Hello everyone, I am a junior in high school starting my second semester of junior year. I have an unweighted gpa of 2.4 and a SAT score of 2340 (first try). I go to a STEM school in which I have already taken 5 AP courses (8 by senior year) and numerous gifted/accelerated courses. My gpa very low because I came into a college level high school very immature and lazy. It took me a long time to grow up and get my work done but my mistakes have caught up to me this year (college searching time).
I am hoping to get a perfect SAT score on my second try and maybe a gpa in the high 2s by senior year, end of 1st semester.
So my question is, based on my numbers, where do you suggest I apply to ? What schools would be reaches and which would give me average chances ? I would prefer Georgia schools but this is just a preference and I am willing to go where ever is best for me.
Also, If I do regular decision , how many more semesters will I have to raise my gpa before colleges see it ?
Don’t retake the SAT. There is virtually no difference between a 2400 and a 2340. You should focus on doing really well this semester (and first sem in senior year) to at least somewhat offset the 2.4.
There is NO difference for colleges whether you have 2300 or 2400.
However, you should be taking online classes or community college classes, planning to take several classes over the summer, etc, because that GPA won’t fly anywhere selective. Taking lots of classes to dilute your bad grades is essential. Focus on that for now.
@MYOS1634 can you please elaborate on taking online classes or community college classes? I am similar situation with my S, very low GPA and SAT 2250…I am looking at summer community college courses but they allow only 5.5 credit per summer so essentially only 1 course is allowed.
For colleges, the best proof you can do college work is if you’ve already taken a couple college classes in high school. So, taking college classes through dual enrollment, at a local community college or (if your district will pay for it) at a 4-year college, proves you can handle the work. Obviously your son would need to do the work and get good grades.
One course should be 3 credits, so perhaps you can find one 3-credit class and one two-credit class, or take two 3 credit classes and pay for the extra .5?
Diluting the bad grades: if he has 10 B’s, 5 C’s, and 5A’s over 3 years he has 60 points and a 3.0. This C block is worth 1/4 of the total. The more classes you add with A’s, the less weight those C’s carry. If you can add 5 more A’s, the C’s are somewhat “neutralized”, being only 20%; 10 more grades of B or A? the C’s are only 1/6th of the GPA. Obviously it’s not possible to take 10 classes senior year, so some strategic planning using the summer makes sense. Assuming 6 or 7 regular semester classes, your son can take 2 or 3 classes over the summer. So, you add classes where he can get A’s to “dilute” the weight of the bad grades by the number of classes taken. For this he would need to take extra classes (at the high school or community college). It requires some sacrifice (even if it’s a virtual class, it’s still a class that you carry with you to the beach, the lake, etc…) but the summer is a good time for this.
