I’ve only taken honors and AP courses for the entirety of my high school career (except for a PE class). Because of this, my weighted GPA is above a 4.3, but my UW is going to top off at about 3.6 (I had a bad freshman year :/). Will this knock me out of the running for most top 20/ top 40 schools? My ACT is a 31 and my PSAT is a 1450, so I don’t think my UW GPA is an accurate reflection of my skills. Is there any way that I can demonstrate that this disparity is a result of how hard my classes are, rather than laziness?
Clarification: I’m a sophomore, so those test scores are going up.
Class rigor is important, you can also check this on Common Data Sets provided by the schools. On many of them class rigor is “very important.” However, there will be students applying with similar course rigor but higher GPA.
^ This. Check the CDS for schools you’re intetested in. Rigor has been called an important variable on every CDS sheet i’ve seen. I’ve even seen it rated above GPA and test scores in importance. (I believe that was at Boston U maybe…)
You have 2 years to improve. Focus on doing your best
If the main thing depressing your GPA is freshman year and there has been an upward trend, that is less of an issue. As a sophomore, you should remain focused on being present for your high school experience. Do your best, and pay attention to what really excites you, what doesn’t, who you are, and who you want to be in the world. You want to bring your best self to college, and you’ll need to work out who that is first.
If it helps at all, I was on an internationally competitive robotics team during freshman year (and eighth grade, during which I earned my only C+). I spent most of the time that others spent studying for finals either on a plane or in a hotel…
Just a note for next year, when choosing courses: don’t overdo it with APs. Choose APs in subjects you enjoy so you can do well. A huge mistake you see here with a lot of kids- too many APs, causing too many Bs, bringing down the UW GPA. GPA is just as important than rigor. Don’t choose AP Bio next year if you are just Mehh on science (for example).
Yes, I agree with above. I think that if your school offers many APs, just take the ones you are actually interested in. Colleges want to see that you challenged yourself not that you’re burning yourself out. There are kids applying from schools that may offer maybe one AP class. You don’t need to take 15. Be kind to yourself and see if you can focus on your own personal interests. You will find the right college for you.
Maybe it’s helpful to know that 70% of colleges last year did not fill.
The top 20-50 on the USN&WR list all filled, but that leaves a lot of excellent colleges out there looking just for you.
Rigor counts. When I worked in college admissions (many years ago) we ALWAYS used weighted rank. Virtually all secondary school profiles described how they weighted their ranking. The percentage of students who went on to four year colleges, the rigor of the colleges their graduates attended and our prior experience with the secondary schools all played a role.
BUT faculty research into first year student problems with calculus indicated that some students were rushed into AP calculus courses with weaknesses in simultaneous systems as traditionally taught in algebra two. Our college math started with calculus. We did not offer algebra II or per-calculus. It is better for a student to learn the basics VERY well before they join the AP fervor. The HS placement profile, ranking system and geographic distribution all played a roll in the process. A committee of three math professors spent a summer figuring this out. The rigor of the school counts.
Basic preparation is too important in building the foundation for your future courses to be tossed onto the alter of a perceived status.