Rising Trend vs Perfect GPA

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

<p>Ok it is obviously better to have perfect grades from the start, but how do colleges (mit in particular) look at rising trends? I have taken the most rigorous schedule from the very start of high school but in my frosh year, and the first semester of sophmore year, i got mostly b's. I have no excuse except simple laziness. Then in the 2nd semester of my sophmore year, something just clicked into place inside my head and i worked extremely hard. I ended with a 4.9 weighted gpa. Going from a 3.7 w gpa to a 4.9 w gpa was a big improvement for me. Now that im actually doing my homework with intrest and not just rushing through it, im getting A's in all my honors/ap classes. The thing is that my rank is 34 out of 360. If you just looked at my semester gpa instead of my cumulative, i would most likely be val. I have taken the most ap classes in my school (3 by end of soph year, 10 by the end of junior year) but my rank is extremely low (at least in mit terms) I am not extremely gifted at sat's either. Im sure i'll get a 700 on every section though. After looking at the stat threads etc, only one thing seemed to pop out at me-every person admited was one of the top 3 students in his/her class. I'm wondering with huge rising stats like mine and a top 10% score, would mit be able to look past my low rank/ early gpa? Thank You</p>

<p>Also, one more unrelated thing i have to mention. Ben Jones is the coolest person ever. I never wanted to apply to Mit. (im a junior btw) I was under the impression that it was for extremely bright nerds. I never felt i had what it takes to even apply to mit. Then i saw ben jones and co.'s blogs, and i was extremely surprised how real those people looked. They look like such bright and interesting people. Basically i think Ben Jones and Co should get a raise for being the most applicant friendly site out there. You guys are the most appealing admissions commitee ive ever seen. The number one reason i want to go to mit is so i can meet people like you. You guys go beyond the stereotype that admissions commitee members (adcoms i guess) are old boring people that just admit based on stats. So good job, you are definetly on the right page on how to appeal to students like us. Just hope harvard and yale doesnt catch on anytime soon lol.</p>

<p>Also if its worth mentioning, i did poorly on my ap tests-i got a 4,4, and a 3. I did well in the classes, i guess i didnt do well enough.</p>

2

<p>If MIT looked past your low rank / early gpa, they would also have to look past someone who's maintained all A's throughout high school. I just don't see laziness as an excuse.</p>

3

<p>Hey shark_bite,</p>

<p>Thanks so much for the compliments. :-) I'm glad you dig the blogs - your sentiments = exactly why we started them - to break the false stereotypes from which MIT suffers.</p>

<p>As for your earlier grades, they certainly won't help you, but aren't necessarily going to be the end either b/c we don't look only at grades. (Regardless, I certainly wouldn't use the word "lazy" on your app though!) :-) You're a junior, so you have a bunch of time left in HS. Use it to counter as best you can the stuff that happened early on with some real positives. You'll need to have some pretty impressive stuff going on in your last two years of HS if we're going to overlook the B's - otherwise, as farsighted points out, it will be tough to be competitive in our applicant pool.</p>

4

<p>"You'll need to have some pretty impressive stuff going on in your last two years of HS if we're going to overlook the B's ". By that, would you mean Bs in AP classes or regular classes? I, for exampled, managed 90% of my grades as As or A-s, but my Bs were in AP classes (1/3 of my AP grades were Bs - but our scale is SO messed up: 89-90 is a B, 91-93 B+, 94-95 A-, 97-98 A, 99-100 A+). Technically, it would be a downward trend in UW GPA because my APs were taken in 12th, and easier courses in earlier years. Would getting a few Bs in AP classes be frowned upon, Ben, our greatest source of info on MIT :)?</p>

5

<p>lol... i have 8 academic b's... but to be fair, 4 of them came freshman year...</p>

6

<p>You guys are fine, B's wont hurt to much.</p>

<p>Also thank you Ben for your help. I can't think of another place where I can get this information from the greatest source. Ha this is great for you because when it's cross admit time, many will choose mit because of you. So your time and investment here and in the blogs will pay off. Pretty sly.</p>