<p>I'm in 10th grade. My sister went to Harvard, and I've always wanted to go to an Ivy. But my 2nd semester sophmore year was really bad... I took too many challenging courses in an attempt to outdo my classmates (stupid, pompous, idiotic, I know), and though report cards are not yet out, I have a feeling that the grades are not going to be the best. My hardest class (AP Physics), might end up actually being one of my best grades, which is an A-. Does this completely ruin my chances? If I work really hard and get straight A's Junior year and Senior year, will that make up for it?
Thanks for any response.</p>
<p>Do you know how to calculate your GPA? Get an Excel file going and calculate it, for various scenarios. Then figure out what the range of GPAs might be for accepted students at your dream schools, through the Common Data Sets or by researching it on CC. See where you are within that range, and what minimum grades you will need in your last two years to be a strong candidate.</p>
<p>Isn’t that what an Ivy hopeful would do?</p>
<p>That is a good idea. I’ll wait until grades come out, but my GPA is a 3.83 unweighted so far. Thank you for the response! Also, I’m not sure how much this does, but my school is extremely rigorous in comparison to a lot of other schools. Do colleges weight this in the application process?</p>