I’m currently a junior in high school. Right now, my grades are looking pretty decent. And that’s it. I’m not an all A’s student, just an A/B student, with majority B’s. During my freshman and sophomore years, I’ve kind of been playing around. Not even going to lie. I was a B/C student during that time and I didn’t think to take it serious because honestly I was clueless as to how college worked. I know, dumb mistake. I don’t know my exact GPA, but from the last time I checked it was a 2.8. I’ve never taken the SAT but I have taken the ACT once and I made a 19 on it. I am taking it again, and many more times after that. I’m being more serious in school now. I’m aiming for all A’s and nothing less. I am going to register to take the SAT and I plan on making high scores for both SAT and ACT. Do you guys think it’s too late for me to get my GPA and test scores to the acquired standard of a prestigious school? Or should I just might as well say forget it?
You can certainly go to college, and there are respectable choices, especially if you can get your UW grades over a 3.0 and bring up your SAT. But the “prestigious” ship has likely sailed.
You might be a good candidate for a SAT or ACT prep class. There is a lot of room for improvement in your scores. Don’t just keep retaking the test — take the prep class and then test again.
Get the best grades you can this year and prep/then test. Figure out what your family can afford as well.
If you can’t afford test prep, how about setting your eyes on the SAT and using Khan Academy for its FREE online tens prep? google for it and you will find it. If you set aside time each day to prep, you will see a rise in your scores.
One strategy that could get you into a “prestigious” college is to do the Community College-to-four-year-college route. You would go to your local community college. Most CCs have a path of study made to prepare students to transfer into four-year college. Usually students transfer into their state four-year colleges, and CCs have what are called “articulation agreements” to allow for that to happen easily. To discover your local CC’s articulation agreements, look for them online and/or go talk to the counselors at the CC and they can tell you which institutions they hold articulation agreements (AAs) with. However-- you can transfer into ANY four-year college that you want. You are not limited to those with articulation agreements. Note however that–
- colleges without AAs may not accept all of your transfer credits;
- be sure to target four-year colleges that give excellent FA to their transfer-in students. To find this out, look the Admissions and FA information on a particular college’s website.
- Many colleges say that they cost between $60K and $70K per year, but that’s the sticker price. The price that you personally pay can be much, much lower. You can find their approximate price for you by looking at-- 1) a website called College Navigator and hit the tab for each school that interests you. That will tell you the approx price foryour family’s income bracket. 2) Then run the Net Price Calculator on a college’s website.
For schools that both accept transfer students and have decent FA for transfer-in students, you may want to target for transfer in–
- Connecticut College
- Hamilton College
- Drew University
- Oberlin
- Beloit
- Union in NY
- if you identify as female, try Smith, Mt. Holyoke, Agnes Scott, Hollins.
Which state are you in? You may have perfectly good options among the public colleges in your state.
There’s also the many excellent public universities such as the UCs, which regularly accept large numbers of transfer applicants and have the highest percentages of low income students.
The primary drawback to state flagships is the prevalence of large introductory courses at the freshman/sophomore level, which is not an issue for transfer students.
Sometimes, it is too late to get into HYP right at birth (ie if you are not hooked). However, you can do a tremendous amount to improve your chances right now to get into a school that matches your aspirations. Start with improving your GPA, preparing for SAT/ACT, working in your community as a volunteer and leader and getting good recommendations from your teacher/counselor.
I would worry less about getting into a “prestigious” school, and more about getting into the “best school” that you can, in the sense that the “best school” is the one at which you can be your personal best. The “best school” for you may not be what you consider to be “prestigious,” or some other place with great name recognition; it may be a place that you aren’t even aware of at this point in time.
As another poster on College Confidential once noted, “There is so much more to college than just academics, and there are plenty of jewels out there that are not top ranked. In the end where you find happiness is where you will more likely excel which is the ultimate goal. If you are hating life you are not going to do well no matter how great a school is or supposedly is. College is what you make of it no matter where you land.”
Many large state universities have honors colleges which allow freshmen honors students to enroll in small honors only intro courses.
There are plenty of good schools that aren’t “prestigious”. Your chances of getting into a “prestigious” college for undergrad without winning the lottery first are, unfortunately, close to zero. Apply the lesson you learned too late in high school: do well in undergrad, “bloom where you’re planted”, and you can have an excellent shot at a prestigious graduate school. Do well in whatever time you have left in high school and you will still have a chance to attending a “good” undergrad school that is both a fit for you and that you can afford.
With a 2.8 GPA & a score of 19 on the ACT, prestigious schools & state school honors colleges are highly unlikely.
TBH, I am not sure if this is a serious post or not. If it is, you currently have average standardized test scores and a low B GPA. Even if you perfect cold fusion, you aren’t getting into elite schools. Not sure what your definition of “prestigious” is, but you should revisit your goals. Glad you’ve decided to take academics seriously, but the elites will be looking for students who have had a stronger academic history.
If your state has public U’s that you’d consider prestigious, getting good grades in community college and transferring is an excellent option. Some prestigious private U’s also take significant numbers of transfer students, while others take very few.
However, there are also well-regarded universities that are relatively easy to get into but have challenging and well-regarded programs. (Take for example the engineering programs at Iowa State - attrition from those majors is high, but successful graduates are ver well-respected.) Any sort of prestige is going to have a “weeding” stage, and you’ve already missed the boat as far getting past the weed-out filter based on your high school record. But you still have chances to prove yourself, whether at CC or at a 4-year university with less competitive admissions. And a strong junior year will broaden your options considerably, so do your best this year and then see where things stand. What do you hope to study in college? Finances will of course be a big factor as well. If you need financial aid then you will likely have to go with your own in-state options. If you can afford out-of state tuition at public U’s in other states or private college tuition (without merit aid, as that probably won’t happen), then you’ll have a wider range of options. (There may also be some tuition-reciprocity programs open to you, depending on where you live - but some of those programs will have minimum stat thresholds.) Definitely do some test prep - put the Khan Academy app on your phone, to get started!
Strive to get straight A’s.
Work on Khan Academy practice every day.
If you can, register for a prep course.
Your goal should be to get into a 4-year college.
Check your curriculum :
You need 4 years of English and history/social science; 3 years of the same foreign language (level 3 or higher); math through precalculus or calculus; biology and chemistry +2 other sciences (physics even regular, APES…)
Get a book called Colleges that change lives, start reading.
What state do you live in?
Have you talked budget with your parents?