<p>Hi all, with the last week of school in progress for me for my junior year, I now officially have no chance of raising my grade to the level it was at last year. To give context, my school grades on a 7 point scale, where a 6.5 out of 7 is supposed to be the equivalent of a 4.0 (that is what is told to colleges). There are many students who get above a 6.5 however, or even above a 7... I would say I am in the top 15% of my class. My freshman year, I got a 6.32, my sophomore year a 6.55, and my junior year will be either a 6.38 or a 6.46 depending on the results of my exams this week. </p>
<p>In short: how much does the downward trend between sophomore and junior year influence my chances at top schools (think Notre Dame and UVA), assuming the first half of my senior year is back around 6.5-6.6? I took one of the hardest schedules possible this year, will do the same next year, and had a slightly less challenging (though still harder than average) curriculum my sophomore and freshman years.</p>
<p>Please could ANYONE weigh in on this? I would like a lot of different opinions because I am a bit stressed at the moment that this year end gpa has dealt a blow to my hopes at a top college.</p>
<p>Dont even worry about it. Your gpa is great and that is nowhere near significant enough to be considered a downward trend. Colleges understand that junior year is more diffivult, especially with an increased course rigor.</p>
<p>No influence, it is not a large enough drop. When you think significant upward/downward trend, you should think usually a .5 or more total change over the years on a 4.0, and assuming it scales out properly, even more for your 7 point scale. Colleges will look at you essentially like a plateau, no good/bad.</p>
<p>ur completely fine. a significant drop would be going from like a 4.0 sophomore GPA to a 3.7 junior GPA.</p>
<p>It seems to me to be a very slight drop, as others have said. But I don’t get your scale. What are your unweighted grades? Are they given on a 1-7 basis or do you get As and Bs? </p>
<p>As a rule downward trends are an issue. You get behind those with an upward trend, if that is the case, but again, yours looks more like a plateau. IF you apply early next year, you may not get any benefit of your first term grades, be aware. it’s game over for your transcript after this term for some early apps.</p>
<p>A lot depends on the classes you were taking. Some superb students inevitably experience a decline in an unweighted GPA (wouldn’t affect you, probably, given the scale you are graded on) as they progress into more demanding AP or IB classes, and have greater leadership roles in extracurricular activities. That is why colleges weigh the advanced course work so generously. </p>
<p>we get a grade based on 1 to 7 … 7 is a 95% or above, 6.5 is 91% to 95% and 6 is 88% to 91% … this year I am taking honors precalc, honors chemistry, honors spanish III, AP US history, AP gov (both U.S. and Comp), and normal english III (no accelerated option offered)</p>
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<p>No, this would be completely fine as well, particularly if you had 3 or 4 APs in that junior year. A significant downward trend would be 4.0 to 3.3. Somewhat worrisome would be 4.0 to 3.5.</p>
<p>@MrMom would u say my drop is worrisome then or not?</p>
<p>You’re at the noise level, no worries. Grades can jump around like that from one or two tough classes or just being on the wrong side of the A-/B+ divide. Heck, under your system, I believe it’s even possible to go down while maintaining all A’s - if you just took one fewer honors or AP class from the previous year, you’d go down while still being perfect.</p>
<p>Yes its a pretty odd system… my big concern is that while my gpa will look like its pretty darn close to a 4.0, colleges will also see that I’m at the bottom side of the top 15% in my class… we’ll see though.</p>