I am currently a high school sophomore in SoCal. My current unweighted GPA is 3.4 and I know I can change that because I will be taking 6 AP courses (3 per semester) my junior year to increase my weighted GPA. So far, my first semester of my sophomore year has been the most difficult. It looks like I will be receiving a C in math. This is the first C I have ever gotten and hope it will be the last. Next year as a junior, my plan is to take AP Biology, AP History, and AP English which will increase my overall weighted GPA. By the end of my junior year, I plan to have around a 3.4 unweighted GPA, and around a 3.6 weighted GPA.
These past few months, I have been thinking about some potential colleges I would like to attend. I am interested in going into Business Administration/Management. I have a few schools in mind but one school that brought my attention was New York University. I began to research and was very impressed with the Stern school of business. My only concern for this school is the tuition. (Any advice on how to handle this crazy expensive tuition?)
My extracurriculars include: 8 years of piano at local music school, 4 years of club swim team, and varsity swim team throughout my entire high school career.
I have many questions regarding NYU:
Does NYU look at weighted or unweighted GPA?
Will one C ruin my chances of getting in?
Do they care more about individual grades, or more about GPA?
What does this University look for most in their applicants?
Is the tuition really that expensive, if so how can I overcome this?
I know I am just a sophomore and haven’t taken the SAT or ACT, but as of right now, am I on the right track?
NYU is pretty selective. I’ve noticed that grades are not everything at the top schools, so show leadership and volunteer. I took act my sophomore year and it definitely helped me de-stress, so I suggest doing that. NYU does not offer much merit scholarship and cannot guarantee any financial aid, so I might not apply. Also, their stern school is one of their harder ones to get into, so if you look at average gpa to get in to NYU, that number might be lower than Sterns average GPA. Also, colleges look at weighted GPA, but look at classes available to you. If your high school offers one AP/IB and you take it, that’ll look good. If your high school offers 10 AP and you take 1, not as good. Colleges compare your GPA to the other students at your school, so if you can only get up to a 4.0, then that is the scale you are graded on. I suggest you visit NYU, and maybe look at BU and Pitt
@mrug23 Thanks for the info! With a 3.6 weighted GPA, would I have a good chance of getting into NYU as well as Stern? My family is middle class but not struggling financially. Is 60k a year hard to overcome tuition wise? If so, what are some other potential business schools I should be looking at?
NYU’s average is a 3.7, which means you’ll want to get over their average sat/act. I’d shoot for a 30 on act at least or 1400 on SAT. Penn State’s Smeal College of Business is very good. Indiana University - Bloomington is also easier to get into and in the top 10 business schools. NYU tuition is 60k, but don’t forget room and board. The cost of dorm rooms kicks the price up to 75k or so. For me (middle class family), Ivy’s would be cheaper than NYU. Penn State would be cheap if you live in PA. If you live In NY, check out the SUNY schools, especially Buffalo. Rutgers (NJ) also has a pretty high acceptance rate and has a good business program.