<p>What if you really blew first semester sophmore year in all honors + APs (as in getting some C's in important academic subjects). Say from that point you really go up (doing well the next semester and thereafter), and take the hardest courses that your school offers. The final GPA can never, no matter what you do from this point (you received below a 3.0 uw), be excellent. You can never be a true "upward trend" from freshman year, because you went down for your third high school semester. Is it true then that unless you have a really big hook (like you are the #1 athlete in the galaxy), you have ruined your competitiveness in the top college admissions marketplace?</p>
<p>You hurt yourself sure, but colleges will respect the resilliency you demonstrated in overcoming your academic troubles. The big question now is what do you mean by "top" college. I doubt you'll get into Harvard or the like, but a tough semester will not prevent you from attending a fine college.</p>
<p>say goodbye to HYPSMC, and really do say goodbye.</p>
<p>now say hello to lower tier collegs.</p>
<p>What about two Cs in the final semester of junior year? I've had straight As throughout with a few Bs here and there [only in math/science classes] and it's not junioritis. I had some family problems, but I doubt that matters. Current GPA is more like 3.867.</p>
<p>Backfire...How low a tier? Do you mean lower tier, or "LOW TIER".</p>
<p>Could Murkeywater explain his/her family circumstances? Or is it better not to say anything? Does it help or hurt to be forthright about such things? What issues are OK to report to adcoms, and which should just be left unsaid? Maybe they don't really have the need to take most circumstances into account unless it's like a life-threatening health problem that the student has or something. Maybe lots of families go through divorce or death and the adcoms don't want to go down the road of trying to decide who's issue warrants a break and who's does not? Or, is it good to give an explanation and let the chips fall where they may?</p>
<p>Certainly a C hurt your chances. B at tough course at a prep school may get by the admission office if you endup scoring 4/5 on the AP.</p>
<p>But a C in an AP with even 5 on the AP reflect badly of you what everway you try to look at it.</p>
<p>Bottom line You need to maintain grades > B in almost all of the classes to have any shot at the top schools.</p>
<p>Well, that response was completely expected. Anyways, thanks for the heads-up.</p>
<p>you still have a shot at getting into HYP with one C and maybe only 1 or 2 B's, but its gone wayyy down.</p>
<p>You should start looking at schools like University of Pennsylvania, Duke, etc. to aim high for. You could still get in if you pulled straight A's next year.</p>
<p>i heard people with C's getting into the top colleges, but its a huge disadvantage to have one. You should have other stuff oging for you.</p>
<p>Other schools like Duke, and other non top 6 or so schools are willing to take such students because 1 C is not as bad as all that.</p>
<p>from what I have been able to decipher, you need an unweighted GPA of 3.8 or above in academic subjects to be competitive for top colleges, Ivy included. This is if you are not a legacy, URM, recruited athlete or otherwise hooked. This is also with your schools most rigorous curriculum.</p>
<p>so -- a B here or there won't kill you (won't help you, either). Spideygirl -- you can figure out what your GPA would be if you got A's the rest of the classes. Keep in mind that top college look at unweighted grades and depending on when you apply, they may only be looking at your GPA through the end of junior year -- at best, through the first semster of senior year.</p>
<p>Most high schools will let you retake the classes you get poor grades in. Even though the C will still be on your transcript, the better grade factors into GPA calculation and class rank. If you can retake the class and make an A, I think it looks better than just making a C and moving on.</p>
<p>See if you take 6 courses for 4 years (24 academic courses) at your high school then in order to get a 3.8 unweighted (remove +/-) you can afford at most 4 B's.</p>
<p>If these are in earlier grades the better as B in Junior/Senior Ist sem hurt more than Sophomore and Freshman year.</p>
<p>ParentOfIvyHope, can you explain to me that last sentence? Does that mean it's better to get a few B's as a J/S than a F/So?</p>
<p>No I said it is better to get B's as F/So than Junior/Senior.</p>
<p>Is a C like a 70 on the 100 scale? Sorry if my question sounds dumb, it's just that my school is on the 100 scale so I'm never really sure what a grades are on the 100 scale vs. 4 point scale vs. a letter scale. Assuming a C is a 70, I've seen it go both ways. And by both ways I mean some people I know have gotten into top tier schools with 70s junior or senior year and some have not. I have a friend who got turned down by Cornell whom we all suspect was turned down because he got two 70s senior year, both in AP classes (when Cornell last visited our school, they made it blatantly clear they hated 70s in any classes be it AP or Phys. Ed.). He did end up getting into MIT though, so I'd say it probably depends on what the school is looking for and what the rest of your application looks like.</p>
<p>Are you from a competitive public or private high school?</p>
<p>Here is what a standard Grade to Score conversion</p>
<p>A - > 90
B - > 80
C - > 70
D - > 60
E - > 50
F - otherwise.</p>
<p>The schools with +/- choose different ranges but if someone have to convert score to grades will do using the above to standardize.</p>
<p>no E in American school systems -- usually anything 59 and lower is an F.</p>
<p>Yes, grade inflation has taken toll of E.
There used to be a time when A was given only to only top 3% of the class and a B student was generally regarded as a strong student. At that time E had some value as it was considered as PASS in case of only Credit/NoCredit was to be given.
But now A is the norm. At our neighborhood public high schools there were so many students with all A's (perfect 4.0) that they stopped declaring Valedictorians ( as number > 50).</p>