<p>While I was looking through the actual result threads and chance threads for competitive schools like Harvard, Yale, UC Berkley, Duke, ect. (Ivies and their equals). I noticed a lump of applicants with 4.0 GPAs. Apparently a large portions of students admitted have GPAs very very close to this magic number if Common App Data is to be believed.
Currently...
I have a 2400 SAT (Studied my butt off for this! Personal Advice: DON'T waste money on SAT courses they barely help!)
800 on the Chemistry SAT II, 800 on the Biology SAT II, and a 800 on the Math 2 SAT II
A 235 on the PSAT (Semi-Finalist so far)
APs: 5s on the AP Chemistry, Biology, Physics B, English 10, American History, and European History, and the Calculus AB test.
I have also participated and scored nationally in Olympiads like the USNCO, USABO (Didn't go International though...)
But a GPA that will end up somewhere around 3.6-3.8 depending upon my first trimester next year. </p>
<p>As you can see, I have always been able to test well, but it's my freshmen GPA that is screwing me over. I ended my freshmen year with a 3.1 GPA. I started off well, but in the Winter my grandfather died from cancer and my grand-uncle was diagnosed with Parkinson's. Being away from home and my parents for the first time (I go to a selective boarding school in Massachusetts) and never experiencing the loss of a close family member before, this really devastated me, and you could see it in my grades. Before 10th grade started I got my game back together and continued to do well in school. For my sophomore and junior year I have gotten a 4.0 in both years alongside being a first inductee Cum Laude award winner (Meaning I was the top 10 percent of my class, although technically my school doesn't rank) Will colleges consider the huge upward trend, will they still remain confident with my academic ability? I am very well aware that grades are only a part of the crap-shoot that are Ivy league admissions. </p>
<p>PS I am not trying to waste anyone's time by trolling or garner anyone's sympathy. If you feel otherwise, then I am sincerely sorry for offending you! </p>
<p>Well, at least the upward trend is good (and if you are applying to UCs, they recalculate GPAs using 10th-11th grade course grades). But super-selective schools like Harvard and the like probably have many applicants who have consistently earned 4.0 or very close to it every year.</p>
<p>Be sure that you have safety plans. Remember that affordability matters.</p>
<p>I would suggest consulting your guidance counselor and your school history on sending applicants to the Ivy League. Many private schools are harsher on grading than publics, so the more important thing would be how you compare to your class.</p>
<p>I doubt that academics would be the factor keeping you out of the Ivy League.</p>
<p>That said, students with 2400 SAT’s are rejected every year from the schools on your list. That’s because selective colleges look for students of good “character” – and character is revealed through your teacher recommendations and essays, and not test scores and grades. One of my favorite college application quotes is from a book entitled What You Don’t Know Can Keep You Out Of College by Don Dunbar.</p>
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<p>Talk with your GC and have them become your advocate!</p>
<p>I’ll make a guess and say you go to the likes of Phillip exceter, which means that low gpa’s can be forgiven, especially since only your freshman year is bad (look at schools like Stanford (which doesn’t count freshman grades) and maybe Princeton and Columbia (which count them less I believe)), and your accomplishments with chemistry and biology Olympiad are great too. Good luck </p>
<p>Agree with the previous poster that your Olympiad accomplishments can offset a bad freshman year. Scoring well on those tests is even more impressive than a 2400 SAT.</p>
<p>Good News: Admission processes are holistic. Chances are your academics are good enough to make you a competitive applicant, and your ECs/Essays can get you in. </p>
<p>Bad News: GPA is proven to be the #1 indicator of success in college, and along with course rigor, it is the most important factor of your application. Work very hard in this first trimester and continue your trend to seal the 3.8. Adcoms are quite understanding of special circumstances such as yours, especially when they impact only freshmen year. Make sure that they can fully understand the adversities you faced through your application. After that, hope for the best!</p>
<p>Are you a finalist or semifinalist for the Olympiads? Being a semifinalist is easy and probably not very impressive to the Ivy League. Do you have any other activities besides the Olympiads? If you are only a semifinalist and have unimpressive extra-curriculars, you should only apply to colleges that do not look at your freshman year. You can also try to find colleges that value the SAT a lot by looking at Parchment.com’s scatterplots. An unweighted GPA between 3.6 and 3.7 will really hurt your college admission chances.</p>
<p>@whartonnotHYPS and @gibby How would I go about mentioning this to my college counselor? I had never told this to anyone before even when my dorm parents asked me why my grades were slipping because I thought it would have been kinda weird to sit down and discuss my “feelings”. Would I need something to prove it, like maybe a certificate of death (just kidding!)</p>
<p>At our school, we get a 10 minute interview with our counselor before they write their letter of recommendation. This would be the perfect time to discuss something like that. </p>
<p>DO NOT write about it in your essays. There are better things to write about in those 650 words, and you don’t want to come across as making excuses. </p>
<p>Also, keep in mind that you should have as good of a chance as anyone applying with your 4.0 in 10th and 11th grade. Adcoms are looking for a story in your application. Your test scores and grade trend make you the perfect fit for the student who was busy with family issues freshman year and compensated later. Imo, it makes you a more interesting applicant then the standard 4.0. </p>
<p>Currently I do have some “impressive” ECs, but uninspired ECs.
I am the co-founder and head chairman of Model United Nations and and the co-founder/soon to be president of a Science Club/Publication that educates the community about recent advances in science. I am the Captain of our VEX Robotics team and our Ju-Jitsu Team (Martials Arts aren’t very common for some reason.) I play the tuba in our Wind Essemble, Orchestra concerts, etc (Basically whenever the school needs me to, as I am one of only two tuba players there.) I heard the tuba is an attractive instrument to colleges because there is a lack of low brass at the college levels. I also spearhead the International Student Committee (Even though I’m not even international) and the Gay/Diversity Committee as both their program student heads. I will also be the president, chair, or VP of the North Korea Club, the Dolphin Conservation Club (I’m more of a walrus guy myself…) by my senior year. I have taken summer classes at Brown during my 10th grade summer and just wrapped up a research internship at a lab in my state. </p>
<p>Sorry if it seems like I’m spamming the bump, but I have one final question. I have this book by an ex-Dartmouth admission officer called “A is for Admission” and she mentions a thing with the Academic Index. Using the equation given and even with my GPA my AI is 9 out of 9 which apparently puts me at the top 10 percent of applications. Is this still modern or useful. </p>
<p>Thanks for the reply! Would colleges really be worried about my dedication with the amount of leadership I have? Almost all of my activities give me high ranking leadership positions? I definitely won’t be giving up on them because I have spent way too much time investing in them, but should I leave out a few in the application?</p>
<p>I was very impressed by your ECs. The typical advice about too many ECs usually applies to applicants who are clearly not dedicated to their ECs and are just trying to pad their resumes. You, on the other hand, have achieved leadership positions in all/most of your ECs, so this doesn’t really apply to you.</p>