<p>Right now my GPA is at 3.81, which I realize is not a terrible GPA but not great either. Ideally I would like to go to a top tier school, maybe not HYPSM (okay maybe a little), but more like Cornell, Berkeley, Williams, etc etc. </p>
<p>I am currently a second semester sophomore, and I'm working my butt off to try and raise my GPA. I'm taking two AP classes this year, but first semester I got B's in both of them but A's in everything else. I will most likely receive straight A's this semester, by the looks of it. </p>
<p>But in first semester of freshman year, I got 3 B's and 3 A's. In second semester though, I got straight A's.
I'm taking 5 Ap's as a junior and a senior, and if I get straight A's both years (and this semester), would it essentially make up for my bad grades? </p>
<p>btw. I calculated and if I get straight A's , I will have a 4.4ish GPA by the end of senior year.</p>
<p>Those schools reject people with 4.0s, many of whom have taken more than five AP classes. It’s not like grades are the only thing they consider. I don’t think any college would reject you solely because you had a 3.8-3.9 rather than a 4.0. But there is (almost) nothing you can do to guarantee your admission.</p>
<p>Also, your chances at any school will be higher if you actually have a reason for wanting to go there other than “US News ranked it high.” For example, Berkeley is a huge research university and Williams is a smallish LAC. They’re completely different types of schools and you seem to be just listing whatever “prestigious” schools you can think of without considering their actual characteristics.</p>
<p>I just want to point out that Williams is basically as selective as HYPSM…</p>
<p>Focus on finding schools that are a good fit for you (like halcyonheather said). What you often don’t see from the numbers, but do see when you have friends apply to college is that fit actually plays a major role. I know somebody who applied to Swarthmore and UChicago because they hypothetically liked them, they got rejected at both and now go to Brown (which was in fact a better fit). LAC rejection is especially common when a school is only a good fit in your supplement and not in reality.</p>
<p>Here is just one thing it will not make up for even if you’ve taken 20 APs: a bunch of B’s in English and a low CR/W SAT score even though you’re going into a math/science field and have most of the non-math science courses killed with AP tests…</p>
<p>A bunch of APs (and straight A’s) more than everyone else doesn’t make up for a bunch of B’s even in top 10 standings, because people will be abusing the non graded classes like crazy…</p>
<p>:P Just my experience.</p>