<p>So i think i may be in a bad situation here. The thing is, In my first semester of freshman year, i got a 3.2. I knew this wasnt good, so in the second semester, i improved it toa 3.625.
It dropped to a 3.5 in my first semester of sophmore year, but thats because i have taken 2 IB classes this year that i kind of struggled in. However, i think i have gotten the hang of it, and i am sure i can make a 4.0 this semester, and the rest of hs if i can keep it up.
Will stanford look down on me because of my initial bad GPA, or will they take into account the fact that i improved?</p>
<p>I have also heard that "perfect kids with 4.0's and 2400's" get rejected, and that what really matters is the passion you show in your EC's, and you have to show this passion via your application essay. So, say this is what happens: I manage a 3.8 unweighted GPA, 4.377 weighted, 2200+ Sat, 700+ on 2 or 3 Sat II's, graduate with a full IB diploma, w full or at least near full IB schedules in 11th and 12th grade, graduate at like the top quarter or 10% of my class, and instead of doing like 5 ECs like those "perfect" kids, just do like 2( I am thinking physics olympiad, and ISEF), but really show the passion i had for it through my essay, what kind of a positive impact it had on my life, and things of that nature. Will i still stand a chance of getting into stanford, or other ivy leagues, or just get rejected because i am not one of those "perfect" kids?</p>
<p>I also might add that I am taking college classes outside of school at a community college in addition to IB classes in school, and i am making arrangements with my high school counselor to have those classes appear on my high school transcript. I will also have the transcript from the college i took the classes in, and i can hand that in if necessary.</p>
<p>From your intensity in this post it sounds that you’ll burn out long before you get your application to Stanford.</p>
<p>High school is part of the journey. Enjoy it. Thrive. Grow. Let your intellectual spark come out naturally.</p>
<p>Lots and lots of numbers aren’t what it’s about. You’ll do better in the end by focusing on a few things/subjects and doing as well as you can in them – get to know your teachers, develop high school relations, etc.</p>
<p>Your initial GPA might look really bad, especially since a lot of these kids you’re competing against will probably arrange their entire HS life around getting into Ivy League.</p>
<p>I would say: 2300+ SAT, get straight A’s in all your classes from now on, do more than two ECs, like 5-7, but get leadership positions in at least two of them and shine there, write amazing essays, get to know your teachers so that they’ll write you good rec letters, then hope for the best.</p>
<p>There’s no way to say: “here’s the foolproof IVY league formula” because all those colleges are so presitgious.</p>
<p>I would think you’re at a disadvantage to those perfect kids because they showed more consistency in their high marks and tend to look so impressive, and they still get rejected.</p>
<p>You’re taking the wrong approach to this whole process. Don’t try and be someone you’re not. There’s no way you can succeed with that mentality.</p>
<p>No you are not “screwed.” What people here are saying is that you are not looking at this with the right mindset. Don’t base your entire time in HS on what will get you into an IVY school. Do the best you can and see where that gets you. Don’t worry about advantages and disadvantages, just study hard, find some activities that interest you and give back to the community. There are more colleges out there than just the IVY’s that are very very good, and as you get more into the college process you’ll realize how many opportunities there are besides HYPS.</p>
<p>Dude, going by what you said, it sounds like you are gonna be burned out and nearly dead by the time you send in applications. FORGET what other people say. IGNORE them, and BE YOURSELF.</p>
<p>You can transfer in if that is what you choose to do, but I hear that when you transfer from a JC to some prestigious school like Stanford, it’s awful because of the large discrepency in workloads.</p>
<p>I would try something like Boston College, or some other well-known colleges that aren’t 4 year universities and try transferring from there if you choose to transfer. But ask yourself: Why is Stanford my dream school? How important is prestige? </p>
<p>There are many colleges that are really great, and I suggest you check them out. But if Stanford is your ambition, then work your ass off during HS and hope for the best.</p>
<p>thanks, yes i will work my hardest in my remaining years of HS, but i have this feeling that it will get me nowhere…idk, it seems as though whatever i do, i cant get in</p>
<p>It is far to early to be worrying about transfering.</p>
<p>Of course, we won’t tell you it’s impossible to get into a top choice–Nothing’s Impossible!–but it’s fairly unlikely, especially if you don’t go to a particularly rigorous school.</p>
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<p>I don’t recommend this. At this point, your best bet is to pursue something really interesting and compelling. You can’t make yourself the typical overburdened applicant at this point. You have to play up your atypical resume by becoming truly interesting and accomplished in one or two areas.</p>
<p>One of the reasons why i got a low GPA in freshman year was because I had major self esteem/depression issues…
idk if that means anything in the admission process or if the admissions people will even CAre, but yeah</p>
<p>glassesarechic: the reason I say 5-7 is because I only had 2 ECs, one which was very time consuming and the other about 3hrs a week plus I held president in both, but I was still rejected from UCSD and UCB. I’m not going to say that was the reason I got rejected, but I feel like it contributed.</p>
<p>What I really met by 5-7 is to find 2 good ones that are compelling and interesting to the OP, and then a few more that just look good but don’t require meeting up much. Like CSF for my school, we never meet, but it looks good.</p>
<p>arkarind: As cheesy as it may sound, when you give up mentally is when you’ve lost for real. It’s hard for anyone to go to Stanford, sure, but people still get in. On both the USC and UC system application, they had a section after the personal essays where you could “explain/articulate or tell us more about your academic history that doesn’t fit into any other section of the application”. I have a feeling most colleges do this, and Stanford might too. Given they have this section, I would write a third essay on your depression and how it affected your freshman grades. Take caution not to sound whiny though, I started my own on how I spent much of HS only looking at test scores, and thus bringing my GPA down because I never did my homework because I always scored high on tests, but then ended having to scrap it because I sounded too arrogant.</p>
<p>So work hard for the rest of HS, and if you get rejected so did more than 75% of their applicant pool. If you get accepted, then great.</p>