Horrible Freshman year grades, amazing Sophomore grades.

Applying to College
1

<p>Hello fellow CC users and "overachievers",
Long time no talk, (haha). So, here's a summary of my long story. In both first semester of ninth grade, I had a 2.0 GPA. I had a few Bs, Ds, and Cs. I did so bad, that I almost had to repeat my grade as a whole, since my school didn't allow more than two Ds. Because of this, I had to switch schools, but sure enough, I didn't, because I had promised to change my ways. Sure enough, I ended up moving miles and miles away from my school, so instead, I ended up switching schools to a public top twenty school in California. I really have no excuse for what had happened next, although not knowing anyone at my new school did really take a toll on me. Once again, I had achieved a 2.0. It's not all that bad though, since my high school counselor saw my <em>motivation</em> (I'm a great actor, I played her. haha) the first day of the semester and changed my old grades to a 3.0. tinkering here and there with my grades. So anyways, my point is that I have made a crazy change. While taking summer school for English I (aced it), I vowed to never, ever, repeat my track on having bad grades. Because of both my A in summer school English and my score of 5 on all the star testing subjects, my freshman GPA turned into a 2.75. Phew...</p>

<p>Well, this year, I took the PSAT and scored fairly decent with a 1610. I mostly have to blame my past self on being fairly ignorant. But, by using the college board blue book and using a great SAT class, I raised my score to a 1950. I've made a ton of improvements. I have two writing internships on two different websites, I play defensive end on my school's football team, I tutor twice a week (I have a ton of community service hours), I play piano, participate in FBLA, next year I'm going to start a club which has a sole purpose of raising money for my school's sport teams, I'm planning to start a tutoring business next year, and I'm also a peer counselor at my school. I have also achieved a 4.0 GPA this year in all of my classes (was only eligible to take CP classes this year). Because of this transition, I feel a lot better about myself and I'm certain I will continue on this track throughout high school. For example, these are the challenging courses I'm planning to take next year...</p>

<p>US History (AP)
English III (AP)
Psychology (AP)
Chemistry (H)
Pre Calc (H) -I'm self studying Alg 2 Honors this year and taking the final in order to skip it.
Computer Programming (CP)
American Sign Language II (CP)</p>

<p>and hopefully, my senior year course load...
Physics I (AP) -Physics B is to be removed from college board and replaced with this class.
Calculus BC (AP)
English IV (AP)
Government (AP)
Economics (AP)
Computer Science A (AP)
ASL III (CP)</p>

<p>So bottom line is, I've made some serious changes in my life after deeply reevaluating my life. So my question is, how will top tier universities look at me? By top tier I mainly mean my first choice, Berkeley, but also of course other amazing schools like UMichigan, UCLA, Stanford, Columbia, MIT, etc..
Also, one major change I've made is actually staying awake in class. I have to admit, there is no excuse for my freshman year grades. For example, there was no death in the family, I did not have ADD or ADHD or anything. So, if I write about how I've changed as a person on my college application, what do you guys suppose that they'll think of me? </p>

<p>Thank you so much, I really appreciate all of your responses. But please, lay it out cold and brutally if you must. (haha).</p>

2

<p>The good news is that UCs and CSUs do not include 9th grade course grades in the admissions GPA (although UC comprehensive review readers will see them).</p>

<p>The bad news is that D grades will invalidate the courses that they were gotten in from meeting the a-g requirements for UC and CSU, unless they were in courses that you repeated for C or higher grades or where higher level courses with C or higher grades can validate them (e.g. Foreign Language 3 validating Foreign Language 1 and 2).</p>

<p><a href=“University of California Counselors”>University of California Counselors;

3

<p>^my two Ds were in English I (made up) and PE (not a-g requirement), and my last D (in global science) turned into a C- because I scored a 5 on start testing for the class. But thank you for pointing that out!!</p>

4

<p>Ok I admit it was a great improvement! Good job! However, if you even want to stand a chance at those schools, you need to come off as special. To be honest, althought that SAT is good, to stand a chance at berkeley with your gpa you should get at least over 2100. If you have great essays which I’m sure you will I think you stand a pretty good chance :)</p>

