<p>Hi, I'm a high school junior with a mid range GPA of around 3.0 on the 4 point scale. I'm taking all AP/IB classes next year to boost it up, but I'm not sure if colleges even consider your senior year when factoring your GPA. Could someone help me understand what colleges look at and don't look at pertaining to your GPA? Thanks :)</p>
<p>I think an admissions officer at Wash U put it best: Your transcript is the crown jewel of your application. Most highly selective colleges will consider your seventh semester grades in addition to those from frosh, soph, and junior years.</p>
<p>^But the transcript refers to both GPA and the rigor of your courses. So yes, colleges will consider your heavy courseload, but that doesn’t change your GPA. You are expected to do well in a rigorous curriculum. Now, a B-average isn’t bad, but it will keep you out of top schools.</p>
<p>Where are you aiming?</p>
<p>My biggest regret over the past 3.5 years is that I didn’t think gpa was that important. I had no clue how important your gpa was to admissions. So, I took all APs/honors (b/c my friends were taking those classes) and ended up getting B’s and the occasional C. Yes, admissions officers do look for a rigorous curriculum, but don’t go overboard with a full AP schedule; balance it out with regular and weighted classes.</p>
<p>Colleges (at least all the ones I’ve researched/applied to) look for academic classes when calculating your gpa. So classes like PE don’t count.</p>
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<p>Take this to heart. I highly recommend elective classes to take some of the burden off your heavy courseload next year. And colleges do consider first semester senior grades (unless you’re applying ED or EA), so your couseload needs to be managable enough to get the grades you want.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice, I’m hoping to apply to Virginia Tech and UVA, aswell as ODU and VCU as safety schools.</p>