<p>I'm going into my senior year with a 3.02 gpa and a transcript full of C's and a couple of D's with my worst year being my sophomore year. the only good thing that I have going for me is I'm an AA, my grades have an upwards trend, and there is a sad story why my grades were bad my sophomore year (but I don't want to tell colleges and people about it...). I really want to get into Johns Hopkins, but with my current status I don't want to waste my money on taking the SAT again, SAT subject tests, and the other fees if I'm just going to end up going to a state school. </p>
<p>Do you think I should just give up on trying to get into JHU or continue trying? If you think I should continue what should I do to improve my application?</p>
<p>PS If you want to see my transcript I will PM it to you.</p>
<p>Sit down tomorrow with your guidance counselor and discuss this sad story that is behind your bad grades. It may be something that your counselor can cover in his/her letter to the colleges. Sometimes that can make up for a lower GPA.</p>
<p>hey zombiedante: i would recommend you tell your counselor about why your grades were bad sophomore year: if you want to get into jhop/a good college -> no pain no gain, you need to try everything because of the situation you’re in. counselor letters about student hardships help. unless this is about a girl-guy relationships break-up. If you ace the SATs (2300+ im thinking), have decent ECs and a counselor explanation, you still have a glimmer of hope. otherwise, it’s close to impossible. do you have good ECs? and for AA: what race are you?</p>
<p>Only advice I can think to give you is to NEVER be afraid of being laughed at, or being turned down. Ever. Chances are, you won’t even see your gc after this, so who cares? If things go well, it may make the difference between you getting accepted/rejected to JHU. This applies in the future as well. If you ever want something, put your best foot forward and don’t give a damn about what others have to say. They’re not the ones being affected.</p>
<p>EDIT: I speak from experience here haha…I actually went all the way to my principal for help with admissions last year, and she even took the time out to write me a letter of rec. It didn’t make a difference in the end, but I had the satisfaction of knowing I did everything I could. Your school officials are sympathetic than you think.</p>
<p>I can attest to what meep1234 said. For me, I worry about things a lot and the reality is never as bad as I thought it would be. Reflecting about your past mistakes will allow to you take steps to not screw up in college. So just go see your GC, thinking about whether you should do so or not just wastes time. At the very least you will be able to take care of concerns such as this.</p>
<p>You make an appointment. If asked, you say it’s to discuss the college application process. When you’re there, you say “My grades were low sophomore year, and the reason is _________. How should I address this on my college applications.”</p>
<p>First of all think about what you want to say to your GC, look at the previous posts. Think about it now, and not when you approach the door to her office. </p>
<p>EDIT: Just follow zephyr15’s advice.</p>
<p>The next part is intuitive, but I’ll say it anyway. Just take a deep breath, walk in and say something along the lines of 'Hi, I’d like to talk with you about my grades and the colleges I’m applying to…" </p>
<p>I think helpplowstats basically summarized it: ace the SAT, make sure you’re taking the hardest courses available, develop a “passion” or an interest, have something concrete you want to bring JHU, and cross your fingers. Hope your reason for that low GPA is solid! </p>
<p>The only thing is I’m a bit worried it’s too late if you’re already a senior. If you can afford it, apply, but don’t expect too much out of it. </p>
<p>(of course, this is only based on the information above, so I might be wrong).</p>
<p>1) Take a gap year so your senior grades can be incorporated into your GPA and you can do something during the year that differentiates you from all the other top students who are also applying with stronger GPAs.</p>
<p>2) You can do apply as a transfer student once you demonstrate an ability to do the work in college. </p>
<p>Frankly, I’m not sure why JHU is the gold standard here. There are tons of good schools that would be happy to have a B student who is serious about their academics and needed some extra time to pull it together.</p>
<p>^Yes, but the problem you have now is that you want that somewhere to be JHU - which is why M’s Mom gave you those options. Being a transfer isn’t that bad though - sure it’s hard to make friends and stuff, but certainly not impossible/the end of the world. I have met tons of transfers this semester and their feelings about it vary greatly.</p>
<p>State to transfer sounds like a good idea if you’re only intending on going to a place like JHU. But to be honest with you, I’d do my best to try both routes. Even if you aren’t able to get in to JHU as freshman straight out of high school, you will still get some preparation for the transfer application by filing the freshman application. Being a transfer applicant is really very taxing considering that you must bear the social and educational changes associated with college, while at the same time aim high so that you can get into your dream school. Trust me, I would know. Any prior preparation is going to help you in the long run.</p>