Raising my GPA

Hey, i’m going to be a junior in high school this August and have some concerns about my GPA. Sophomore year did not go as planned, I had some personal issues that were very challenging to overcome which did not leave me with the best outcome for that year. My current GPA is a 3.4 unweighted, weighted i’m sitting at a 4.2. Sophomore year plummeted both my weighted and unweighted GPAs, but I want to fix that. I’m taking a number of AP classes this upcoming junior year, and i’m planning on getting A’s in the 6 AP classes and 2 Honors classes i’ll be taking. What kind of change do you guys think A’s would have on my GPA to sent to colleges at the end of the year?
Thanks for your time.

Hey! Do not stress out! Your GPA right now is great and your courseload is amazing! Just make sure to put in the effort and work hard! Colleges look at comebacks during junior year very highly. Having a GPA above 4.0 is a huge plus in college admissions so the fact you’re going to go even higher than 4.2 is amazing!

Make sure you can actually handle your planned course load. Getting As in 6 AP classes is difficult, especially if you are still overcoming personal issues. Talk to your guidance counselor about what your best options are to increase your GPA without overwhelming yourself. It’s always easier to plan to get an A than to actually do it (personal experience)

Six is a LOT of AP classes. Are you sure that you want to work this hard? Are your sure that it is going to be possible to do well in this many AP classes even if you work pretty much all waking hours? How many of them are history classes, and how many are in anything other than your strongest subjects?

I recall a high school junior in my house a few years back spending a VERY large number of hours on AP Euro History. Two of these at once would have been quite unfortunate. She had other APs at the time, but in subjects that were easier for her.

Personally, I would guess that you might be better off to take fewer APs, and get A’s in all of them.

Also, if you are taking this hard a course load, I would hope that computing your GPA under various scenarios would be quite easy for you.

Where do you want to go to school? That might help decide what you should take. Even if you get all As if your 6 AP classes your unweighted would only get to 3.6 ish so if you wanted to go to Harvard for example it’s probably too late. More later depending on your answer.

“Planning” to be superhuman, to balance out a year of being human, is generally not a good idea.

6AP+2Honors sounds unreasonable. How are you going to have any EC’s at all, with that kind of course load?

Don’t set yourself up for another crisis or for burnout. Just work normal-human-being hard and have a normal successful year. You’re already at a 4.0+ weighted - you don’t need drastic measures, just a solid upward trend and a realistic plan. There are many fantastic colleges that you will be well-qualified for.

Some of the most important things you can learn at this stage of your life are pacing, and being kind to both your present and future self.