<p>Today I received my transcript and my jaw dropped (in my mind) when I saw that my cumulative gpa was a 3.48.
I haven't received a gpa like that in 2 years, so then I realized that it was because of my freshmen year grades. I know that UPenn prospectives have high gpas, so what are my chances?
I had to adjust because of pretty serious family issues in 9th grade, so my gpa was a 3.0. but since then, my gpa has been improving and pretty good (my only B+ is in an AP course).
So what should I do? I felt like my whole world just darkened. Even if UPenn doesn't put that much emphasis on freshmen year grades, that gpa is a sore spot on my transcript because that's the only gpa colleges will see!
Btw, I'm a junior.</p>
<p>“Here we are stuck in the amber of the moment. There is no why.”- Kurt Vonnegut</p>
<p>Lighten up and just work hard this year and next year. Hope for the best and and know that you cannot change your past grades.</p>
<p>It’s not too late. Keep taking rigorous classes, keep your grades up and when you write your application essays talk about the reasons for those freshman grades and how you overcame those issues. Take practice tests for the ACT/SAT. Get leadership experience in EC’s/volunteer activities and you’ll have as decent a chance as anyone else. Ivys like UPenn are a crap shoot for anybody. Good luck!</p>
<p>Edit: Nice quote xs0itg0esx!</p>
<p>i would reallly recommend that with ur app send a paragraph (approx 10 lines) being very frank abt ur problems in freshman year and stuff. i too had a severe problem as in that year i mainly concentrated on playing my sports and doing service activities. In the app (on commonapp) there is space for additional material and along with my resume i frankly explained to them that due to my mistakes and stuff i messed up freshman year. Dont treat it as a way to make an excuse for ur bad grades but rather a way to emphasize on the problem or the event that u participated in and its impact and how that has affected u. i also wrote abt how that experience of foregoing good grades by preferring sports and ECs has motivated me to concentrate on studies from sophomore year while also teaching me importance of time management. Also i highlighted that i had won the award for the ‘most improved student’ in my sophomore year and told my counselor to emphasize the same in her recommendation/report. I advice u do the same.</p>
<p>Also chill dont stress tooo much if you know that ur other years were very good coz im sure that NOTHING in the world is worse than my frosh year. Ask me my score and i will tell u. it will scare u that despite it i got into huntsman! </p>
<p>but make sure that you explain it in a polite and frank way without showing that u treat the grades as a joke and stuff and also say how that experience has helped. if you want, ill post my paragraph. also request ur guidance counselor.</p>
<p>NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO: DONT MENTION UR BAD GRADES IN UR UNI ESSAYS!!! only in additional material or as a seperate letter!! not in the ESSAYS! those are conduits to show ur interests/creativity and why penn! not grades!</p>
<p>Thank for your advice!
@akkipenn: wow! You got into Huntsman, which is a crapshoot for everybody! I’ll definitely use that commonapp paragraph and talk about how I improved. Just curious, what did you get? And it sure would be helpful if you did post your paragraph (cause even though my counselor is supposedly experienced, she’s…not much help? Even though our grade only has only 40 people). And I got a “most improved award” too, after my grades took a major dip freshman year. Freshman year seems so long ago…
@AVHS Dad: thanks for your advice! I’m trying to do all that in my remaining high school years…
@xs0itg0esx:Agreed. Life is full of regrets, but we can only move along and learn from past mistakes. Good quote by Kurt Vonnegut.
:)</p>
<p>Shall mail pm u the grades and paragraph. better that ways</p>
<p>thanks for helping me. And pm-ing is better than publicly posting it.</p>
<p>If you get an interview, I would bring it up then. Your interviewer may specifically ask if there is something else you would like Penn to know that cannot be found in your application.</p>
<p>They also give you a section where you can put additional information, and you can explain your situation there. I’m positive that colleges are understanding about personal issues that may have caused problems in the past. Besides, at least you didn’t get straight D’s freshman year or something, it was still a 3.0!</p>