Greetings, all!
Allow me to expand upon the title; my freshman and sophomore years of high school were, to say the least… underwhelming. To say more than the least, I went into junior year with a cumulative GPA sitting around a 3.1, and a few honors courses under my belt. To be fair, my school did not provide the opportunity to take more than a few accelerated courses at the frehshman-sophomore level.
In junior year, I inherited my most rigorous class load (as most juniors do). I took 2 APs (we are typically allowed to take 3 AT THE MOST during junior year, which I would have done had I performed better in sophomore year), and 3 honors classes. Paradoxically enough, I finished out the year with a GPA of 3.9 (our school does not weigh GPAs, maximum is 4.0) with my lowest final grade being a single B+ (something I’m still a bit ashamed of). My GPA through and including 11th grade is about a 3.4, and in senior year I will be taking 4 AP classes, and 2 Honors classes.
Over the course of the year, I took standardized tests and did fairly well on them; I received a 36 on the ACT, and a 1500 (800 in Math, 700 in English) on the SAT. I took the Chemistry and Math II subject tests, and received a 750 and a 790, respectively.
So, my question is as follows:
Assuming I have extracurriculars in sufficient quantity of sufficient quality (as I believe I do), am I damned from entry into the ivory towers? Or, would top-tier schools/Ivy Leagues see this upward trend in GPA and further evaluate my application?
First of all, I love your sense of humor (“damned from entry into the ivory towers”). If anything, I’d strongly advocate that someone like you with a seemingly wonderful personality attend an ivy league as opposed to an academic-focused high school-attending robot who can hash out quiz bowl awards like it’s nobody’s business.
Anyways: I think the upward trend is a positive attribute to your application. There may or may not be a reason for the low grades, but I think the fact that your GPA rose, coupled with good test scores (amazing in fact) shows that you either pulled yourself together or you got really lucky (but I’m betting it’s the first option).
While I’m no Ivy League admissions officer and I’m not sure what kind of EC’s you’re in or what sort of awards you have, I would definitely at least recommend that you apply to an Ivy or multiple Ivies.
Give it a shot if you can handle the application fees. I like your use of language. If you need/want someone to read/critique your essays at some point, feel free to PM me (Reed '74; Boalt '77; father of Dartmouth '13).
You seem like the type to have the ability to write astounding essays. I would give it a shot, you never know what could happen. Best of luck!
I was thinking the OP was overly flowery and didn’t have a great grasp of the meaning of some of the words they used in the in their post (so kind of surprised at the test scores, to be honest). So I am not so sure that their essays will be a selling point.
As you know, OP, your GPA is very much on the lower end of the scale for top colleges. It likely will keep you out, honestly. But feel free to apply to a few. Just be sure that you have some matches and safeties that you like and can afford.
I agree; I slept very little last night, and it has definitely affected my writing here. I was also in something of a rush at the time of posting, but enough excuses. My wording was redundant, and similar-sounding sentences were interspersed across a distance just large enough to make readers forget that they’d just read the same thing a few lines up. I acknowledge that this is not a good writing technique, and is in fact a cheap trick. In regards to your statement about my prose being purple, however, I disagree completely. On the contrary, I tried to keep things pretty pedestrian here.
Now, as a reply to those who posted above you, thanks for the words of encouragement. To you, intparent, I say thanks for the realism. However, something both you and your predecessors failed to touch upon was my general question (of course, it is pertinent to my situation) about how top-tier schools view an upward GPA trend.
P.S.
I’ve seen posts on this forum that were, to be frank, written terribly. These same posters would purport to have received scores that dwarf my own, have 4.5+ GPAs and a damn laundry list of outstanding extracurriculars. I would hesitate before associating one’s online scrawlings with test scores, and associating either with raw intellect.
OP - “my prose being purple” a.k.a. s.t.f.u. Lol, OP when I read what you have written here, I imagine you with a snobby British accent. Do you go to a prep school? Sir, do you stick your thumb at us with your tone? I don’t think the Queen would appreciate that. Sorry I am going off on a tangent. Just funny. Anyways, yeah, 3.4 = too low. Apply but don’t get your hopes up. I think you overestimate the upward trend as well.
Nope, not British either lol. And I don’t think I overestimate the trend, I just have no estimate. That’s why I came here to ask.
The upward trend in your GPA is very encouraging as this trend actually predicts very good college performance. Apply only after you have examined to prospective school more selectively than the simple descriptor “ivy.” You also need to select them. Apply after close examination.
I agree with intparent re: essays. Please have a strong writer read your essays.
Moving on…honestly OP, you aren’t likely to get in. But if you can afford it, choose 1 or 2 and give it your best shot.
Judging writing ability by how one writes on the internet - classic.
Don’t insult quiz bowl like that 
. Sheesh.