Just got my ranking updates and went from top 14 percent to top 7 percent due to losing a sixth of my graduating class over summer. However, my gpa, a 3.4 uw and a 4.2w ( out of 6), is still very low. I was wondering how it would look with a high rank but a low gpa to colleges? There is no harsh grading at my title one high school, its just no one really tries.
Like you go to a really really really competitive high school…
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I would assume that AOs have background on your school and can see it’s Title One. OP — a”many colleges don’t put a lot of emphasis (or any) on rank. And for others (ex: UT) it’s everything.
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It will be clear from the school profile that this isn’t the case.
How schools interpret it may depend on your personal circumstances. If your application indicates that you are a student with some advantages (majority, stable home situation, above average income for your district), they will probably focus on your GPA and that you didn’t maximize your potential.
On the other hand, if your application indicates that you have had the kind of challenges that students in your district may often face, they could be more forgiving.
Will you be submitting test scores?
Just curious…where did they go?
What year are you in high school? Really the GPA at the end of your junior year is worth looking at. Anything before that is just on the way to where you will ultimately be.
My kid was top 5% of the class with a weighted GPA under 4.0. The high school had very little grade inflation.
The class profile your school counselor sends to the colleges will put some context into your GPA.
And remember, there are many colleges that recompute GPA using their standard formula for all students.
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Yes, I’ll be submitting a 1480.
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What year of high school are you in?
Some universities will sometimes ask for and look at mid term senior year grades. Some will not. If you are still a junior, then having better grades for your junior year can help quite a bit when it comes to college admissions.
Regardless, you will help yourself quite a bit if you start putting in an effort and improving your grades starting today, and continuing as long as you are taking any classes. If nothing else this will help you to be better prepared when you do get to college.
And a 1480 SAT score is very good for the vast majority of universities.
I’m not sure where they went, they probably transfered schools during the summer because a lot of people in my area tend to move. I’m a senior, I’ve gotten straight A’s in my sophomore and junior year, but did terrible in my freshman year.
I am currently a senior, I basically flunked my entire freshman year, but got straight A’s during my sophomore and junior year. Im hoping my SAT score can help compensate for some of it, but I know it could only do so much.
Straight A’s during your sophomore and junior years are going to help you a lot. Combining this with a 1480 SAT should be sufficient to help you get into some very good universities.
I know someone who overcame a lot worse, and ended up as a tenured professor at a university that he most likely could not have gotten accepted to straight out of high school (he did not have two years of straight A’s in high school).
What state do you live in? What are you looking for in a college or university?
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I live in Florida. I am looking for colleges that give good financial aid that have good pre med and pre law programs. I already submitted my app to UF,FSU,USF,UT,UM, and emory. My dream schools are UF and emory, mostly because they’re good schools that are somewhat within in reach as I have a slightly higher chance at UF because i’m instate, and emory because they dont consider freshman grades when recalcualting GPA.
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@Joey1218 you may want to do research on what schools dont really look at freshman year grades. My understanding is that the UC schools and Stanford do not use them in GPA calculations. 4.0 in the most important years is great.
I think that any school on your list is going to be very good for premed and for pre-law (although I do not know which UT and UM you are referring to, Toronto and Michigan both seem to be a long way away for you, perhaps Miami and Tampa?). Admissions to medical schools is largely based on GPA, MCAT score, medical experience, and references. Where you get your bachelor’s degree is way less important. Two doctors that I know have said that the other students in their medical program came from “all over the place”. Similarly law school admissions will be largely based on your GPA and LSAT score, although I do not know as much about law school admissions.
The obvious question is whether some of the schools on your list are safeties. Unfortunately I am not sufficiently familiar with universities in the south, or specifically in Florida, to know what would be a safety.
Another issue for premed and pre-law students is your budget. You would be best to avoid or at least minimize debt for your bachelor’s degree as much as you can. However, that is a different topic.
And I continue to think that your strong sophomore and junior years, plus your strong SAT, are going to help you a lot.
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If you flunked 25% of your schooling, I’m not sure how your rank is so high. Your initial question was a bit misleading. Are you sure you’ll have the required years of classes colleges require.
UF is very easy.
They are on a 4 point scale with a .5 for Honors and +1 for AP.
Figure out your UF GPA.
WIth a 3.4 UW, I can’t imagine you can get into UF but see with your weighted is.
Good luck.
Yea, UF is definitely a far reach for me. The reason I’m so ranked high is because barely anyone tries in my school and the teachers / counselors do not care as much as ones in other schools. I mean, my guidance counselor literally told me I moved from top 14 percent to top 7 percent the day after early decision and early action apps were due. Luckily one of my friends told of the change beforehand and I was able to find out my current rank from a teacher. I’m not using this as an excuse because I have friends who have perfect GPAs despite the lack of resources, I was just dumb during freshman year and had some things going in my life at the time.
Do you mean you literally flunked 9th grade like this post assumes? I am thinking you aren’t being literal.
A quick and dirty calculation shows that a C average (2.0) freshman year, then a 4.0 the next two years would be a a 3.33.
Thanks for your advice. Yes, I was talking about Miami and Tampa. A few of them r safeties, and I am planning on applying to more once I do more research.
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I basically did, the majority of my grades were Fs with some D’s thrown into the mix. I did do grade forgiveness after the fact which did help a lot. I probably should have included that in the original post, my bad.
Does grade forgiveness mean you re-took the classes?
Yes, the way grade forgiveness works at my school is that you have to retake courses online during the summer. Unfortunately, not all the classes I failed had an online equivalent which meant I had to keep some F’s and D’s