<p>Hi, I'm a junior with a straight 4.0 GPA so far, but this year I find it particularly challenging to maintain good grades. I'm afraid that my good GPA trend would be broken this year, which is also considered the most important year in high school. Would a downward GPA trend affect me a lot? I'm taking several AP classes but I still hope to maintain 4.0 unweighted GPA.</p>
<p>A significant downward trend would be a cause for concern, but if you dropped to a 3.9 or something small it wouldn’t affect you a lot. Colleges also value course rigor. Many people could take easy classes and get a 4.0. You should challenge yourself in your classes (as long as you don’t do really poorly) rather than coast to get a 4.0.</p>
<p>Most admissions people would tell you that academic performance is the most important factor in acceptance, of which GPA is a major factor. Indeed, a high GPA is important- but you also need to challenge yourself with those higher level courses. Getting straight A’s in regular courses isn’t that impressive if honors/AP’s are available.</p>
<p>No C+ or below.</p>
<p>If the drop in GPA is due to an increase in rigor, that is okay.</p>
<p>^That depends on the drop. Colleges, especially selective ones, want to see you do well in your AP or equivalent courses.</p>
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<p>Not so. If you are starting to strain at learning the course material in a rigorous high school class, AP or not, then admissions is going to wonder how you will be able to handle the increased rigor of a college curriculum. Doing very well in the most rigorous courses offered at your school is the number one key to selective college admissions. When these schools are turning down 80+% of their applicants, they can find kids with stellar GPAs with rigorous schedules, high test scores, and the rest of the “package”.</p>
<p>The bottom line is you cannot avoid taking AP classes if offered at your school if you are hoping to make it into a very selective college and you’ll need to do very well in them too. Lots and lots of kids who do this will unfortunately still be turned down.</p>
<p>Thank you for your advice, everyone. I don’t expect my GPA to drop way more than probably 3.85 or 3.9. In fact my first quarter scores are not even out yet so I think I still have a chance of raising my scores. I really hope that the colleges will look at my course rigor because I am taking the most rigorous my school offers.</p>
<p>Most schools are going to list “Rigor of Study” as one of the “Most important” selection criteria. This means that to have the best chance of getting in you must have some college level coursework in your transcript. This is especially true with the more selective schools…if you dont have rigor, you are not going to be competitive. </p>
<p>From what you describe of your situation it sounds like some college level course would help your applicaiton, even if you had to take a “B”. </p>
<p>Our high school recently did away with the “valdictorian” title specifically for this reason. They were graduating kids with 4.0s that never took rigor and as a result not very competitive for tougher schools.</p>
<p>Thank you for your advice!!</p>