My school is a top public school in New Jersey that uses a typical weighted GPA scale. Took 3 honors classes every year that add .5 to GPA.
Freshman and sophomore year I had an identical 3.7 GPA. Mainly got Bs and A-s.
However, this year I got my act together and pulled off a 4.45 1st semester in 3 honors classes with As across the board and one A- in a regular course. Overall 3.95, and am on that pace for 2nd semester.
ACT 32, superscore 33 on two tries. 1460 SAT 660 reading/800 SAT math, and 800 SAT subject test math level 2
How will this jump in GPA affect me in the college admissions process? Will I be viewed as a 3.95 or a 4.45 who didnt have his shit together?
What kind of schools can I look at now? (reach preferred)
What was your UW average each year? Colleges don’t look at weighted GPA because it can vary so widely between high schools.
Also, it’s generally an good idea to start by looking for safeties and matches, because it’s a lot harder to find a safety that you love than a reach dream school, but ultimately a lot more important.
Our school doesn’t unweight our grades unfortunately
Well you might want to do it yourself because UW is more of a benchmark for comparison when you want to compare yourself to stats of potential colleges. This isn’t fluctuation. Fluctuation means goes up and down. This is better than that. It is more of an upward trend or just rising grades in harder classes which is very good. Jr year is certainly the most important year but they will look at everything. To see what colleges to apply to, meet with your GC. And if you have naviance use that, because no one here will know the benchmarks for how people at your high school do better than your own GC.
Look, reach schools are super easy to pick. I’m sure you don’t need help finding something hard for you to get into. Also you give nothing of your personal preferences or restrictions. Finding realistic schools that you like and can afford is a better strategy. You can always add as many reaches as you have time and money for. Start by reading about various colleges in the Fiske Guide if you aren’t familiar with them. Develop some preferences.