Throughout my High School years, I’ve always had a 4.0 unweighted GPA. But a lot of stuff happened Junior year and I might end up with 2-3 B’s. Am I screwed by thus point?
You can get into a ton of colleges with 2-3 B’s.
^
What classes are the ones you are afraid you might get Bs? What is your schedule like?
I probbaly got a B in AP Calc BC, Advanced English 11, and may have gotten a B in Advanced Chem 2 (there’s no AP chem in my school).
Whoops, I forgot to mention the difficulty of my schedule. My schedule is decently rigorous. I’m taking 3 AP classes and arguably the hardest class at my school (chem 2). I also dont have the best extracurriculars. I hold a leadership position in the Science Olympiad club at my school, but our team unfortunately doesn’t perform that well. I also participated in TSA, but only during my Junior year, and lastly I participated in the Orchestra since 9th grade,
Colleges recalculate GPA based on course rigor. You should be fine. I can’t link to it, but if you Google “academic index calculator”, you can see what GPA and test score combinations give the top “AI” values.
^^^^ Not every college recalculates GPA based on course rigor. – some colleges recalculate to get an unweighted GPA. others recalculate using academic subjects only, and some colleges do not recalculate GPA at all – the methodology varies from college to college.
But at every college course rigor is taken into account one way or another when a transcript if reviewed.
I want to attend the Penn State School of Engineering. Will I get in there with 2-3 B’s and the extracurriculars I have?
Moving to chance page.
What are the B’s in?
What Math Class are you taking next year?
Have you taken Physics or will you be taking physics (AP 1, APC…?)
Are you instate?
Will you have 4 units of English and history/social science + foreign language through level 3 or 4 by graduation?
If you add all APs and honors classes you’ll have taken by graduation what number do you get?
You look for colleges that work with your strengths and where you can manage the weaknesses.
Why do you phrase it, “probably” got those grades? No first semester grades yet?
For engineering in a competitive program, the B grades in APBC and chem can be a factor. The lack of math-sci ECs can be a hurdle. You find the program where you can succeed. That’s the question you should be asking. Starting engineering in college with some issues with stem courses/learning and maybe some missing experiences can be a big challenge
Adcoms look at the transcript- they’ll see the exact courses and grades. And they want to see juniors transitioning smoothly to the increased rigor this year.
So, the questions I’d ask are: 1. What are the other APs? 2. Are you looking at reasonable safeties, where you can succeed?
@coryindahouse You can always apply DUS to get a better chance of getting in. I’d ask this on the Penn State forum to get more informed responses.
@lookingforward I apologize for the extremely late response, but I wanted to give definitive answers instead of shaky ones.
- I only got 1 B my Junior year in Calc BC. Every other class is an A- or above
- I have a weighted GPA of 4.67 and 3.96. Assuming I don’t get any more Bs they should stay relatively constant.
- I’m the president of the Chem/Physics Club and Science Olympiad clubs at my school. I also served as the treasurer of the Science Olympiad club last year.
So I want to apply for Chemical Engineering at Penn State. Perhaps I’ll post on the PSU forum later, but with this new information, what do you think my chances of getting accepted are? - I have a 1400 SAT score, which I think is pretty low.
I don’t know much about Penn State, nor how much actual competition for engineering, but it looks reasonable to give it a try. https://admissions.psu.edu/apply/statistics/ As ever, make sure you can afford it and that you have other happy safeties.
Best wishes. Nice you saved those grades. 