standardized tester.
To top it off, I also have a bangin' essay planned! :) Like seriously though. It's really good.</p>
<p>Also:
Teach music theory
Music leadership award, also a musical leadership role in my choir
Choir for 7 years
RAOK (Random Acts of Kindness Club)
Key Club
French Club
Musical
SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions)
Art Club
leadership position in a peer counseling group
100+ Hours of Volunteer Work</p>
<p>make sure your ap scores are high
keep your sat score high
(most kids on cc that offset their lower gpa’s are pretty high on sat scores, 99%+)
and have someone recheck your essay
(hopefully, you can find someone who used to work for an admissions at some school)</p>
<p>also (a mistake i personally made), if you have a talent in music or singing, take advantage of it. get an interview or an audition that can highlight that trait or skill.</p>
<p>When I applied my GPA was a 3.52 for reasons similar to yours. I took all honors and an upper level math my freshman year and was juggling that with an outrageous theatre and dance commitment and my GPA suffered.</p>
<p>I got a 2000 super score on my SAT (M- 640, R-670, W- 690)
Get an SAT book, study for it. 90% of it is test taking skill not general knowledge. Just knowing the set up and type of questions they would ask helped me. You can, and will do fine if you put the work into it.</p>
<p>I had already taken 4 AP’s when I applied (World- 4, Bio- 4, Calc AB- 4, and US- 3) and I’m currently enrolled in 5 (Stats, Litt, Pscyh, Chem, and Gov)</p>
<p>I had a long list of clubs and awards a few of which I did all 4 years of HS and had leadership positions in.</p>
<p>My essay, IMPO, was good. My mom would say it’s amazing but we are all our own worse critic. It ended up being about how my first HS show shaped my “voice and vision” (cause that was the topic, lol)</p>
<p>But, what I think got me in was my Interview/Audition. I think I really clicked with the theatre admissions and that got me in so the advice to get an interview or audition if you can is very, VERY good advice.</p>
<p>What are you planning on majoring in? Different departments will have different criteria. But generally, I’d say try to get a high test score. My GPA was pretty low (though in context, it was pretty good from a difficult school), but I had pretty good test scores which I think is what got me in.</p>
<p>I had a 3.3 unweighted and a 4.1 weighted lots of AP sat CR790, Math 720 Writing 740 SAT II Math IIC 770 Lit 770 solid ECs. AP scores from Junior year of 5 in Lit 5 in Calc AB and 3 in Euro. Taking 5 APs this year. I think the testing overcame the GPA for me. I did also get a small scholarship like 4000</p>
<p>You have a definite shot! I just got accepted as a trustee scholar this year and I had pretty similar gpa stats (freshman: 2.97, sophomore: 3.85, jr: 4.45) and 5 aps jr year. i think the improvement definitely helps alot, tho i was also probably accepted thanks to my portfolio since i applied architecture. But yea just make sure you do well on ur SATs (i got a 2300 but anything 2200+ should be really solid) and try to do sth interesting this upcoming summer and you could def get in i think. good luck :]</p>
<p>thanks so much 
i’m really nervous about the sat’s though. if you get a bad score, how much is possible for you to improve?</p>
<p>It is possible to improve hundreds of points. I went from a 1880 to a 2190. (And a 2220 superscore)
One great tip I have is to slowly go through both versions of the Official Study SAT Guide from College Board. Those two blue books should give you around 16 practice tests if I’m not mistaken.
I would first take a couple tests untimed to get a feel for the types of questions asked. Then I would take the rest of the tests timed. The key to doing well on the SAT is figuring out what questions you are repeatedly missing since the same type of questions repeat over and over again.<br>
Writing: In order to score a 10 or higher on the writing section, come up with 10 premade examples such as novels, current events, and people you can use for examples to prove your point. Then work on sprinkling SAT vocabulary words throughout the essay. Finally, make sure to fill up both pages. If you follow all of this, you should at least get a 10/12. In order to do well on the multiple choice part, just go through all of the practice tests and figure out which ones you are getting wrong time after time. The questions all repeat over and over.
Math: If you do enough practice tests, you will eventually figure out how to do most of the problems. Just like the writing section, they repeat as well. A good book that many on the SAT board recommend is Grubers, although I have never personally used it.
Critical Reading: This is the hardest section to improve. My suggestion would be to try to study as many vocabulary words as possible and to read publications such as the LA times, New Yorker, The Times, etc. By reading a lot, you’re score should improve. </p>
<p>GOOD LUCK and FIGHT ON!</p>
<p>I, personally, liked the Barron’s system for SAT (and AP for that matter) practice. It goes through the types of questions and gives tips for answering them. All the answers for all the included test are worked out so you can check yourself and find out why you got the questions wrong.</p>
<p>They have a standard SAT prep book, a “getting a 2400” prep book, and flashcards. All very useful.</p>
<p>EDIT: I just wanted to add that the 2400 book focuses on the harder questions that make the difference…</p>
<p>you have to get high SAT scores…
and I agree with 10ninja, you can definitely improve your scores if you don’t score high at first…
I took the SAT at the end of sophomore year and got 640 cr, 520 (!) math, 650 writing, total 1810
I took it again twice and got to 720 CR, 680 Math, 770 Writing. Math was obviously a HUGE improvement, and all it took was the collegeboard SAT review book (the blue one). I did all the math practice tests… it helped a ton! And I got into USC… I also had a higher GPA then you. But I took fewer AP classes.
If you can score high on your SATs and APs, and you write a good essay (maybe send in two… one that’s conventional and one really creative), then you have a chance.
Good luck!</p>