when i first started high school i was doing quite well academically, however my freshman year gave me the worst grades i had had to that point. i was looking forward to sophomore year but that was even worse than freshman year. even though i finished senior year as valedictorian and sophomore year as salutatorian, i am a bit concerned over that downward trend. i am hoping that senior year will be different. if it is, how good a grade do i have to get to still be within reach of the ivies? my ECs are better though; i am in a couple of scientific societies, a president of the space science club, presented a paper at a conference, i was one of three high school students chosen to participate in a regional scientific conference, i am fluent in java, taught my self multi variable calculus (although i am not sure what this does for my college app). but i have no volunteering hours. i know this is seeming more like a “chance” thread but consider the title question as well.
There isn’t enough context in your question for most of us to provide a meaningful answer. When you state “even worse than …” and then you say “salutatorian” it’s hard to connect the two statements. May I suggest that you provide your stats and convert your post to a Chance-me one and trust that those reading it can figure out what are good grades and what are not.
- Colleges like to see upward trends in grades from freshman through senior year. Not downward trends unless you have a very specific reason for the downward trend like a death in the family etc.
- Fresh/Soph does matter, since your GPA is cumulative.
- Harsh reality is that most kids getting into Ivies have very high GPAs
What???
sorry about that the “senior” was supposed to be freshman.
This looks like a humble-brag. Worst grades ever and #1 the class…
no man, i am not kidding i almost got straight b’s. the only result i was first in the class was because everyone’s grades sucked too.
Unless your class size is really small you have nothing to worry about. Colleges care much more that you did the best in your class (especially if it’s a large one) than about your raw GPA. There are some few high schools that believe the average grade should be a C (overall in the US the average high school GPA is over 3.1 so more than a B). Colleges realise that a 4.0 at two different schools can mean two very different things and they try hard not to penalise you for going to a tough grading school.