Is GPA too low? Despite Good EC/Scores

Colleges & Universities A-Z Johns Hopkins University
1

<p>HI,</p>

<p>I am an ORM who attends a top private school in Southern California. Johns Hopkins is one of my top choices.
I'm applying RD</p>

<p>Full IB-Diploma Candidate
SATI: 2350 ( This is 2nd time taking, the 1st time I got 2150)
ACT: 35 (1st time)</p>

<p>SATII: IIc: 800, USH: 780, Lit: 800; Bio 740 (predicted)
AP';s: Calculus AB: 5; Bio:5; Euro: 5, Chem:4, USH: 4,
taking alot more senior year.</p>

<p>**
SCHOOL DOES NOT RANK
GPA: 3.5 unweighted (Huge upward trend: 3.1, 3.5, 3.9, and I assume 4.0 for the 1st semester of senior year) I got 1 C+ in 9th grade and 1 C+ in 10th.)</p>

<p>My GPA probably seems pretty bad to most of you guys. But I'm not sure if it really is. My friend has a 3.78 and was told by his counselor that his GPA was the third highest in his class. Im not sure if anyone actually has straight A's in my class. The school is pretty tough. And many of the B's I got in 10th grade were in AP Classes which I scored a 4 or 5 on. I basically got straight A's in 11th (only 1 b).</p>

<p>EC's:</p>

<p>Captain of Varsity Tennis team
Captain of Academic Decathlon team
President of Independent Political Club
Vice-President of Community Service Club
Member of Debate Team</p>

<p>Lots of volunteering and some work experience.</p>

<p>Essays should be extremely good. Writing has always been strong point for me, and I have already started on the essays, so they should be really good by Jan 1st.</p>

2

<p>Nice application, i’d say you have a good chance. Test scores are excellent, ECs are solid, your GPA is a bit low… that is your only weakness. If you pull a real high GPA first semester senior year that will help. Why not apply ED, then I’d say you’re in.</p>

3

<p>No one can say whether you’ll get in or not, but I certainly don’t think your GPA is too low. It has a nice upward trend, which I believe most admissions reviewers consider and, of course, like to see.</p>

<p>I would not encourage you to go ED just to “boost” your chances unless you are clearly committed to one school and don’t need or want to compare aid packages.</p>

<p>Also some schools don’t consider freshman grades and others probably discount them a bit when they see a trend like yours.</p>

<p>Just my opinions and impressions, I’m not the admissions committee ;).</p>

<p>Best of luck.</p>

<p>Re ranking - although your school does not rank, have you checked what type of information is in the School Profile? Because it could put your GPA in a different context if, say, the school reports that very few earn in the 3.75-4.0 range and that top students in the school are in your range. Many schools report deciles on the School Profile.</p>