5

<p>Thanks Calpolyslodream!
Yeah, I have a two hobbies that I think would separate me from the “general application pool.” I do professional magic shows for pay (practiced magic professionally for about a decade), write movie scripts (for very well, thought out movies).</p>

<p>So basically, I want to know how much of an emphasis the UCs, or for that matter, any four year university, puts on Freshman year?</p>

<p>And ucbalumnus, I’m completely UC eligible right now. I made up everything.</p>

6

<p>Nice comeback, congratulations! Anytime one can consistently do better in harder classes is always a very good sign for success in college. Will it get you into an elite school? I don’t know. But consider that you’re coming into your own at a time when a lot of smart kids in the 9th grade are beginning to fall by the wayside or are barely hanging on, mainly by studying 8 hours a night. I like your chances in college. GL</p>

7

<p>I’m sorry but the counselor “tinkering with your grades” infuriates me. She bumped you up a whole point GPA? </p>

<p>Additionally, your blurb on how “you played her” in disrespectful. Shame on you.</p>

8

<p>Well, I didn’t exactly “play her.” My bad for writing that…
I also thought that I would do better, but I didn’t. Also, now that I think of it, I really don’t know why she did that. She could have gotten into a lot of trouble. Hmm…</p>

9

<p>If you have charm and personality some teachers will bend over backwards for you, and not just for recommendations. I know a guy at my school who got into Stanford REA (athletic recruit) and ended up with a C in AP Bio 1st semester of senior year. He asked the teacher if it could be bumped up, and being that he had a personality and appearance that she was literally in love with she ended up raising it to a B- (6 pt semester bump)</p>

<p>And no it wasn’t because he was particularly hard-working or motivated in the class. I myself would probably get docked points and humiliated if I approached a teacher/counselor with that sort of issue. Talk about subjectivity eh?</p>

10

<p>Yeah, I was blessed with charm. And frankly, some of my peers hate me for it. That was probably the reason why she did it. lol. I can get away with practically anything. For example, I was suspended last year for getting into a fight, and my school erased the suspension off my record. Only for me though, not the other person. Hahaha. Also, my teachers love calling on me to answer questions, even if I’m not raising my hand. Some of my teachers actually do bend their back backwards for me, and I don’t really know why. </p>

<p>But seriously, how much of an emphasis would colleges put on my freshman year??</p>

11

<p>“blessed with charm”- Give me a break.
In response to your question, the UCs do not look at Freshmen year at all and a strong upward trend is good for other schools. You need a higher SAT score to be competitive at the top tier schools though, aim for 2100+</p>

12

<p>ya, Uc doesn’t look at freshman year</p>

13

<p>Cool, thanks!</p>

14

<p>you imrpovement is amazing, and I do think that it’ll speak a lot to colleges.</p>

<p>however, I would NOT recommend taking so many high level classes with little to no experience in them. jumping from all CP to 3 APs and 2 honors will likely hurt more than help. you have not taken any ap classes before, so you do not know what you can handle. I say this from experience. taking a rigorous courseload won’t help much if your grades start to drop again.
I would recommend dropping down to a lower level for ~3 of those classes. if you’re allowed to change your schedule after the new school year starts, get a feel for things, and then you can move up if you feel ready (though beware that classes get harder as the year progresses) or move down if you don’t.</p>

15

<p>Hey, me again,</p>

<p>Well, my schedule turned out to be similar than what I thought it’d be (AP English, AP USH, AP Chem Lec., AP Chem Lab, AP Psychology, Honors ASL II <em>weighted</em>)</p>

<p>This past semester, I pulled off a B in all of the classes due to my inexperiance and problems at home, I literally failed every single exam the first month of this semester, so I dropped Alg II Honors, and then, I started Acing them. So, it averaged at around a B. My teachers say I could have gotten in A in their class, respectively, if I had done well throughout the whole semester, not just most of it. Anyway, next semester, if I keep up the good work, I should be expecting straight A’s and a 4.62, or something like that. </p>

<p>So, the jump wasn’t that bad; just in the beginning.
By the way, my SAT score miraculously jumped to a 2220. So, that’s great news. </p>

<p>Thank you all for the help. :)</p>