<p>I don't have an upward trend. I used to have a 96 average, but now it's only like a 95. At my school, a 95 average is around top 25%, which is good, but not great. And besides, we don' acutally have a class rank.</p>
<p>I have the same courseload second semester, as I did first semester. I have all A's (93 and above), but I just can't get my upward trend down. I heard upward trends are super important. I just don't see why, when overall, I am doing well. </p>
<p>I just want to cry.</p>
<p>Ha ha, you’re being silly.</p>
<p>Upward trends are important… for students who used to be doing poorly and are now doing much better. Obviously, if you’ve been doing really well (and slipping from ‘96’ to ‘95’ is still extremely great) an upward trend isn’t important because there’s really no much more than you can do to go up!</p>
<p>Take a deep breath, relax, and just keep doing what you’ve been doing.</p>
<p>Colleges only see letter grades.</p>
<p>For my school, they do not. They see grades out of 100 per class I take.</p>
<p>I actually had a downward trend. I had never heard of upward trends before. Downward trends make sense to me; freshman year is so easy (no AP classes!). Then as honors and AP classes pile on, it gets more difficult. Anyway, I went from a 3.9 –> 3.7 –> 3.6 (–> 3.9) and I did fine. Don’t worry about it.</p>
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<p>Not true. Colleges see your entire transcript, which–I’ve never heard of a transcript that didn’t include the numerical course grade, but who knows?</p>
<p>OP: I would be more worried about your class rank if I were you. Top colleges have been known to calculate rank based on the school profile info, stats of past applicants to the school, etc. This “upward trend” obsession is silly.</p>
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<p>Plently of schools only include the letter grade, mine included. My school doesn’t have pluses or minuses either. </p>
<p>OP, are you sure your school lists number grades on the transcript? </p>
<p>The whole hullaballo about upwards trends is for poor students who got their act together. Consistantly strong grades > upward trend > downward trend. You fall into the first category. Your grade “drop” will not affect college admissions in and of itself, but your rank might.</p>
<p>Yes, my school does do number grades. However, on our school profile, we do list what those number grades are converted to a letter grade.</p>
<p>Yes, I hate my class rank, but I don’t know if it is really mine though. It’s just a guess, but it’s a good guess, because there are only 136 kids in my class. At this time, I don’t think I want to go to a top college. I think as an human being with average intelligence it would destroy me to go to a top college. Well, I do go to a school where 100% of the class marticulate at a four-year accredited college, so I guess I shouldn’t worry about admissions as much.</p>
<p>I had a downward trend, and I feel like it cost me. However, my trend was: 3.8 -> 4.0 -> 3.5 -> 3.35, which is pretty drastic.</p>
<p>I’m a junior and I have an amazing upward trend.
This was my trend: 3.4 –> 3.6 –> 4.0</p>
<p>That is huge and I plan to make my CommonApp Essay on some maturation and high school development bs. It’s gonna be brilliant ;)</p>
<p>I just want to warn you that 75% of all people write at least one essay on that topic.</p>
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<p>If you go to a school where a good number of people are aiming for top schools, it’s harder for you to compete with them. But top preps often have great placement into schools just under that tippy top HYPS tier and LACs.</p>
<p>I don’t acutally go to a top prep. All the kids who go to the top schools are vals or sals or hooked applicants. I realized that I would never ever get accepted in these schools. I just want to know how a downward trend would effect me in terms to a “normal” school.</p>
<p>As long as your GPA and test scores are in line with the admission standards for these schools, you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>The vast majority of colleges are not that competitive. There is no microanalyzing of every single aspect of your application.</p>
<p>ETA: in terms of trend, I was a 3.4 -> 4.0 -> 3.9 -> let’s not talk about it. [cough] But you know, second semester senior year.</p>