<p>Hello guys. I wanted to know what you can do in order to make up for a low grade point average in terms of college admissions. Mine is about a 3.23 on a 4.0 scale unweighted. I do know however that GPA's alone don't tell the entire story: my school is very rigorous and all of our classes are honors by default or AP.
How do you guys suppose I improve my application? I'm going to work extremely hard the senior year to get straight A's. If you need my general information you can look at one of my previous posts.
I really want to get into George Washington or Boston University. Input will be much appreciated!!</p>
<p>Colleges and universities will know how demanding your school is. If it’s a well known school (e.g., Bronx Science or Boston Latin or New Trier HS or a prominent prep school), they’ll already know its reputation. If it’s not famous, they’ll have all the information they need about the demands of your school from its school profile, which the school will send with your transcript and Secondary School Report.</p>
<p>If a 3.23 in your high school makes you academically competitive with other applicants to BU or GW, you’ll be in the running for admission, and whether you’re admitted will probably depend on the quality on your essays and the strength of your teacher recommendations. If your 3.23 doesn’t make you academically competitive, then you’ll need to start practicing taking off from the free-throw line and dunking a basketball, 'cause that’s one of a very small number of things that can make up for a sub-par GPA.</p>
<p>Do you think having good test scores, good recommendations and a good essay will (in a way) make up for less stellar gpa’s?</p>
<p>If your transcript makes you uncompetitive, no. I don’t think anything will make up for that. (Except dunking a basketball or adding a new wing to the chemistry building.)</p>
<p>If your transcript keeps you in the hunt, then those things will help.</p>
<p>I don’t really believe GPAs *per se *are very important at all–precisely because they can vary so much, and so much depends on context–but I believe the transcript–showing the classes you’ve selected and the grades you’ve earned in them–is the single most important document in your file, when evaluated in the context of the school profile.</p>
<p>All of those will help . . . but the best thing you can do is make sure your college list includes schools where you GPA is competitive. Find other schools where you’d be happy, then nail that essay and hope for the best!!!</p>
<p>You should RD instead of ED if you think you can get straight As first semester</p>
<p>I wish I had said that, dodgersmom. I concur absolutely. </p>
<p>It’s fine to reach, as long as you can afford the application fees. But you will need to do your homework to make sure you have colleges on your list where a 3.23 from your high school will make you a strongly competitive applicant. I don’t have any clue whether BU or GW will fit that bill or not.</p>
<p>But if you go to a fancy, high-performing high school, your guidance counselor or college advisor can surely help you do that research. And he or she will be able to help you figure out how good a shot you’ll have at those universities.</p>
<p>Thank you guys for all your input</p>