<p>I've wanted to go here forever. White Male, NJ. Unfortunately I started my high school career off slowly. I had a 2.8 GPA last year (freshman). This year I stayed hit bottom with an F in a class 1st marking period. This dropped my GPA for soph year to a 2.56. However, since then i Have gotten a 3.56 second marking period, and now a 3.4 third marking period, I am on the upturn. I am looking to finish this year with or about with a 3.0 GPA. I am taking honors english this year and doing very well in it. I have good extra curriculars (camp counselor for 4 years, Job at bagel shop, rec basketball 4 years, etc.) Next year, my junior year, I'm taking 2 honors courses and clearly I'm on the upward trend. i took the SATs in seventh grade and with absolutely zero prep I got 1550/2400. Since then i have learned a lot of the material I didnt know and I am a great standardized test taker, and My parents are going to make me take prep courses. If I can get my grade up to about a 3.3 or 3.4 by the end of my junior year, and have the clear uptrend in my grades, with good SATs, and solid ECs, do you think I could get into my dream school of syracuse?</p>
<p>honestly a little to early to think about college, even if alot of CCers will disagree with me and say its never too early. i cant base making a prediction based on what you predict you’ll get in terms of grades. just get good grades and senior year apply.</p>
<p>and by the way…dont be a liar. youve written this exact same post for about 10 schools, i clicked on your profile statistics.</p>
<p>im not lying. i posted this on all the colleges that I really have interest in since i am very early in the application.</p>
<p>It’s not us you have to convince with the “I’ve wanted to go here forever” or the “…my dream school of Syracuse”, it’s the admissions department. Make contact early, e-mail an admissions counselor explaining your interest in the school (I’d leave out the grades part unless they ask) and if they could send you any information about Syracuse, like information packets, brochures, etc. </p>
<p>It also does matter what school inside Syracuse you apply to, if you apply to Newhouse, honestly you probably won’t get in, Whitman, it might be a reach. So when you apply make sure you pick a major/school that isn’t super competitive, then you can declare dual enrollment (except with Newhouse).</p>
<p>It’s never actually too early to think about or prepare yourself for the colleges you are interested in. In fact, when you do start to think about colleges at an early stage in HS, it gives you even more motivation to receive the best grades because at least you have a personal goal you are trying to meet. The only catch is to not let dreaming too much about college get in the way of academics.</p>
<p>Yes it’s Syracuse that you must convince that you really want to attend but they would not hold an F against you. What Syracuse wants is to see an upward trend in your GPA. If you started out poorly freshman year then they want to see improvement Sophomore year, Junior and Senior year. Of course admissions officers will know that certain students start off on the wrong foot in HS but if the grades stay the same the remaining years then it raises a red flag. In your case, the F that you received as a Sophomore might raise a red flag but who knows. And Newhouse and Whitman isn’t all numbers based. Newhouse is competitive but they wouldn’t outright reject you for an F. They look for more than your GPA so if you have anything else going for you then it may give you a leg up.</p>
<p>And yeah, I’m not sure why you declared about 6 schools your “dream” school. I hope you know a dream school is that ONE school that you’ve always and still want to attend–the one school that you would go to over every other so please make up your mind as to which school is your dream school.</p>
<p>alright. i was just trying to scope out where i stand in terms of what colleges have what admission level etc.</p>
<p>and my F wasn’t a year grade. I had an F first quarter, a C second quarter, and now either a B- or C+ for the third MP.</p>
<p>Evro33: I think it’s very good that you are starting to look at schools now and it really can help you push yourself to make your dream a reality. Back in my freshmen and sophomore years I was a bit of a slacker. When Junior Year came around the corner, college started to become a prevalent topic. Everyone was constantly asking me where are you going, what are you interested in etc.?? Upon reading a Syracuse information booklet and researching the school I fell in love with everything that they had to offer. Naturally I looked at the admissions requirements and saw that I was a bit behind what the average accepted student had. So I started to work constantly in order to achieve my dream, studying on a daily basis, going to SAT prep classes and getting more involved in my extracurricular activities. School sort of became less of a burden and more of a gateway to success. I went from being 42nd in my class to 16th at the end of my junior year. I have been second in my class both my junior and senior years and I attribute that to trying to make my dream a reality. At the end of the day, I was admitted to Syracuse for the upcoming fall semester and couldn’t be more proud of all I had done to reach my goal. As for you, your grades are a bit low but an upward trend always looks good. Continue to work your heart out and remember what you’re working for. Take SAT prep classes and try to get some leadership positions in your extracurricular activities. Visit the campus, schedule an interview when you can and explain how you’ve grown as a person. Syracuse isn’t looking for a number but a well rounded student. I wish you the best of luck and hope you reach your dream. Nothing is impossible.</p>
<p>Dudes, this is totally ridiculous. It doesn’t matter about your previous histories and everyone has the right to their own opinion. Let’s just help this kid out and call it a day. Wasting our times arguing on a college site that is geared to inform prospective students is ■■■■■■■■. So let’s just stay on point and stop the bickering.</p>
<p>House of London, if you get the chance would you mind checking out my life at Syracuse post… I would be very interested in hearing your feedback on my questions…</p>