low gpa chances... high rank! how is this possible?I NEED HELP!

Applying to College
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<p>PLEASE READ ALL : )</p>

<p>k this might be a long post, but please read it all if you can because it really contains information valuable to me. Most officers NEVER directly answer my question regarding gpa and rank, so hopefully you guys help me out. My high schools years were pretty much the worst 3 years of my life. Part of my extended family ( cousins and uncles) passed away and even part of my own family...( pretty much very valid reasons for a low gpa)... </p>

<p>another reason is my school has massive grade deflation where many classes only have 0-2 A's in a class out of 25-35 kids. </p>

<p>my counselor will include both of these things in her rec. The thing is though my weighted gpa is MUCH higher than my unweighted. i have taken the most rigorous courseload I belieev one can take...i have taken 12 ap classes in high school and an additional 15 college courses duing the summer. So i have taken a total of around 27 college courses in high school which, if transfered credit, would make me a senior if i enter college, TECHNICALLY!...My transcript nevertheless has many many many many B's and 2 C's.</p>

<p>Weighted gpa is around 4.25 and unweghted around 3.6... MY counselor will only send weighted gpa because ourr rank is based on weighted gpa's</p>

<p>Now here comes the funny part... </p>

<p>since i've taken around 20 more college courses than my peers and since rank at my school is based on weighted gpa... heres what the colleges will see in the counselor rec:</p>

<p>weighted gpa: 4.25 ( for stanford and princeton its a 4.55... exclude freshman year which was the worst year for me)
Rank: top 5 out of 570 ( could be 1, 2 or 3) ( rank 1 for 10-11 grades)
unweighted gpa: N/a</p>

<p>Rank based on: weighted gpa! : )</p>

<p>school doesnt report any unweighted gpa's or unweighted ranks</p>

<p>of course they will see the MANY! B's i have gotten. But what in actuality is more important, rank or gpa? my school literally has massive grade deflation. It would seem funny that the valec/salec of the schools has sooo many B's... how do I tell them about my circumstance?</p>

<p>I'm saying this because pretty much everything is decent and above average i hope besides my gpa... i'm only worried about my gpa. i dunno if other parts of the application that are AMAZING can somewhat make up for gpa ( i'm not worried about my class rank) .</p>

<p>schools i'm lookin at:</p>

<p>UCLA
UC San Diego
UC Davis
Georgetown
Columbia
Stanford
northwestern-common app
brown
Princeton-Common APP
U of Chicago
Cornell-COMMON APP
Harvard-Common APP
Yale- Common App
Upenn-COMMON APP
USC
Rice-common app
Duke-common app</p>

<p>ED: Columbia
EA: University of Chicago
ID: Rice</p>

<p>I only want to get into at least 1 private school : / and hopefully ucsd or ucla</p>

<p>uc gpa capped is around 3.9-4.04... but if u uncap it... its around 4.55 ( upward trend in gpa and of course my low gpa of freshman year isnt included in the uc gpa)</p>

<p>WHATS THE VERDICT? DO I STILL HAVE A CHANCE? : )</p>

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<p>ECs? Test scores? Interests?</p>

<p>Obviously, your efforts to take the most rigorous curriculum are impressive. But I'm wondering if your school is competitive. A college will be able to calculate your UW gpa just be looking at your transcript. Your numerous Bs, or rather your lack of As, may hurt you then.</p>

<p>Unless you're in-state, your GPA will push you out of contention for Stanford and UCLA.</p>

<p>A lot of your other chances depend on the factors I listed above.</p>

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<p>The colleges will look past your GPA and take into account the grades you have actually received. It's possible that they will even recalculate their GPA to stack it against their measuring stick (many colleges do this). Make sure to apply to safeties that you're sure you'll get into.</p>

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<p>Thanks alot guys! I am in state( cali resident). I would think that no UC applicant takes more than 4 ap's because thats all the UC's weight. Wouldn't taking 25 instead of 4 be pretty neat? I guess not : /</p>

<p>I'm not sure what the last poster above me is saying! Someone paraphrase! It sounds very helpful!</p>

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<p>Wait, UCs only weight up to 4 APs? What if you had honors classes? Where did you find out the information that they only weigh up to 4 AP classes?</p>

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<p>i think you'd learn more from past scattergrams of your school than from this website. you say your school has massive grade deflation, but has that helped or hurt people at the top of your class in past years?</p>

<p>i would think that rank means more... but scattergrams will be able to show you, not responses from here or admissions officers.</p>

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<p>


</p>

<p>All I'm trying to say is that if you've gotten a lot of B's and C's, colleges that are grooming for applicants with solid A performance might focus more on individual grades than your GPA. (I'm talking about really selective schools here).</p>

<p>You've gotten a 3.6 though, so you've had to have had your fair share of A's? (Don't make your situation sound so dire :)).</p>

<p>From what I have learned, colleges definitely take into account extenuating circumstances which may have interfered with your academics. What are your SATs?</p>

