<p>just wondering. everyone says that upward trends are great, but they seem to only mean it in terms of 3.7 to 3.95 lol.... um so here is my "story". My first semester of high school, I had a 2.1 unweighted GPA and a 2.4 weighted. And I was taking four honors classes. YEP. My rank was 169/400, which is like top 43% (nothing to be proud of, I know.) NOW Im a senior. This year and last year I took all IB classes, and sophomore year I took 4 honors classes and AP environmental science. My unweighted GPA is a 2.7 and my weighted GPA is a 3.7. My rank is now 78, and I am in the top 25% of my class. all my friends call me "the come back kid". I got a 25 on my ACT, and as you can see, I am applying to all midwest schools so I don't think I need to give the SATs any thought. </p>
<p>My SUPER SUPER reaches are Northwestern, Carleton, Grinnell and Denison
My Matches are University of Illinois, University of Minnesota, and Iowa State University
My Safety is Illinois State University</p>
<p>I think it’s great that you’ve improved academically throughout high school. I can’t say how much that will help you though. I’m not too familiar with your reaches, but I think you have a reasonable shot at your safety, and matches.</p>
<p>False. I would recommend that you take both and submit the better score, if there is still time to do so. While the ACT is more frequently taken in the midwest, schools are generally willing to accept both. While a 27 is a decent score, if you can do better on the SAT, why not give it a shot?</p>
<p>And if money is an objection, do look into fee waivers.</p>
<p>As for your question on how good an upward trend “has to be,” there is no definitive answer for that. Your marked display of improvement, along with your dedication to your academic efforts, will most likely benefit you in the sense that your GPA will be viewed more favorably than one that dramatically decreased. Other than that, though, I have no way of providing an assessment of your situation, and I highly doubt that anyone on this board does either.</p>
<p>I notice that your super-reaches are mid-western LACs and Northwestern (a mid-sized private), while your matches and safety are all large mid-western public universities. </p>
<p>If you really think a LAC is the best environment for you (small classes, lots of faculty mentoring), then why not look at reaches and safeties that are also LACs but somewhat less competitive to get into? Take a look at Lawrence, Beloit, Hendrix, and Rhodes, to name just a few. More reachy, but not quite a tough as Grinnell, Carleton and Northestern, are Macalester and Oberlin-both excellent schools. Rhodes and Macalester are urban, the rest are rural, I believe (not sure about all of them).</p>
<p>And most LACs, because of the holistic evaluation process, will take a close look at your record. If you are male, you also get a boost because they tend to be a bit under-represented at LACs (due, in part, to the absense of engineering and business majors, I’m guessing). Not true at the large publics, which are much more numbers driven in their admissions process.</p>