I’ve been quite worried about this, and by worried, I mean nights thinking about this and its been gnawing on my brain for a while. I am finishing my freshmen year with EXTREMELY bad grades, with around a 2.9 GPA. I was wondering if this will be a big factor in college admissions. Also, which colleges calculate GPA using grades from sophomore year onwards. Please do not sugarcoat anything.
How many hours do you actually study everyday?
Do you enjoy any of your subjects?
Why do you think you want to go to college?
Do you have an adult mentor you can talk to?
Do you have friends who share your interests?
All these questions are from an amateur who never worked at school until I was 15 and read my first real book. I ended up in a PhD program at a highly regarded university. I became interested in what was going on and started to spend time in sports and studies. I’m not sure it was not the athletics/ study combination, but that was me.
How about you?
Are you a freshman? If so, if you can work your head off and show colleges an upwards trend, possibly landing you at a GPA of 3.5+.
Now, GPA isn’t everything. Test scores, extracurriculars, essays, and the like will be included. Yes, you are not a great footing, but at least you are at a point where you can rebound and shoot up. I don’t sugar coat anything to anyone.
The most important question, however, is how you’re going to change. Why do you think you got those bad grades? Did you ask for help? Who much effort did you put in?
Do you play games? If you do, I suggest you cut it. I was addicted to games once in Junior High and into Freshman year. I had a bad footing (though not as bad as you), but I rebound up to a 3.75 or so, but of course, I have my weighted GPA.
Quit gaming (if you do), and you will see phenomenal change - I swear by it. Pick up a hobby. Mine was Remote Control stuff (Drone cinematography), aquariums/fishkeeping, and movie watching.
You need to reflect on why you had the result you did. Whether you do this alone, with a teacher, or with your parents, you need to reflect and change.
The biggest issue is not the impact that this will have on college admissions. Colleges and universities know that kids are, well, kids. Different people grow up at different rates. Your freshman year of high school will be much less important than your sophomore and junior years of high school in terms of being accepted to a very good university. If you do well for the next two years, then college admissions folks will see that you turned yourself around and became a good student starting with your sophomore year.
However, what matters is that you understand why you got a 2.9 GPA, and that you have a practical and realistic plan to do better next year. You need to learn to take every class seriously, and to keep ahead in your homework. You also need to know what to do when a class is particularly difficult. Usually this means seeking out extra help, for example by talking to your teacher about how to get extra help.
It is also possible that you might be behind in some areas. For example, what you study next year in math is likely to depend upon and expand upon what you studied this year. Similarly, assuming that you are studying a language, they will assume that you know what you were supposed to learn this year when they start teaching next year’s classes.
If you can do well from now on, then you will have good chances of being admitted to many very good universities.
First of all you basically have a “B” avg. That’s not horrible. Like @retiredfarmer my GPA was lower and I am a double board certified doctor. Some just find their stride a bit later.
If you feel you could do better then you need to approach your counselor and your teachers and ask them the question… “what could I of done to do better”.
Next year make it your mission to discuss this with each teacher. Go get help early. Even if you don’t need help go meet with them. Teachers like to teach to students that want to be taught to… Crazy heh?
Do something constructive this summer also. Colleges look at what you do with your free time. If you don’t have plans then try to get a job. Work for your city, cut grass, anything besides doing nothing.
Do not think 'Every point I get off of a homework or test is a point away from going to Harvard."
Think: “I need to do my best, and there will be a college that is right for me when I graduate.”
Do not think “If I don’t go to an Ivy League School/Top20, I am doomed forever.”
Think: “No matter where I go, I can bloom where I am planted. I can get involved and shine.”
Do not think: “My life is over…the kid in my math class is taking 20 APs and I am taking 5. I will never succeed.”
Think: “I need to challenge myself, but only to the point where I can still do well.”
Read this for tips on doing things differently next year:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/2026961-what-to-do-when-you-arent-doing-well-in-a-hs-class-p1.html
Also I go to College Fairs …one of the colleges I usually sit next to is a college for “B” students…I see students stop by there and their faces just light up when they find out there is a college just for them.
There are about 2,000 colleges out there that happily accept B-students. An upward trend is the next best thing to being consistently strong all four years, so make a plan using the suggestions previous posters have mentioned, and work hard. Definitely check out the link in Post #5.
Relax. You get a really skewed picture of college admissions here because most of the posters are students or parents of students trying to get into highly ranked colleges. Any student with a B average and a 1000 SAT score can find a school that will accept them, but not too many of them are hanging around here because there isn’t much involved in applying to your local directional state U.
A 2.9 GPA isn’t “extremely bad”, it’s perfectly fine. Continue working hard and there are a lot of colleges that will be happy to have you.