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<p>I'm curious... how did you take all those college courses during the summer? Community college? What courses did u take? Can you pm me firebird?</p>

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<p>well i took 3 college courses my first summer of high school and 15 my next summer. I'm just going to be so mad that I put in all this work ( 12 ap classes as well+ 18 community college courses) and I'll end up at davis or uc irvine... i just want to go anywhere better than those schools on my list. I was so desperate to take community college courses that i quadrupled enrolled( community colleges only let high schoolers tkae 11 units at a time no more!). I had to enroll at 4 different community colleges to take a total of 15 that summer. </p>

<p>i believe my sat 2's are all above 720 and my sat 1 is around 2200.</p>

<p>I even looked at g town's appication last night and they dont ask for unweighted gpa... just CUMULATIVE gpa and weighted rank. of course they WILL see my transcript, but I WISH that rank is looked more upon than gpa. </p>

<p>and yes i have around a 3.6 unweighted gpa which means i have gotten alot of A's : )</p>

<p>but cmon... with massive grade deflation and numerous deaths in ones family, i couldnt have gotten even a 3.8 unweighted + at my school</p>

<p>nobody at my school has a 4.0 uw. know schools in LA where numerous kids get 4.0 uw gpa's, but only half the kids can pass the high school exit exam... i dunno what admissions officers think about this.</p>

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<p>uh i took sociology, freshman college english,college precalculus @ uc berkeley, rel estate principles, microeconomics, math analysis, princeiples of music, philosophy, humanities, astronomy, business and criminal law courses ( graduate level? i dunno lol) and about 10 others</p>

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<p>UC will recompute un-weighted, 8 semester weighted and full weighted GPA of your 10th and 11th grade UC approved a-g courses only.</p>

<p>8 semester weighted is calculated by giving 1 bonus point for up to 8 semester of UC approved Hons. and AP courses for your school.</p>

<p>Full semester weighted is calculated by giving 1 bonus point for all the UC approved Hons. and AP courses for your school.</p>

<p>With 1 bonus point an A becomes 5.</p>

<p>You can get the credited course list for your school on the UC web site.
If you have taken a lot of courses in 10th and 11th that are a-g UC approved courses for your school and for the college then getting B's and C's will hurt you.</p>

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<p>Here's the thing. While GPA is important, rank is just as important because it accounts for grade inflation/deflation. For example, if an applicant had a 3.9 and was ranked 55/100, the admissions office would see this as grade inflation and not take the applicant's nearly perfect transcript as seriously as an applicant who has a 3.7 GPA but is rank 1/100, showing grade deflation.</p>

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<p>bad1017: Not necessarily true, it depends on the school and its reputation too. 3.9 with 55/100 rank from a tough school is a preferred choice than a 3.7 with 1/100 rank from a no known school.</p>

<p>If you go to UC website they do have classification of the High schools.</p>

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<p>Regardless, they will definitely take your rigor of courses into consideration. Without knowing your EC's or test scores, I can say in my completely unprofessional opinion that I think you have a good chance at all of your schools. I would get in contact with your adcom rep and start talking to them about the rigor of your schedule and whether or not your GPA will hurt you.</p>

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<p>all i'm saying is i am def in the top 1 % out of 560 kids... and i could be rank 1, but still i have so many B's, i hate it. And yeah, I don't mean to brag, but I honestly believe I've taken the most rigorous courseload one can take. Unless some1 can find a kid that takes 30+ college courses in high school : /</p>

<p>I think it was kinda a waste of time now that I know UC's only weight 8 semesters! LOL .. w/e its all for the rank now... let's see how much emphasis rank is weighed.</p>

<p>I tried talking to my adcom reps and they just say: "include all this information on your counselor letter... it'll be fine"</p>

<p>really doesn't say much.. that's why I'm thankful I've learnt more here on this thread than from any adcom.. pretty sad. And they barely reply back... </p>

<p>Well if you wante to see a quick summary:</p>

<p>Sat 1: 2200 (projected)
sat 2: all above 700
ACT: 33 ( 36 math)</p>

<p>EC's : (only 7 of them)
Eagle scout
started my own business
Work for the city government as a Youth Commisioner
dance for 10 years ( blah blah positions awards competitons)
tennis for 10 years (blah blah positions/ officer position awards competitons)
800 hrs of comm service
Prez of 3 clubs and founded 2 clubs and other positions in other clubs</p>

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<p>Community college courses sometimes are considered easier than some top public high schools, but I think you should be ok for ucla/ucsd but not sure about Ivies. But you did not have to take all those classes in the summer, could have spend your time doing something else for sure.</p>

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<p>eh... thanks for the advice.. kinda late lol and my community college allows adults to attend who are pretty much smarter than ivy league kids... so it's like i'm competing with people with 40+ years of intelligence...</p>

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<p>bump.............</p>

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<p>bump......</p>