Hi guys! I’m going to get straight to the point, I’m a sophomore in high school with about a 3.0 GPA. Basically I’m that typical kid who messed up my freshman year. Since then I’ve been getting straight As, but the problem is, the highest GPA I can grab would be a 3.5 - 3.6. I can definitely get an A in AP Chem, AP Calc AB, etc as a junior, but I’m worried that my bad grades from freshman year and 1st semester sophomore year are going to be reason why I wouldn’t be able to get into Uchicago or even University of Illinois. If feel like managing an A in much harder classes would at least show that I’ve grown since then. I’ve been told plenty of times that GPA doesn’t paint the whole picture. Regardless of how many people tell me this, I’m just worried that this would be the reason why I would be rejected and wondering if it is even worth considering trying harder to go to such as school?
Three things:
First of all, do the best that you can and don’t worry. You WILL get into a very good university, particularly if you can keep the A’s coming. You don’t have to go to U.Chicago to be a success in life. Most MIT and Stanford graduates are working for bosses and with coworkers who went to far less prestigious schools. In the US the prestige of the school that you go to does very little in terms of deciding what you do after graduation. There are a lot of good choices out there, and if you are strong in grades 10 through 12 many very good universities will be willing to overlook a bad grade 9.
Secondly, if you do want to go to a “top 40 in the world” university, and are willing to think about Canada, I am pretty sure that McGill does not consider grade 9 grades at all in the applications process. When they get your application they will recompute your GPA based solely on grades 10, 11, and 12 when available (assuming that you are applying during grade 12).
Also, most students who have literally straight A’s throughout high school still don’t get accepted to Stanford, Harvard or MIT, and I suspect that Chicago is probably the same.
“If feel like managing an A in much harder classes would at least show that I’ve grown since then.”
It will. I doubt that this will be enough for Harvard, Stanford, MIT, or Chicago, but it will be enough for many other very good universities.
I am sure there are students who were accepted this cycle with stats lower than yours. Have a hook that differentiates yourself and use the freshman year as the “rock bottom turning point” or something along those lines.
Are you able to take a few classes at a local University or Community college? Many high schools have programs and it is an easy way to differentiate yourself. A few of my sons acceptance letters actually commented on his classes.
And of course, if you don’t apply you have no chance.
Good luck.
Thanks and yeah I’ll take what you said into consideration.
Take this with a grain of salt, but I have heard before that UCs do not consider freshman year grades. Not sure if this is accurate.
^ This is true.
“Convert the grades earned in all “a-g” courses completed between summer after 9th grade through summer after 11th grade to grade points”
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/requirements/gpa-requirement/index.html
Yeah I know that Stanford does the same, but sadly even without freshman year, my GPA would only raise to a 3.7 which isn’t bad in any way, but then again I’m going against 4.0s. I don’t want to be told that I can’t go to this school because of my lack of good grades so I’m just going to have to put more work in other aspects of the application. I’ve even heard of plenty of kids who get in with no “top” GPA so I think it’s clear to me that these schools will look for more than GPA and test scores. < That’s just the conclusion that I’ve drawn up. Any thoughts?
Yes they do take people without top GPA’s but there has to be a reason why. Have you been disadvantaged in some way? Do you have a particular area of talent that more than makes up for the lower GPA? Questions like these are what you need to answer in order to figure out if your competitive.
I don’t know if this would count as a legitimate decision to explain my poor grades, but both my parents have excruciating work hours (4 AM - 10 PM) and are under constant stress since we aren’t that wealthy. During my freshman year, I would have to put off homework to help around the house while parents were out working most of time all while my brother would be helping while juggling his AP classes, it was essentially pretty hard work. I would go help my mom Saturday mornings (her second job is a cleaning lady). Now obviously that messed up a little with my grades. Majority were As and Bs with a few Cs. It wasn’t until Soph year came around, I promised to get straight As, but since my brother left for college, things have been drastically going down hill for me. I’ve gotten majority Cs the first semester, my parents have been working more hours to pay off my brother’s school tuition, and from that I’ve found out that my mom has been diagnosed with depression and my father with diabetes. I’ve told my teachers and parents that I want to go to Uchicago for CS, least I can say is they didn’t take it too lightly and all I could blame is my GPA. Hard to deal with, but I did quite some self-reflecting over my winter break and prevailed, I am now managing straight As the second semester of my soph year with two APs. Wouldn’t count out it too much since I bet there are more people who went through way worse, but that’s my explanation for my poor grades. One talent that I would emphasize is being a natural born talker and I developed a particularly eager hobby relating to building robots and coding from home since I can’t much ECs because I don’t a have a ride home from parents nor my own car.
