<p>I'm actually super worried because my sophomore/freshman grades weren't terrible, but they were just flat average. I finished with a final grade of 89 for both years, but I took an English honors class for sophomore year.</p>
<p>This coming junior year, I'm taking 2 AP courses and a non-mandatory Spanish class.
I take a good amount of EC's, including two art classes that are counted as a major in my school. Also, I don't know if it helps, but my school is "specialized" meaning it's one of the top in the state.</p>
<p>The colleges I have in mind are the University of Sussex, BCU, maybe CSU, Rutgers, Hofstra, Fordham, University of Alabama at Birmingham, and possibly NYU- all colleges are a huge reach...</p>
<p>So lets say I get an SAT score of 1800+, and with the classes I take this junior year, will my chances improve? How heavy do colleges look at freshman/sophomore grades, since mine suck? Thanks!</p>
<p>I can’t say much, but colleges do like to see improvement. If you can do very well grade-wise junior and senior year while taking rigorous classes the previous grades can be overlooked a little, even if you didn’t do so well as an underclassman.</p>
<p>Doing well on AP exams will probably help a good deal too as they’ll show you’re capable of college-level work.</p>
<p>If your school is highly competitive, colleges might take that into account as well.</p>
<p>Two words: upward trend.</p>
<p>An 89 is good- as long as you try to keep a 93, 94+ next year you should be fine.</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback- but the thing is, Im almost positive ill end up getting at least a B+ in my ap classes. And yes my school is highly competitive. How will colleges see this?</p>
<p>Any more suggestions/clarifications would be great- including personal experience on the topic!</p>
<p>First of all, an average un-weighted GPA is about a 2.9 for males and a 3.1 for females. According to a conversion scale, you have about a 3.3, so you’re above average.</p>
<p>Hofstra, Fordham, and UA-Birmingham are not huge reaches with an 89 average. Even Alabama’s flagship university admits people with below average (2.9 GPA, sub 1000 CR+M SAT) scores, so getting into one of its branch campuses will not be an issue. </p>
<p>The only reaches I see on there (unfamiliar with UK admissions) are Rutgers and NYU. If you can pay for NYU and aren’t applying to its most competitive divisions, it’s not an impossible reach. If CSU refers to Colorado State University, you’ll have no difficulty getting in. </p>
<p>You overestimate how competitive most of the schools on your list are and underestimate how competitive you are as an applicant. Btw, if you do manage an 1800, that puts you well into the top quartile of SAT scores.</p>
<p>“First, they know competitive schools from history. Second, your school sends a profile with your transcript that usually has info such as average SAT scores for your class, distribution of grades and such.”
(Info is courtesy of suze from this thread about school competitiveness. You might want to read it too. <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/309350-how-do-you-tell-if-your-school-competitive-large.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/309350-how-do-you-tell-if-your-school-competitive-large.html</a> )</p>
<p>@whenhen- Thank you so much!! Yes, I totally overestimate how competitive colleges are and my chances of getting in with the average sophomore and freshmen grades I have now. I don’t want to be stuck in a city college and I do want to go into a university, even if it is out of state. I just don’t know what my chances of doing that are. But thank you for the reassurance!</p>
<p>@apdenoatis- thanks for the tip, and I read the thread. I would say my school is competitive (I mean I don’t have actual stats with me) but you do have to take an entrance exam (SHSAT) to get in and it’s considered one of the 7 “specialized” high schools in NYC. I just don’t know how colleges would take that in consideration while reviewing my grades.</p>
<p>Any other suggestions? Or if possible, can you include college suggestions? I don’t have a formal idea of what colleges are out there besides the ones that I hear about the most, so it would really help me! Thanks!</p>
<p>Also, if I were to apply to colleges like Princeton, University of British Colombia (Canada) Boston, UCLA and Brandeis- is that a big reach? I know I haven’t taken my SAT’s yet, but I was just wondering if I have a slight chance considering the classes I’m taking this coming year + my grades soph/freshman year. Thanks!!!</p>
<p>Princeton is a huge reach for you, and depending on your ethnicity you would need at least a 2200 or even high 2300 on the SAT; I live near the area and know some kids who were accepted there, so I’m pretty positive about this. You’d have to have straight or almost-straight As in junior and senior year, preferably with honors classes, and very good extracurriculars plus high scores on your other exams. In short, you’d have to work your butt off and do exceptionally well to show vast improvement after your last two years of high school.</p>
<p>With an 1800 on the SAT, U of British Columbia might be a match, but the others you listed might be a reach.</p>
<p>Coming from a competitive school won’t give you a large advantage; it’s simply taken into account and you’re given a little bit of leeway, but that’s about it.</p>
<p>Still, an 1800 on the SAT isn’t a bad score in the grand scheme of things and I’m sure you still have some good options. But if the colleges you listed are the ones you really have your sights set on, you would do well to put in the effort to get at the very least a 2100 on the SAT.</p>
<p>With an 1800, you could probably make Rutgers and Hofstra, with Fordham as somewhat of a reach. I’m not sure about the others. Again, try for a 2100 or 2200 on the SAT; then you might have a better chance of getting into the colleges you want.</p>
<p>@apdenoatis Thank you so much for the feedback, I definitely won’t apply to Princeton with these grades! And at least a 2200, got it. Thanks!!!</p>
<p>You’re welcome, haha. Don’t take everything I say at face value though; these are things you can also do some research on for yourself. Check Forbes or US News or other parts of the College Confidential forums, or if you can, visit some colleges and their websites and find out about admissions. There’s also a huge blue Collegeboard book with statistics about colleges and their average SAT scores and GPA, etc. which may be of interest to you. You don’t have to buy it, but if you run across it at a bookstore just take a look.</p>
<p>Apparently there are instances when Princeton accepts people with SATs under 2200, at least from my school, but those are rare. If you really love the school, try it… if you’re lucky, the college will be well aware of how difficult your school is, and if you have a good GPA and extracurriculars or have some special talent maybe they’ll take you, I dunno. Just don’t be surprised if you’re not admitted.</p>
<p>SAT scores are helpful in the sense that colleges can use it as a standard of comparison between you and other students, which is useful since you’re coming from a competitive school, but GPA is very important as well so make sure your grades don’t drop too low either :P</p>