<p>Hey! I'm going to be a junior next year, and Princeton is one of my top choice schools as of now. I heard that Princeton doesn't look at freshman year grades. I didn't have a horrible freshman year, but my freshman year grades are certainly 'less-ideal' in helping me to get into similar schools. My freshman year grades ended up being a 3.826 W and a 3.652 UW. I took one of the hardest schedules available to me at my school, though not the hardest. (My school only allows freshman to enroll in Honors English and Honors Geometry, and I was in Honors Geometry).
This year, I got better grades, and the only B I received was in Honors Algebra II, making my GPA a 4.000 W and 3.826 UW for (10-12). Once again, I'm taking one of the hardest schedules at my school. My school only allows sophomores to take Honors Algebra II, Honors English II, and Biology AP. I'm didn't choose to take Biology AP because I just DREAD Biology, and why take something that you don't like? In addition, all my friends in Biology AP are required to go to regular Chem next year, which I already completed this year, and I'm taking AP Physics B next year.
My question is--will my freshman/sophomore year ruin my chances of getting into one of my dream schools? Next year, I will be taking a rigorous schedule at my school with the exception of AP Language because I didn't get admitted to the class. And about the whole GPA situation--my school adopted a new policy to remove class rank due to the competitiveness of our student body.</p>
<p>Keep your unweighted overall high school g.p.a above 3.9, and you might still be able to keep it above 3.95. It is unlikely that you will get in with a overall high school u.w g.p.a of less than 3.9.</p>
<p>People from my school regularly get in with 3.7s and 3.8s, so there’s not a hard limit for GPA. (Then again, my school is über-rigorous.)</p>
<p>Unlikely accept w/o an uw gpa of 3.9. LMAO !!</p>
<p>.02 David</p>
<p>Most highly competitive schools like Princeton state that the rigor of your courseload is THE #1 consideration. I’m sure there’s an assumption that grades will also be top-notch </p>
<p>You wrote that you took almost as tough a load as you could last year. There were two AP courses offered and you took one them. That’s a very generous appraisal of what “almost the toughest load” would look like. </p>
<p>I think if you want to get into Princeton, you should start taking THE toughest courses available in all cases, no exceptions.</p>
<p>Seems a tad tough, depends on your major, and your school’s tough curriculum doesn’t mean everything either, taking higher courses in math or doing research will have a much more pronounced effect. Secondly, do what you really enjoy, not what Princeton wants, you won’t be happy otherwise.</p>