Should I do early action/decision with a decent GPA?

Applying to College
1

<p>Hey guys,</p>

<p>I was wondering if I should apply for early action/decision when my previous grades were not that good? i currently have a 2.7 and recently pushed it up to a 2.85. I plan on increasing it even more in my senior year. I went from B-, Cs, and rarely Ds (1 D in freshman semester and another D in sophmore semester) to C+, Bs, and A- in my junior year. Should I still apply early actions/decision or should I hold off from that and let me grade go up the most. I'm worried that if I do early action/decision, colleges won't see my highest GPA. </p>

<p>the colleges that I will sign up for is WPI, BU, Umass Amherst, Northeastern, Umass Dartmouth. I plan on majoring in computers. </p>

<p>the two colleges i will apply for early action is Umass A and WPI.</p>

<p>Should i</p>

2

<p>Try and get one or two applications out as soon as the app is available for your rolling decision schools. (this means you have to run over to school and sweet talk the guidance counselor into sending your transcript. He/she might have weird summer hours so you may have to find a secretary who can do this for you)</p>

<p>Your first semester senior grades might not be available until mid January so take that into consideration. Many colleges will have zero interest in your mid quarter grades.</p>

3

<p>what do u mean by rolling decision schools? do you mean the schools that I want to get in but can’t? like risk schools?</p>

<p>so basically u r saying that what my colleges will now see is my 2.85…so should I hold off and wait till normal action?</p>

4

<p>By rolling decision (the dates keep moving or rolling as the year goes on) , I mean there are many schools that will offer a decision within weeks of receiving your application. There is no set date to send in your app. My older son had a GPA of 2.69. He applied in August and had 2 acceptances and 1 rejection by mid September. </p>

<p>As for your GPA. Take a look at the deadline dates and then take a look at what your transcript will look like at that time. This is what they will initially see and then the colleges will receive a copy of your semester grades in mid January. If your school is on trimesters, it might be different.</p>

5

<p>For example, I want to apply to WPI…the following is the application schedule:
[Office</a> of Undergraduate Admissions - Application Deadlines](<a href=“http://www.admissions.wpi.edu/admissions/calendar.html]Office”>http://www.admissions.wpi.edu/admissions/calendar.html)</p>

<p>It says that January Admission is rolling but the application deadline is nov. 15. So does that mean that I can send in my application form on Nov. 15 but hold of on my transcript until say my GPA is better? i’m a bit confused.</p>

<p>I think that maybe the early action round 2 (jan 1) might be a good choice for me b/c

  1. my grades will rise from then
  2. a lot of sites say that colleges accept more student in early action than normal regular decision.</p>
6

<p>January admission is for students who want to enter in the spring term.</p>

<p>At face value it seems like Early Action 2 would be a good option for you for WPI, but somebody with more insight on WPI admissions may have a different opinion.</p>

7

<p>wait I’m so confused…
I thought both the early actions were for entering in the fall term?
so if I want to enter in the fall and i want to sign up early, which action should i go with?</p>

<p>Saintsaens: so you are basically saying its a bad option for it? I’m sorry but can you please emphasize on what your different opinion would be?</p>