<p>Hey guys, I just finished my freshman year of high school. I capped it off in an extremely disappointing manner with a cumulative GPA of around 3.3. Now obviously, I want to bounce back. The problem is that since I had a very poor freshman year, I did not qualify for any honors or AP classes in my sophomore year. </p>
<p>My schedule for the upcoming year:</p>
<p>-Algebra 2
-American Lit.
-U.S. History
-Chemistry
-Speech and Debate (optional, application and acceptance required.)
-Religion (Catholic School)
-Spanish II</p>
<p>I will work as hard as it takes to get a 4.0, but this would marginally improve my overall GPA, and wouldn't look impressive anyway. I was just wondering if getting a 4.0 with basic classes would do me any good. Obviously, this would open a much more rigorous course-load to me junior year, in which I hope to also achieve around a 4.0. Will 2 successive years of good grades significantly improve my situation? I also plan to do very well senior year. I know applications are due before senior year starts, so my GPA at the time won't be very spectacular at the time of application. Will colleges look at my (hopefully) strong senior year and implement that into my application? </p>
<p>I know that people always say to focus on improvement, but i'm just really worried that such a basic sophomore year will lead to my downfall. Obviously my class rank will be affected, but I know I can do better. I hope that three successive years of good scores will overshadow my poor freshman year. If I were to get a 4.0 every year from here on out, I would end up at a 3.9125. I'm also really worried that colleges will automatically count me out at the time of application because my senior year won't count, which would leave my GPA at around 3.76667. </p>
<p>Any honest and helpful answers would be hugely appreciated.
(Also, I'm not hoping for the likes of Stanford, Yale, etc. I'm looking more to NYU, University of Chicago, Amherst, and great schools like those.)</p>
<p>Many schools don’t look at freshman year at all or put little weight on the grades from freshman year. There is still time. That being said you should focus on improving your GPA before you tackle harder classes (if you couldn’t pull a 3.5+ freshman year which is the easiest what are you going to do in much harder classes)…</p>
<p>ArstyGirl13 is correct- Carnegie Mellon does not factor in freshmen year. Although Uni of Chi
and Amherst are not Ivy, they are also really difficult to get into. You may want to think about what you really want from your education then look into schools that can offer that for you. I think so many students/parents get caught up in the name/prestige and forget that what you need is a solid education and that can be had at a myriad of places. Work hard and think broadly about your choice.</p>
<p>I agree with you completely. I know that I have it in me to get into these high-caliber schools. I also know why I performed so poorly freshman year. I’m open to many schools, but just want the assurance that if I were to work hard and remain consistent here on out, I would be able to get into the top schools.</p>
<p>@artsygirl13</p>
<p>So would you agree that taking on basic courses in my sophomore year, succeeding in those classes, and then moving on to more rigorous courses in my junior year would be the way to go? That’s basically what my only option is, i’m just wondering if that would be okay in terms of my chances of ending up in a good school.</p>
<p>I mean let’s face it, you are going to be against people who took rigorous classes for all of high schools and got great grades (you are not in an ideal situation). To give you an idea, under CC standards my schedule was not too crazy/rigorous and by the time I graduate I will have taken 10 honors classes, 6 APs and 1 DE class.</p>
<p>That being said you need to increase your GPA. It is going to be very hard to increase your GPA if you got a 3.3 with not a ton of rigor freshman year (again remember freshman year is the easiest). So yes, take basic classes this year, you need to focus on improving your grades and improving your study skills/work ethic. Junior year I would not take more then 2-3 APs (and only in your best subjects) after that sophomore schedule though.</p>
<p>@artsygirl13</p>
<p>It’s great to receive an honest reply, so thank you for that. Do you believe that with a strong remainder of high school, and hopefully a GPA of around 3.9 despite my sophomore and freshman years would give me a chance at some of the more competitive schools? (provided that my SATs, ACTs, etc. are good.) I know that my ECs will be good, if not exemplary, but i’m really just worried about my actual GPA. Once again, thanks a bunch for the answers.</p>
<p>If you can get a 3.8+ for the next two years yes, but only at schools that do not look at (or value) freshman year. Two of the things that schools care more about are GPA and rigor and currently you are lacking in both departments. Focus more on improving your grades (rather then aiming for specific selective schools) and finding a school that is a good fit regardless of rank and selectivity.</p>
<p>Going from regular classes sophomore year to rigorous AP classes junior year might be a difficult jump. If I were you, I would email your GC and ask to be placed in one, maybe two honors classes (NOT AP) for your sophomore year. Pick your best/favorite subject for your honors course. That way the jump from sophomore year to junior year won’t be as difficult. </p>
<p>That’s pretty much what I did, and it worked well. Freshmen year I had two honors classes, plus a three classes typically taken by sophomores/juniors and I was the only freshmen. It was quite a jump from middle school, and I struggled a bit. Sophomore year I dropped down to one honors class and two classes typically taken by juniors/seniors. It allowed me to improve my GPA from 3.8 to 3.9 and I was able to handle a hard junior year schedule much more effectively than if I had taken only regular classes my sophomore year. So I would definitely try to keep one honors class in your schedule sophomore year - just less than you did your freshmen year.</p>