Freshman GPA: 3.6
Sophomore GPA: 2.5
Junior 4.5
President of Youth Group
President of community focus group
Co-president of East African Community Center
Where urm get programs like Girl Scouts, tutoring, athletics.
Reality Changers Delegate
Winner of many speech tournaments
Fought for YMCA Women only swim for muslim girls only, only other program in Seattle.
Speech Club
Interact Club - Vp (recycling club)
Hours: 600 since 7th grade
Sat score: 2300
Family income - annual 11k
7 people.
First generation college student.
Born in Africa, came to America at an early age .
Reasoning for 2.5 GPA: SUdden death of Aunt, due to cancer, was the family provider both parents working I had to step in and look after 4 kids, feed cook and clean, while balancing school. Uncle died two months later during prayer, fell into deep depression and anxiety. I’ll leave the rest for application season.
After that, I went to summer school (summer school gpa isn’t included up there but I got A’s)
I will also be attending charter school this summer for new classes, just to boost my overall GPA.
My senior year, I am considering repeating two main classes because I have four free classes. Just to show colleges the classes were fine, it was just a hard time. Do this in time, just for the mid year report.
Don’t repeat classes – take new ones. Top colleges want people who desire to learn, not just get a good looking transcript. Yes your soph year was an aberration – but your current GPA and your high SAT show that you can do the work.
By the way, I am a current Junior. That GPA was first semester, but it’s looking like the same GPA this semester also.
You have a powerful story, and your scores seem to be good. Admissions should understand the lapse, provided you explain it well enough (definitely devote at least one essay to it, but you already knew that). You have a very strong application.
As far as the grades go, definitely try to make sure you get all As… it will drive home the fact that sophomore year was a lapse. I disagree that you shouldn’t repeat any classes… if you took an important class (pretty much anything in math or STEM) and actually didn’t learn the information in the class, take it again one way or another (even if it’s self-studying) because “skipping” a class like that can keep hurting you later on (for example, not really knowing trig will hurt you all the way through Calc 3 and onwards).
You do have an interesting story. I would suggest that you pick one theme and stick with it throughout your essays. You’ve got a bunch of different activities, but one overwhelming passion doesn’t really come through. You’ll need to tie your assorted community service activities together in some way so that it doesn’t look like you did a bit of this and a bit of that. Also, colleges are only looking at volunteering and activities in high school, so don’t list things or hours back to middle school.
Your grades will likely be an issue for you. You have good, but not stellar freshman year grades (Stanford cares less about these than other years, they do see them) and weak sophomore grades. While there is a good reason for the drop, they are still low. You have great junior year grades. The problem is, when you apply, you will only have, at most three semesters of grades that are typical for Stanford. Is your schedule demanding for your school? Have you taken AP/IB classes if they are offered at your school? Have you challenged yourself? These things matter as well as your GPA.
One last point is to think now about which teachers you will ask for recommendations. Junior year teachers are your best bet. They should be from core classes and you should speak to them this spring about writing your recommendations next year. Some popular teachers get overwhelmed with requests, so ask early.
Stanford is a long shot for almost everyone, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t apply. It just means that you will have to think carefully about your application and have other good choices as well.
Good luck!