Highschool GPA: How much will my freshman year hurt me?

Hey everyone!

I’m a high-school sophomore. This is my first year in the states and in the american system; the school I was in before went by the British system. Cause of this, my school had trouble translating my grades/gpa from last year in my previous school. They ended up giving me a 3.85 weighted AND unweighted :frowning: To make matters worse, I really was groping in the dark in my first semester in my new school, cause of the huge change, and ended up with a terrible 3.62 unweighted gpa, alongside a 4.05 weighted.

Course Load:

Honors French 3: B plus

APUSH: A-
Honors Pre Calculus: B (American math is really different - but towards the end started to get the hang of it!)
Honors Chemistry: B plus ( Carelessness on my part; easy A next semester)

World History: A (Was forced to take this course by the school, but Ill probably end up taking the AP version of it in my junior year)
PE: A
Honors English 10: A

I understand that im only 3 semesters into highschool life(whopeee!), but how much would my current gpa, 3.90 cumulative, hurt me? Understand that right now, my ambitions are incredibly lofty(foolish, but aim for the stars right?), and my target schools are somewhere along the lines of places like UMICH, NYU, Georgetown, Cornell and Brown(lol).

I haven’t taken my SAT yet, but I scored a 1350 on the PSAT, on the 1520 scale, with a 700 in reading, and a 650 in math. Hopefully Ill end up with a 1400 plus in the SAT, fingers crossed.

My course load for the rest of my remaining Junior and Senior years would look something like this:

Junior

AP Calc (AB or BC; still undecided)
AP Language and Comp (Or literature; whatever comes first)
AP World (I love history)
AP Chem

Senior

AP Stats
AP Lit
AP Physics 1
AP Bio
AP Euro

My ECS right now arent too good, but im working on it. I made the volleyball team, and plan to volunteer loads in the summers to come and join the best buddies club at school.

Anyway what im really trying to ask, is whether or not my current gpa, a cumulative of 3.9, 3 semesters into my highschool life, rules me out already from selective schools? Could I turn it around with a strongish SAT score, decent ECs of a sport and loads of volunteer hours, and UW GPAs of 3.8 in the 4 semesters left before college applications? Or is it too late, cause of my terrible current gpa. I did the math, and found that even if I do get amazing grades in the remiander of my highschool life(1 semester sophomore, and 4 more semesters Junior and Senior), Ill only really end up with a 4.3 Weighted. Is that enough for estabilishments like UMich, NYU, Georgetow, Brown, Cornell etc.?

Really need some instant replies hahaa, really nervious right now that I screwed up my chanced of a sick uni already!!

Race: Middle Eastern
Male
Born outside of America
Not a citizen yet; green card holder
Resident of Indiana

While I’m no admissions counselor, I have heard that many colleges like to see growth from freshman year onwards. At this point, it is not as if your GPA is a 2.0, it is still high enough to be able to get you into selective schools, as long as you work hard the next few years and keep up your ECs and volunteer hours. Colleges also put a huge emphasis on your junior year grades, so as long as you can do well that year, I would not stress yourself out too much!

Hey, don’t worry about it… Colleges will understand your transition to schools in the states and as long as you show passion (ECs) & motivation (upward trend), you should be okay.