<p>I dunno, I think I have somewhat ok EC and definitely clear major choice and all that. I'm just worried about my grades.</p>
<p>Will adcoms think overall GPA or individual grades or upper trend is important?</p>
<p>Also, why would the non green card status hurt?</p>
<p>overall gpa is important, but a downward trend definitely isnt good.</p>
<p>For stanford and i assume for other colleges as well, admissions is need-blind for all citizens/permanent residents applying. However, they can only give out a limited amount of financial aid to international students which you would be considered as one if you didnt have a green card (i think). Therefore, if you planning to ask for financial aid, it might be harder for you to get into colleges.</p>
<p>What are you ECs btw? How about SATs?</p>
<p>according to my math, your (wowser) unweighted GPA is actually only 3.57</p>
<p>phyllo, no offense, but I don't think so.. i got about 3.78 or somewhere around there.</p>
<p>but that's only assumption. My GPA so far is better than that about 3.9 my counselor told me when I was applying for Boys State.</p>
<p>what is your gpa scale?</p>
<p>A=4
B=3</p>
<p>or are B+s and A-s ranked differently?</p>
<p>Also take note that colleges dont take freshman grades into account so that 4.0 you got your first year won't do anything.</p>
<p>I haven't taken SATs yet I'm going to this June. (wish me luck! I'm so scared)
but I've gotten 750 on SAT II Chem. I'm taking it again this May in the hopes of getting better score...</p>
<p>My ECs?
well
let's say
I'm just really into race relations because first thing I faced when I arrived in this country was racial discrimination. I've applied to various scholarships on that kind of topic (I'm gonna find out on the 30th for three of them!) and I have leadership positions in three very good groups working to bring all races together. I participate a lot in those programs and I hope the adcoms will like them.... Also, a student writer for a local newspaper, selected as the representative of my school for the county's government center leaderhip programs, and etc... also I got nominated for Boys State. I did my interview! I'll find out next week!</p>
<p>so anyway... </p>
<p>I dunno, it's been really hard, junior year. I know it's hard for all students across the globe, but it just has been for me. Family issues and all. </p>
<p>I'm so afraid that I haven't shown upper trend.</p>
<p>Lamdun, I asked an Ivy adcom when she came for college visit about the freshman GPA. She said, yes we do look at it. But might not consider it greatly.</p>
<p>so since i had like 4 B+s in my soph year and possibly 3 B+s and 1 B in junior year, it's not much of an upper trend, is it....</p>
<p>As long as you bring your gpa up and do well on the SATs (2100 at least) you have a semi-reasonable chance at the top schools. For HYPSM and even the top ivies however, you'll need a hook and/or amazing recs paired with great essays</p>
<p>hmm yea, I know...
Does writing a book help? lol (semi serious)
bring up GPA? sigh.. I wish I could.
My HS (please don't tackle me for this) is one of the most challenging public school in the nation (22nd? I believe). Anyway, getting an A in AP US is almost impossible in my school (the teachers said so themselves, that if we want an A in history, we're better off with regular us history) </p>
<p>If I do ED, do colleges look at my senior first quarter grade?</p>
<p>Yes, writing a book, getting it published, and getting on the NYtimes bestsellers list will be a great hook, but just writing a book isnt.</p>
<p>I know how you feel about the gpa. My school is i believe the 2nd best public school in California and a large number of students here would be getting 4.0s if they went to any other school in San Francisco. However, if a large number of students at your school are also getting lower grades than their potential because of the school itself, then class rankings will definitely be a big factor in the adcom's eyes.</p>
<p>And if you do ED, first quarter senior grades will not be counted.</p>
<p>the thing is my school doesn'd do ranking... AHHH</p>
<p>don't worry about, just make sure your counseler makes it clear that your school is highly competitve.</p>
<p>btw, thank you for quick and nice response, i really really appreciate it.</p>
<p>Do adcoms even read counselor's comments? don't they like computerize the SAT and GPA and cut off people from the list?</p>
<p>it's possible that they have a cutoff for SATs and GPAs, but they're talking about extremely low grades, so you'll make the cutoff for sure if there even is one.</p>
<p>And yes, they definitely read the counselor's comments.</p>
<p>i see. also, many HS have diff. weighting system, right? E.g. some students have like 3.8 uw but have 4.5 w GPA while some have 3.9 uw and 5.6 w. Do colleges re-calc GPA to standardize or w/e ?</p>
<p>again, it depends on ranking. Most high schools usually rank, so i dont know what to tell you about that.</p>
<p>ah
i see
so the colleges will be w/e my high school send them, right?</p>
<p>i dont understand that last question</p>
<p>i meant the transcript. If my HS doesn't offer rank, then colleges will have to just look at the GPA my HS sends, right?</p>
<p>Wow you are just a typical Korean guy or girl (I am not sure). Thinking that the adcoms just computerize people :) Although I am a Korean, I sometimes dislike Koreans (especially those who think that only Ivies are the best), just because they tend to stick together and ignore other races. (This is not a generalization, so don't get me wrong). I hope you are not one of them :) This is why I've chosen to attend a high school in NY where there isn't any Korean in my grade at least, and even if there were Koreans, I would not be quite friendly to them. </p>
<p>Anyways, Adcoms look at all of your application, SAT scores, GPA, ECs, Recs, and other stuff and depending on those, they will either accept you, waitlist you, or reject you.</p>