I recently got my grades from first semester, and it’s come to a shock to me that I got double the number of B’s I usually get. Two of my teachers do not update grades online and expect you to keep track of it yourself through your test scores. The confusing thing, however, is that we also get graded on homework and small miscellaneous other projects, so I actually have no idea how much they are worth. My GPA is now a dismal 3.66. Before this, it was a slightly better but also not that great 3.71.
I am taking 6 classes this year, one “class” is helping a teacher prep learning materials. The other 5 classes are all AP classes. During the school year, I never felt as if I was struggling, and it’s all the more frustrating that my B’s are all something around 89. My school does not do B +/-.
I averaged about two B’s per semester, but this semester I got four. I have a 2280 SAT score, 800 SAT II lit, math, and bio.
How badly will this influence college decisions? I applied to some pretty elite liberal arts colleges, maybe two colleges from the top 20, and the rest I previously thought I had a decent chance of getting into. (BU, Tufts, Emory, etc.)
Is there anything I can do in the meantime to lessen this HUGE negative impact to my overall profile?
thats not that far off if you don’t get in it probablly won’t be because of your senior year grades
I agree with the post above. Reiterate your interest in your schools via email and update them about any new anything that you can boast about.
Is four B’s really not that much worse than two? I feel like I now have virtually no chance of getting in anywhere – I am, in fact, trying to psych myself up for community college.
Does it really help to email the schools and tell them you’re interested? I feel like for more selective schools wish acceptance rates 3-% and below, your interest in them really doesn’t matter. Am I wrong?
Yes it really makes a difference. Many schools protect their yield. they want to know that if they extend an offer, you will take it. For some schools, it is such a big deal that they wait list students and wait for those students to call them to express interest. There is even a term for it (“Tufts Syndrome”)-that is schools that wait list students with credentials that are better than those that usually accept the schools offer to attend. Their fear is that those really strong students are just using them as safeties. The lower the yield, the less attractive the school looks to others. That lowers the number of applicant they get in subsequent years which brings them down in the rankings. This is a well known phenomenon. So schools do all kinds of things to improve or protect their yield. Given two similar applicants, schools will choose the one that is most likely to accept their offer-it helps the school to do that. Few schools don’t play this game. Harvard doesn’t. MIT doesn’t. Read pages 6-7 in A REVEALED PREFERENCE RANKING OF U.S. COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES by Christopher Avery Mark Glickman Caroline Hoxby Andrew Metrick
Working Paper 10803 http://www.nber.org/papers/w10803
Thanks @lostaccount. That was a pretty interesting read. I still think the interest boost may not be able to mitigate the effect of two more B’s, and a .04 drop in GPA.
I guess I just can’t believe that this GPA drop would really not significantly impact college admissions? Can anyone else confirm this?
Thank you so much to all who answered!
Can anyone else confirm that a first semester senior year GPA of 3.33 will not completely ruin my chances, as I had an average of 3.71 before?
You can chance yourself by going to the Common Data Set for each school scrolling down to Section C to compare your stats to those of the admitted students. One semester isn’t usually a deal killer but it obviously didn’t help. Get that ‘you are my first choice’ letter out to the school that is, in fact, your first choice -if they are a school that cares about demonstrated interest. The Common Data Set is also very explicit about which school care about ‘demonstrated interest’ and which don’t care.
As for the community college remark, I assume you are merely venting. If you didn’t apply to any real matches or safeties, then your best best is a gap year after which you reapply to a more realistic set of schools.
How can anyone make a blanket statement applying to all your listed colleges under all circumstances?
GPA is only one factor, but I wonder why you were so confident. Your GPA is only at the 25th percentile for Emory and its probably the same or lower for Tufts.
Your post title sounds like you failed all your classes!
If you are so worried, throw in a few more applications. If you are full pay then the deadlines are meaningless-since many are still looking for students in May. If you need aid, it is still early enough. Many schools have February deadlines. Just get a few more applications out. It may mean a few more clicks in some instances.