A fair warning: I don’t mean to come off as braggadocious or arrogant through this post. I am just rather worried about my current situation.
For context: from 9th to 11th grade I have a 4.0 GPA UW. In the first semester of 12th grade I got one A-, while the rest of my classes are As. This means my average GPA is now not a 4.0 anymore. From what I’ve heard, this can severely impact my chances in T10 universities, and looking around and seeing all these 4.0s getting accepted, I can’t help but feel nervous, especially if colleges see some sort of downward trend.
Which leads me to my question: how important would my senior mid-year grades be? Would colleges see them but still treat me like a “4.0 applicant”? Or would I be bumped down to a “not-quite-perfect-grades applicant”? And will this have a significant impact on my admission?
And to all of those who are tempted to respond by saying, “oh, your grades are already good enough, don’t worry about one A-, many students would be thrilled to have the grades you do”—I appreciate it, really. I don’t mean to sound condescending, however, I am genuinely concerned by how colleges would view my current grade trends. I don’t want my work in 9th to 11th grades to be ruined this way.
One grade does not a trend make.
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Getting an A- senior year will not affect a thing.
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You’re fine, totally fine. Really. You’ve more than reached the threshold beyond which minor differences in grades don’t matter. What matters now is the rest of your application - the ECs, test scores if you’re submitting, recommendations. Your GPA is good enough for ANY school, just the way it is. Some people with 4.0’s get rejected from the top schools, and some people with less than perfect grades but stellar ECs get accepted. Don’t waste another second worrying about that A minus.
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An A- is still an A grade. You know…some colleges recalculate GPA and they don’t use plus or minus.
I think you need to forget about this.
If you don’t get accepted at a T10 college, you will never know the reason why. Plenty of kids get accepted to these colleges with less than a 4.0 unweighted GPA.
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No, a single A- won’t keep you from a T10 school just as a 4.0 is a guarantee of nothing.
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Most colleges are using 9-11.
Colleges will often reset your gpa to their calc and will weight with honors /ap.
Where it may have an impact and I don’t know - is a school like u of Arizona. With a 4.0 unweighted you get $32k in merit. With a 3.9-.99, $30k so $2k less.
Will the grade make any college in America change their mind about you? No chance.
I doubt most at even the top ranked schools have perfect grades.
You are worried for nothing.
Good luck.
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T10 schools will not eliminate you because of an A- any more than they would have accepted you for all As.
Many 4.0s will not be accepted to T10 schools. Many with lower GPAs will. It’s not the specific GPA, it’s the whole package that matters. If your application was going to be accepted with all As, it will be accepted with one A-. If you aren’t accepted, it won’t be because of your mid year report.
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