Grades vs. GPA

Over the past year, which was my sophomore year, I did not do as well grade-wise as I would’ve hoped. I know my grades aren’t extremely low, but I am hoping to get into schools such as USC, NYU, and Northwestern. So, 1st semester I got 3 A-'s in French, APCS, and Pre-calc, and 2nd semester I got A-'s in French and APCS, and a B+ in Pre-calc (which should’ve been an A- and probably was like a 89.4 or 89.5 but my teacher hates me so she probably rounded it down purposefully). My GPA was a 4.36 first semester and 4.31 second, and I took lots of challenging classes including 3 AP classes (I got A’s in all my other classes). Other than this, I have all A’s except 1 A- first semester in AP World freshman year (but I think that’s understandable since it was my first AP) and I’m hoping to get all A’s next year in full IB classes. I’ll most likely end up having a high 4.4 or 4.5 GPA overall (a lot of regular weight classes like PE and Health pulled it down), but how would that affect my chances at getting into the schools I listed? Would a B+ and a few A-'s hurt my chances?

4.5/5.0 should keep you competitive for USC and NYU.

Eh . . . no. I really don’t think that it would affect anything in the big picture. The negative impact of a B+ and several A- would be so marginal that you might as well have a perfect score. Not saying that such a GPA will necessarily get you in, but I don’t think you will have to worry about that aspect of your profile when applying to your schools.

By the way, I would recommend looking at your unweighted GPA over your weighted one; weighing can show relative course rigor, but unweighted is the one many people consider as being primarily looked at when comparing applicants. If you have a 3.9 unweighted, I feel like all is ok.

You’re still competitive and they don’t just look at your GPA. I know someone who had a 4.0 and still got admitted to USC. They also look at your extracurricular activities and your personal statements. SAT scores plays a strong factor as well. At your current situation I think you’ll be fine and as long as you keep your grades up you’re still have a high chance of getting in.