POOR GRADES and LACK OF HOPE.Help.

<p>I can’t understand how you would be able to fail (not even get low grades, but getting F’s) without a real lack of hard work unless you’re schedule was just way too rigorous for you. if you’re having trouble with so many AP and honors classes, take less. get a schedule rigor that challenges you, but is still doable. good luck :)</p>

<p>@chewbacci Okay, so I’m going to repeat it again. There are many, many other J-schools and schools that specialize in the communications field (journalism and communications coincide together). Columbia only has a graduate journalism school, so that’s already out for you. Seriously, just start looking up lists of journalism schools and schools that are good for journalism. You’d be surprised to find that in the mass media industry it’s not just about where you go to school and if the name on your diploma says NYU and so on. Schools like Emerson, which would be considered a reach for you at this point in time, have some of the most well respected programs in the country. A lot of the people you see on television have gone to Emerson. It’s a very, very good school. Indiana is an extremelyyyy well respected university also. You personally have to do some digging around Google. Look through the boards that talk about journalism majors. Also, if I were you, I’d identify another one of your interests so that you can possibly double major/major and minor in something. It’s good to have a background in more than just journalism in order to have a chance in today’s economy. Take it from someone who has quite a few journalists in her family and wants to be a broadcast journalist. There are many anchors on news networks today that didn’t go to NYU, BU (I’ve only ever heard of BU’s program talked about once, and it was in Boston.), and the like, but to other universities where they studied different topics and then made their journalism career path.</p>

<p>From what I understand colleges also look positively on “upward trend” in your grades, so if your junior year grades are greatly improved, and you take senior year grades seriously, this would also go in your favor.</p>

<p>“Prezbucky are you talking about a 3.3-3.5 cumulative unweighted gpa or a just a cumulative 1(junior) year unweighted gpa?”</p>

<p>Chewbacci,</p>

<p>I meant overall GPA at time of app. After I wrote that I crunched some numbers and it seems if you have a 2.6 right now (after two years of HS – 4 semesters), the best you could do would be a 3.2 (three semesters at 4.0) overall by the time you would need to apply RD. Of course, if you took more credits in those three 4.0 semesters than you did in the four previous semesters (per semester…), there would be more weight to the 4.0s and you could go higher than a 3.2</p>

<p>Asking someone to get a 4.0 three straight semesters is a lot to ask. I think you shoudl definitely go for it, but don’t get too discouraged if you fall a bit short. Maybe a more realistic GPA goal (overall GPA by the time you apply) would be 3.0+ – just get it over 3.0 and kick butt in other portions of the application.</p>

<p>Ohio’s average GPA of enrolled freshman was around 3.33 and their average SAT is maybe around about 1700. Missouri’s SAT numbers are similar. So if you have, say, a 3.05, what do you do? You get 1800+ on the SAT. You show them how many clubs/competitions/teams you’ve been in or played on, volunteer hours you’ve worked, etc. You write great essays.</p>

<p>Lots of applicants are a bit low in one area of the app – GPA, test scores, ECs, whatever it may be. You might be a bit low in GPA for the schools you love (NYU and BU) and the other five schools (UF, MU, UMD, Ohio, IU), but that can be mitigated by excelling in other parts of the app.</p>

<p>Missouri, BTW, is thought by many to have the top J school in the country. It certainly is top-5 in anyone’s ranking. </p>

<p>Lastly, as others have mentioned – if none of those works out, you can always enroll at a nearby smaller state school, work your tail off to get top grades, and then put out transfer apps should you find your school undesirable/lacking (which might not end up being the case…).</p>

<p>Whatever you decide, you’ll maximize yourself and your chances by trying your best this last year and a half before you send out college apps. Get to work. :-)</p>

<p>This sounds like me in middle school (well, a little different). I got multiple c’s and d’s and failed a class in 6th grade and got tons of referrals and in school suspensions. But as I stepped into highschool I realized how important this was and how I really had to care about my grades. I passed freshman year with straight A’s and no bad behavior. Sometimes people are just genuinely slower and aren’t as smart as others–and I get that. If you dont really consider yourself that smart (new concepts dont click fast or it takes you time to understand things and how to use/apply them) then I would suggest really putting a lot of extra time towards studying for school. Do all your assignments seriously (dont BS any of them, not even homework) and study each subject for at least 10-15 minutes each every night even if you dont have a quiz or test any time in the future. Try and pay attention in class and ask any questions you have (if you feel like you have too many, and dont want to draw that much attention, just see the teacher when they finish lecturing and ask them one on one). Also, stay for any tutoring sessions available and if there are none of those get together with a classmate afterschool sometime and study together. </p>

<p>If you do consider yourself smart however (complex concepts come easy, you get things once you hear them etc), then you getting an A is just about you putting forth the effort. Think about your future everytime you are discouraged from focusing on your schoolwork, think about how proud your parents might be (or how disappointed if you come home with some more f/d/c’s), or maybe think about it as a personal goal for yourself. Make sure you finish all the classwork/assignments and do your homework 10-15 minutes after you get home (for a snack and a little down time). Study a few days in advance for test and look up some good notetaking and study skills. By just doing these things I brought a sad report card to be a perfect one. :)</p>

<p>Thank you! I’m gonna keep pushing forward. What are somethings I can do to make my college app look really good? I bought the SAT book and I was wondering if there was a certain way to study the book, like a guide. Again,thank you guys for supporting me :)</p>