<p>To put it bluntly, I was a dumba$$ my freshman year. That's extremelely degrading since I'm from India, and people had high expectations for me. Over the years, I believe I've shown a significant increase in my potential. I've decided to major in biochemistry, and was wondering if I stand a chance at some decent private engineering schools. Here's my resume:</p>
<p>These are broken down into the yearly averages for my GPA, the advanced classes I took, and the EC's I participated in. I was in Cincinnati the first two years, and St. Louis the last two.</p>
<p>Mason High School, Cincinnati-Trimesters
*Freshman Year: 2.46 GPA
-No advanced classes
-No EC's
*Sophomore Year: 3.54 GPA
-No advanced classes
-No EC's
Lafayette High School, St. Louis-Semesters
*Junior Year: 3.66 GPA
-Honors Alg II
-JV Tennis
*Senior Year: 4.83 GPA
-Precalculus, AP Chemistry, AP Biology, AP Literature, Spanish IV
-Recieved 5's on all AP's, A+ in every class
-Varsity Tennis Captain
*Cumulative GPA: 3.55
*Class Rank: 124/540
*Decent recommendations
*Decent essays
*Sat I: 2200
*ACT: 30</p>
<p>I was looking at colleges such as Purdue.. that's #1 on my list. Do I stand a chance? Please help, I've posted before but recieved no replies :(</p>
<p>well, at least your gpa went up, and not down. A 30 on the ACT and a 220 on the new SAT would get you into Purdue no problem. You've definitely scored higher than the average person at Purdue. I wouldn't worry about your freshman year.</p>
<p>Not Ivy material. People that get into Ivies, IMO, should always show perfection, not an upward trend. I don't think it's fair for those that just constantly work extremely hard.</p>
<p>Actually, a lot of schools don't put much emphasis on freshman year grades, and some (Harvard, for example) don't even look at freshman grades! So considering your upward trade, I think you're doing fine. Of course, other factors should be taken into consideration, such as where you live and how good your school system is, but I wouldn't worry. In fact, I might even suggest looking at a few schools better than Purdue (though I don't know too much about that college, anyway- actually, I think I've always looked down on it because it reminds me of chicken).</p>
<p>
[quote]
Actually, a lot of schools don't put much emphasis on freshman year grades, and some (Harvard, for example) don't even look at freshman grades!
[/quote]
Funny thing is with this whole freshman year grades is that people can just get away with like slacking off. The truth of the matter is that you can't just slack off. Don't kid yourself into thinking that freshman year is deleted: It isn't! Harvard, and all the other Ivies look at it, trust me. Sure Princeton and Stanford boast saying that they don't look at freshman grades. They do...it's on your transcript, and it's hard to miss grades that aren't up to par with your current grades. Moral of the story? You can figure it out yourself.</p>
<p>I know people w/ low freshman grades that got into Stanford. I believe what schools like Stanford says when they say that they basically ignore them. It is completely reasonable for a college to believe that freshman grades do little to determine the competitiveness of an applicant.</p>
<p>That being said, the OP's non-freshman grades are not Ivy material either. </p>
<p>Indian, you have a very good chance at a school like Purdue. In many cases an SAT score like yours may very well carry you all the way into the accepted pile (at a school like Purdue).</p>
<p>glucose101, lets say a guy who had a 3.5 in freshman year and made it eventually up to a 4.4.
and there is another guy who had 4.4 all throughout high school. So are you telling me that they would accept the guy who made 4.4's all throughout high school. NO! dats ridiculous. any one would accept the guy who improved drastically over the guy who maintained the 4.4.</p>
<p>How do you know what scores you recieved on all the AP classes you took senior year? Are you in your 5th year of high school, or did you take a year off?</p>
<p>rExRuN...so you would punish the kid who consistently worked hard? Explain the logic. One kid effed up but fixed himself, the other never effed up in the first place...</p>
<p>It would make me sad if consistency was punished in favor of sudden maturity...what could the consistent student have done better? Indian, your SATs alone are good enough to get you into U Missouri if you're looking at that...From what counselors have told me, with luck and a solid set of intangibles, Purdue, or perhaps slightly better, are possible. Forget the Ivies, though, your first ideas were more realistic.</p>