Downward trend in grades

<p>most people have an upward trend in grades...but I'm the exact opposite...my gpa has decreased a little every year so now it's going to be a 3.57 accumulative unweighted after junior year (about ~4.2 weighted)</p>

<p>although my sat scores are decent (a little higher than 2200) and my extracurriculars are kickass, would the downward trend really hurt my chances a great deal? some feedback from seniors and people who've gone through the college process would be greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>would awesome extracurriculars+good essay+pretty good sat score make up for low gpa (with downward trend)</p>

<p>thanks guys!</p>

<p>what kind of schools do u want to go to? The elite private schools? UCs? LACs? normal "state" schools? i think it really depends. for Harvard or something that might be a problem, but i think you should be fine for most public schools.</p>

<p>Actually, downward is very typical. High school gets harder, kids take APs and GPAs often go down. Nothing makes up for anything at the top 20 colleges. They can fill up many times over with kids with high stats from day one in high school. With good SATs and ECs, if you're in the top 10% of your class, you'll have a shot at some good schools, but not HYPMS. Below top 20, many schools will take you because of the 2200.</p>

<p>thanks guys....i'm looking at top 30 schools, not LAC, and also some selective public schools (UT-Austin) that would probably be impossible for OSS</p>