I am a current sophomore at a public (non-charter) high school. I am ending my sophomore year on a pretty bad note with a GPA of about 3.24 unweighted and 3.66 weighted. This dropped my cumulative GPA by a significant amount to about 3.5 unweighted and 4.2 weighted (my school uses an unweighted GPA of 4.0 and a weighted GPA of 5.0). Although I plan to work harder and take 3-4 APs this year, as well as hopefully take 3 APs senior year, I lost almost all hope of getting into an elite school. I do not think that my extracurriculars are really worthy of any recognition nor am I really impacted by any sort of background situation. There are so many bright students in my grade that are performing with flying colors underneath unique circumstances and the pressure of others that I find myself in awe of it all. I think that when schools come to view my sophomore grades, it would overshadow anything else I have done, even if it would not contribute much to my overall application. As a result of this, I was wondering if there were any schools known to overlook sophomore year grades? Any recommendations would be wonderful.
There are some universities that do not consider Freshman year grades in their GPA calculation but no schools that will not consider Sophomore year grades. Wouldn’t life to wonderful if we could pick and choose which grades we would like to present to the colleges???
That said, all you can do now is work on an upward trend for Junior and 1st semester Senior year to show the colleges that your 10th grades were a small blip on your academic record.
Don’t be hard on yourself. This was a weird year (COVID) and colleges may end up being forgiving about grades, especially second semester. In any event, it is your junior year grades that most define your academic potential to colleges. You most certainly have a chance at “elite” schools. You can certainly work ahead this summer to make sure you do well junior year. You might even take an online course to show initiative, academic breadth or focus on a particular academic subject. It may also be wise to start prepping for standardized tests. You will be taking the pre-SAT as a junior and you might shoot for National Merit Scholar Qualification when you take that exam. A good SAT or ACT score may qualify you not merely for admission but also for merit scholarships at some schools (there are threads on these). You can always look for best college fit and consider ED1 and ED2 options as these may be a way to leverage even a borderline application into an elite admission. You still have some time to consider adding an extracurricular activity, perhaps something academic. Possibly talk to your high school guidance counselor. Good luck!
There are lots of wonderful schools out there that don’t expect applicants to have perfect transcripts. Do your best to show an upward trend academically, find an extracurricular activity that you love and in which you can make an impact, and look beyond college rankings. Have you explored Colleges That Change Lives? Some of those schools look at an applicant’s future potential without a high, unrealistic expectation of past achievement.
it really is a CC thing that makes elite schools seem like the end all. There are tons of great schools. I would focus on finding a school with a good fit, affordable etc and not worry if it has a prestigious name. If your happy with a school you can get into and afford, your parents are okay with it etc then who cares what other people think.
There are 3,700 colleges in the US. Just the top 10%= that’s 370 so plenty to choose from.
Start exploring Colleges that change lives -~45 colleges that range from highly selective to moderately selective. Find a few you like, run the NPC, fill out the request information form.
Dont beat yourself over the head. Your grades aren’t excellent but they aren’t terrible either.
And you can still explore activities you find enjoyable, continue what you did or start something new.
What classes did you take Sophomore year? What are you scheduled to take junior year?
I took all honors courses in my Sophomore year, and skipped a grade in math so I took a junior year honors BC precalculus class as well. To be more specific for Junior year, I am scheduled to take all honors courses with the exception of AP calculus BC, APUSH and AP Comp Sci A. I do not know if I would be recognized much for any of it though.
If you have Honors English, Honors Physics (or whatever science is the logical progression), and a foreign language at level 3 or 4, plus AP Calc BC, APUSH, and AP CS A, you’ve got the most rigorous schedule highly selective colleges want.
Try to have B’s and A’s, find activities you enjoy, save enough time for friends and sleep, and you’ll be good to go
My school has an accelerated track that was developed a couple of years ago (Current juniors at my school were the first to have it implemented in their curriculum). Depending on the grade, about the top 10%-20% of “top performers” in the sixth grade are put on the accelerated math track. From there on out, students in this track are put in a separate class or join a math class in the grade above them to compensate for how quickly they learn mathematical topics. By the eighth grade, students in this program would have learned enough of algebra 2 and geometry to join a sophomore year honors class. Every year teachers evaluate these students to determine whether or not they drop from the accelerated track, and because of this I would say that there is a little more structure to this than just “Skipping a grade”. In terms of my own experience and performance in this program, I guess I have been doing fine since I have never been lowered in a math class.
Do not think 'Every point I get off of a homework or test is a point away from going to Harvard."
Think: “I need to do my best, and there will be a college that is right for me when I graduate.”
Do not think “If I don’t go to an Ivy League School/Top20, I am doomed forever.”
Think: “No matter where I go, I can bloom where I am planted. I can get involved and shine.”
Do not think: “My life is over…the kid in my math class is taking 20 APs and I am taking 5. I will never succeed.”
Think: “I need to challenge myself, but only to the point where I can still do well.”
If you don’t like your grades, you have to figure why you were not getting the grades you want.
Not studying enough? Not studying effectively?
Health, mental health, relationship issues?
Too much sports/partying/Clubs/videogames?
Working too many hours?
Feeling like what happens if you try your best but still don’t do well?
Too much freedom/executive function issues?
Not prepared?
so plenty to choose from.