So, S20 is rising senior with 3.2 cumulative GPA (school doesn’t do weighted/unweighted) but scored well with 1360 SAT. He slacked off Freshman/Sophmore years but really turned around and was able to get a 3.6 GPA Junior year. He plays travel soccer and working on completing his Eagle Project next month.
We are wondering how much weight is given to the “upswing trend” and how much focus is given to Junior year GPA versus cumulative GPA? Class rigor is average…mostly Honors with 2 APs.
How much weight is given to upward trend vs cum GPA is totally dependent on the school. One good year isn’t going to wipe out two middling ones. If your school has good GCs they might be able to help you with some schools that will focus on the trend.
Consideration of upward trend would be more at colleges where subjective review is done, often in a holistic manner, including for academic record. Colleges which just plug GPA into a formula or compare against a pre-set threshold would not consider upward (or downward) trend. However, a 3.2 GPA applicant is more likely to encounter the latter at colleges which are realistic for admissions. Of course, the more selective colleges where subjective review is done are often those where a level trend at 4.0 is preferred, leaving upward trend as the best of the rest.
I agree that this is very dependent on the school, and also on how your kid explains this upward trend. The “package” matters. My daughter had all Cs and a D freshman and sophomore year, pulled them up to all Bs junior year, and then all As first half of senior year. She is not a good standardized test taker, so did not do well on ACT or SAT, but had great essays and ECs and presents herself really well. She got into some great schools (mainly LACs, but not all small), even with some merit. Some were test optional, some not. Eventually she applied ED II to a LAC for which she was in the bottom 25% with no hooks, and got accepted (somewhat to our surprise, I must admit–the acceptance rate at this school was such that many on this board would have told her she had no chance with her stats). All along the way in the application process admissions folks at a number of schools asked her about the upward trend in grades and were very impressed by how she had pulled herself together and worked to overcome a learning disability. A truly holistic school–and there are many–will like the upward trend in grades if they like the whole package the student presents.
S20 just received his first acceptance from Longwood! So exciting.