Will a 3.1 freshman year, a 3.5 sophomore year, and a 3.8 junior year be good enough for some of the higher ranked schools out there with a 1400 SAT? If not, where should I be looking in relation to acceptance rates? I have good extracurriculars, recommendations, a pretty solid essay and will have an IB diploma by the end of senior year, I’m just kinda worried if colleges look at my cumulative GPA, they won’t see the whole picture.
What’s a “higher ranked” school? Have you looked at their admit stats, gpa, scores, etc, and you fall close to the 75th percentile? Tippy tops will get max performance from applicants.
Get a Fiske Guide to Colleges. You have to do the starter research on your own. And ECs and personal traits matter very much-- try to learn what “holistic” really means. You don’t know if you even have “good” ECs until you learn more about what the different colleges expect. And the sorts of things top performers are doing, in and out of the hs. You will learn they look at the transcript, whether or not a 1400 is in range, at all. And more.
Lots of good colleges out there. You want choices where you can thrive, where your record (and thinking) shows the you can.
What state are you from? What is your budget? Is your listed GPA unweighted or weighted?
Most importantly, what do you mean by a “higher ranked” school?
Your uptrend will help you get into some good schools. However, you will need to make sure to apply to at least two safeties that you know you can afford and that you would be willing to attend.
I’m from Connecticut, big school-600 kids in my grad. class. I havev’t really thought about budget yet, but I know I’ll need some sort of aid to pay for it. The GPAs are unweighted, and by higher ranked, I meant those schools with acceptance rates under 25%ish (sorry I could have made that a bit clearer)
Having a few “higher ranked” Reach schools on your college list is perfectly fine, but you really need to concentrate on finding several Match schools (Stats around 50th percentile) and Safety schools (Stats around the 75th percentile) before targeting the Reach schools.
As a parent, you may be limited by your college budget on which schools to apply so sit down with your parents and ask them how much they are willing to pay/year towards your college education. Once you have a $$$ amount, then you can start looking for schools that will offer you need-based and/or merit aid to make them affordable.
Do not try to make your stats fit a particular school, you need to find a school that fits your particular stats.
When you speak of under-25% admit rates, that’s pretty much the top 30 or so. Each of those will have expectations that include a top level of stats, but also go well beyond those. For many of those colleges, the applicant pool is stuffed with 4.0 kids (or close.) Those are kids aiming for the top 10-20 but using the other top schools as their backups. They’re your competition.
There isn’t truly much difference between the top 20-30 colleges and 30-50. In many, many cases, even beyond that range, many fine colleges that may be right for you, where you can be a star.
Lots of kids pick schools they want. Too often, that’s based on prestige. Don’t go into this not knowing what your targets are truly about, their strengths, envronments, offerings, and how you fit. Look for whay they want in students, what they look for.
And do not assume you can get enough fin aid. Don’t think you can afford any college that doesn’t offer you the aid you need.
Some – many? – schools throw out your 9th grade grades and recalculate your GPA. Emory does this.