Hey guys,
I’m kind of new around here but this is something that’s been tugging at me for a while, so I decided to have a go at this.
I just wrapped up my first year of high school. My high school is ranked in the top 100 nationally and is second best statewide. This year, I took six honors courses and a required gym/physical education course; my final cumulative GPA is 3.64.
This is way lower than I’d like it to be. I’ve proactively begun building myself as an interesting college applicant (considering aiming for Harvard, Duke, and Brown) with a genuine passion, so I’m not as concerned for ECs. My main concern is my GPA and how much it’ll affect me.
I did not prepare at all coming into high school. I completely breezed through middle school, and I figured that high school would be as easy (which it was not). Now that I’ve identified my mistake, I’m making up for it this summer. I’m taking summer courses in advance in order to prepare/learn the material ahead of time, so I’m fairly confident that I will show the upward trend that colleges supposedly desire. But the transcript still shows that 3.6 freshman year GPA. I’d just like to know this: is a 3.6 freshman GPA going to sink my chances of getting into top schools even if I get 3.9s and 4.0s for the rest of my high school years?
FYI, I have a strong core passion and extracurriculars based around it (music and performing). Additionally, my father and I are both well connected with Harvard and regularly donates to the school (so I’m a half-legacy: my father attended Harvard for grad school, but he continues to donate).
No.
No it’s not going to sink anything, just do better next semester. remember grades aren’t the only thing that matter