High School GPA for College

I’m a junior this year and my cumulative weighted gpa is 3.85, my unweighted gpa is around 3.4 and my unweighted core gpa is 3.1. I feel like my weighted gpa(3.85) is giving me false confidence for colleges. Most colleges don’t even want my weighted gpa but just my core class gpa. I’ve taken harder classes but will they think 3.1 is too low? Would a “good” university accept me?

Depends on what you consider good, and a lot of colleges calculate GPA differently.

Agree- Look at stats for your state schools to give you an idea of where your stats fit in.

Bad news: Forget about a top 20 school.

Good news: There is no need to go to a top 20 school. There are a lot of very good universities in the US. You should be okay to go to a very good and academically appropriate university.

The obvious place to look first is the state universities in your state. Compare your unweighted GPA with the incoming students who have been accepted to each university (or college). If you have taken the ACT or SAT, compare this also. Run the NPC and compare this with what you can afford.

What state are you in? Do you know what you want to major in (and note that most students change their minds after the point that you are at now)?

By good I guess I mean around the top 100 universities @Alllviiinnn

What are your test scores?

SAT is 1300 and ACT is 24 @RMNiMiTz

@drew44

Test scores like that are really going to hurt you. Your chances at the top 100 might be pretty slim. Trying to get that SAT up (your ACT is kinda hopeless). If you can get it to at least 1400, you give yourself a solid shot at a top 100 school.

It’s too late to worry about your 3.1 GPA, what’s done is done.

I slightly disagree with the commenters above, simply because I am a believer that improvement is important. If you get your senior GPA up, schools will take notice and see an upward trend. Also, retaking those standardized tests will help. If you’re struggling in one particular area and those megalithic study books aren’t helping, there are a TON of free online resources to try. I know Khan Academy has some tools, as well as instructor and student-made Kahoots and Quizlets that test vocabulary, math, etc. While it’s no guarantee and you probably won’t be attending the super elite schools that take fractions of their applicant pool, there are still a ton of colleges of varying levels of esteem that might accept you (though esteem isn’t all that matters).

Applying to in-state schools always boosts your chances, solely because public universities often receive state funding and thus have agreements to accept more residents than out-of-state applicants. Also, your extracurriculars and your essays will play a huge role in swinging this app. If you’re not doing any ECs, then I might have to agree with the above comments, but if you are involved in your community and passionate about something outside academics, then that’s always a positive. Make sure you talk about that in your essays, which are crucial since it’s the admissions officers’ only glimpse into your personality; if they don’t “meet” someone they like in those few words, they probably won’t take you. So it’s vital to make those the best you can, and that can only be done by giving yourself plenty of time (I’d say a healthy few months).

That being said, there are no guarantees. Though not all hope is lost! If you should fail to be admitted to the college of your choice, and you don’t want to attend any of your backups, there is NO shame in going to community college, getting better grades, and transferring to a great school (I got into fantastic schools and still went to cc). It saves you money on tuition and housing, gets a lot of GE classes out of the way, and buys you time to shop around for a major you like without so many financial and chronological consequences (i.e. deciding you hate your major in the spring of your sophomore year; generally a no-no). There are so many paths to a college degree, and so many places to get them. Starting small with a simple online search about cool programs, clubs, or activities you like could lead you to the perfect place, that might not be as competitive as the household name universities. Best of luck!

@aspiringauthor7

While having an improving GPA is definitely good, it isn’t as good as a person whose always had that GPA.

I wouldn’t call 3.85 W and 3.1 UW good tbh for top 100.

It would be hard to bring up uwGPA by more than 0.1 by the time of college application. Nevertheless, there is no standard even for uwGPA. It need to be evaluated in the context of your high school. Your SAT score is not bad for near top 100 school.

@billcsho

I still think his SAT score is a tad bit low for top 100. He has no chance at the top 50, and the 51-100 schools are most often state schools that have auto-admit and the like (thus driving the SAT average down).

Since his GPA is pretty low, I don’t think he would qualify for the class ranking of whatever auto-admit his state school has.

@RMNiMiTz Look at this link for 360 popular colleges in the US with mid 50 SAT score in new format.
http://downloads.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/Compass-360-College-Profiles-New-SAT-and-ACT.pdf

Take MSU as an example for top 100 colleges. SAT 1300 is well above admission average and they do admit a lot of OOS and international students. Yes, in state students may drive the admission stat slightly lower. But that has been part of the consideration already. Obviously, you are not looking at the low end of the mid 50 from OOS. Also, when OP looking at top 100 colleges, he is not looking at the top 50. That’s why I siad “near the top 100”.

@billcsho

Yes, that’s why I said to look at 51-100, since he has no chance at top 50.

At Michigan State (which is what I assume you mean by MSU), a 1300 is above the average, but below the top quarter.

Using Cappex, it shows that he has about a 50/50 chance of getting in. That isn’t something OP should be “confident” about.

@RMNiMiTz 50% chance is not bad at all. I am sure OP will apply to at least a few schools in that range. It is certainly not a “pretty slim” chance as you described above.

Thank you all of you! Sorry i didn’t reply sooner, its been a very busy and stressful week. @billcsho @RMNiMiTz @aspiringauthor7

Good news, there’s no such thing as a top 100 colleges. Anyone who claims to have evaluated the education at all 3000 U.S. universities is obviously a liar.

Good news, there’s no such thing as a top 100 colleges. Anyone who claims to have evaluated the education at all 3000 U.S. universities is obviously a liar.