A lot to take in, but better to give as much info for better insight on the situation.
Yes, that counts.
Any other thoughts and opinions?
hey, so I was admitted RD and I genuinely believe Uchicago cares more about the fit than simply the grades. Use the uncommon essay as a way to show how you think, and the why uchicago essay to show why you are a good fit for the school. Finally, just trust the system. I know kids with better stats than me who didn’t get accepted and I had (if I recall) a few Bs and a C in my freshman year. Just as long as you’re showing continuous improvement, I think you’re fine. You might want to watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50GbdqsNR-8&list=PLIg9oJ8qdHX7sOXE3nAEF3htWlrXK7JMU&index=2
It is absolutely worth it. I was admitted with an unweighted gpa somewhere between a 3.6-3.7. I applied ED. If UChicago is your dream school and you put time into your essays and try to show them you belong there. Wanting to go to UChicago already tells me that you have a good chance at fitting in. 30 years ago the admit rate was much higher. Not because it was easier to get in, but because it was so self selecting that there were fewer applicants. UChicago can see past your grades if there is more to you than just a GPA.
I think that it is important for you to do as well as you can from here on. Apply to U Chicago if that is your dream school. However, for CS there are a LOT of very good universities, and there are also a LOT of jobs after graduation. Stanford is a very high reach for any student, but they do take a few students with a 3.6.
You don’t have to go to a “top 10” university to get a good job in CS, or even a “top 100” university. However, with a 3.6 or 3.7 from sophomore year on I think that you will get into a “top 100” university and do very well.
I completely understand where you’re coming from with that statement, you don’t need to go to a university just because they rank in the top ten. The whole idea is to go to a college where you’ll find success and I can really appreciate that. And yeah I hope to better myself grade-wise throughout the rest of the year to at least obtain a 3.5 GPA by application time. I’m making big reaches here with Uchicago and a ton of other schools such as MIT and UIUC. I know I’m going up against a 4.0/2400 kid who probably did so much more compared to me, but I’m confident in myself to show how I am unique and most of all to share my story. Uchicago next to UIUC are my top picks considering I only live about an hour between both schools and would love to be closer at home with my family and want to do something engineering or computer related (or even medical if for some reasons both engineering/computers don’t work out).
One thing I do want to emphasize though is that I hope I won’t be studying for an test/AP exam/SAT or joining a club all for college. For some reason, counselors and teachers always say to do volunteer work/clubs purely for an acceptance letter rather than participating if you have an authentic interest. I find this very misleading and useless, I mean who would want to be attending a club that they have no interest in other than the HOPE of getting into their dream school. Doesn’t seem logical to me. Regardless I hope to stay true to myself and make the best with what I’ve got.
@ITMAN15 I would actually strongly reccomend studying for the SAT or ACT. While showing you’re a good fit is important, test scores actually matter a lot more than some people think with U Chicago. One of the recent incoming classes had the second highest average ACT of any school in the country (CalTech was #1). In order to compensate for the gpa get a good ACT/SAT. And yes pursuing your passions and genuine interests is important but the test score hurdle is one that people going for selective schools have to jump over.
@elmejor21 Of course. I forgot to mention in the other reply. I plan on purchasing a few books related to helping me get a good score for the ACT/SAT. As a matter of fact I took the PSAT not too long ago and thought it was not too bad, obviously that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t study, but yeah I’ll I plan on getting a great test score to compensate for the low GPA. Thanks for the reply!
@ITMAN15 Yeah good luck man! Hopefully your application shows all your strengthens really well!!! I’m also glad you have other good back up options because it breaks my heart when people just fall in love with one school!