<p>I'm currently finishing up my junior year of high school with a dismal 3.1 GPA for 4 quarters, or 81% at the lower end of the top half of my class. I know that these grades aren't substantially low, but I'm worried because of my poor performances in certain classes, such as my 67% in pre-calc, 65% in trigonometry, and 65% in physics. For the most part, my other classes are in the upper 80's to 90's, but they aren't as challenging as the classes I'm performing poorly in.
I do have troubled internal feelings holding my performance back and it will be extremely difficult to outwardly explain to colleges due to its stigma. I have started to gradually overcome this so hopefully my performance is better next year.</p>
<p>My overall GPA for three years in high school so far is a 3.4, or 86.7%. I received a 94 freshman year and an 85 sophomore year. I took AP US History in sophomore year so my GPA has been scaled accordingly for that.
I received a 1650 on my SATs and I plan on taking the ACT soon. I will definitely retake my SATs to hopefully get at least an 1800.</p>
<p>Extracurricular:
-Violin (Youth orchestra since 9th grade, private lessons since 3rd grade, multiple performances including several recitals, festivals, and a recital at Carnegie Hall hosted by a local music teacher's association)
-President of Diversity Club in high school since 10th grade
-Member of school tennis since 10th
-Co-Editor of the school newspaper
-Key Club member since this year
-Volunteering at my local hospital & job shadowing</p>
<p>For senior year, I have been admitted into AP Gov and AP Literature, so if I perform well on those, then that's a plus.</p>
<p>I really want to attend a four year university but I fear that my bad grades will hold me back.
I am looking into California State University LA, USC, Drexel U, and Temple U.</p>
<p>Additional info:
Attending highly ranked public school
Race- Asian
Parents' Income- $400,000 a year
Pennsylvania resident
Undecided major
My bad grades are only in "advanced" science and math classes.</p>
<p>Dude that’s not bad at all. While I won’t deny that they could be better, you have done some serious extracurriculars, and I have seen much worse. While I’d say UCLA and USC are definitely high reach schools, Drexel and Temple seem to be a good to high match. Show your improvement, do the best you possibly can on your SATs and gpa next year. If advanced science and math grades are a problem, then take the regular versions. What’s most important is having a schedule that fits for you.</p>
<p>Remember there are THOUSANDS, of colleges out there. Not all are the hyper selective colleges you hear about on CC. Look into some good colleges in your local area, some may even offer you scholarships. Community College could also be a cheaper option as you build up your grades for a transfer to another school. Look into your options and visit some colleges, you might be pleasantly surprised with some of them.</p>
<p>I agree with shawnspencer that you are overplaying the “badness” of your resume. Another factor is what are you thinking of majoring in? What I mean in your case is that it is clear that the math and science courses are dragging you down. But if your intention is to major in English or History or anything non-math oriented, you can make a big point of that on your applications and that will help you some. Some people are good students, just not in every area. Some very good mathematicians can’t write well at all. It happens.</p>
<p>So I would raise your sights a bit, although again agreeing with shawnspencer I think very selective schools will be off the table for you. But there are a lot of very good schools of moderate selectivity that could be excellent fits for you. Also, you should look into schools that don’t require standardized tests. Just in case you don’t get your scores up. Although 1650 will still make you eligible for these moderately selective schools, especially if it is your math that is low and the others are better. That would fit with the rest of your story.</p>
<p>The SAT score is low. You’re going to want to pull that up to an 1800-1900, your GPA could be better, but there’s nothing you can do about it now. You may have some trouble with UCLA but if you can pull that 1800 I can see you getting into all of your other choices.</p>
<p>I have to say that UCLA is out of reach, even if you raise your SAT scores. Look at their admission statistics: they are exceedingly competitive. The same is probably true for USC. Will you need financial aid? If so, Temple is probably a pretty good school for you, as a public university. Penn State and Pitt might be moderate reaches. If you’re not applying to Engineering school, Drexel might be possible academically, but it is very expensive. Other Penn State campuses would be match or safe schools for you. If your parents are willing to pay full, private tuitions, then you have many options. What are your academic interests? You seem to prefer large universities: what about some other, less selective, state universities? DePaul is a large private university in a big city - it is probably a match for you. </p>
<p>@woogzmama my parents can pay in full. Will that increase my chances at a place where I’d be pushing my chances, such as UCLA or USC? Keep in mind that I’m not from California so the tuition will increase for UCLA or Cal State because they’re public and we can pay that in full. </p>
<p>First, I think @ssswims and @woogzmama don’t realize that Cal State LA (CSULA) and UCLA are completely different schools. You never mentioned UCLA in your first post. Second, you should put UCLA and USC out of your mind, your stats make admission to either of these pretty much impossible. Full pay will make no difference. However, you have a very good chance at CSULA. You have a shot at Drexel and Temple, but there are a lot more choices in your range out there. Just be sure to emphasize that even though you are undecided, you are not looking at a math or science major.</p>
<p>University of Hartford
Pace University
Arizona State University </p>
<p>I reccomend using the college board search and looking for universities that accept 65%+ of applications. Your grades are by no means terrible. They are about average and there are tons of great universities that don’t pride themselves on accepting 5% of their applicants. There are colleges that care about the actual quality of their program. Not to mention that I know someone who had your GPA, a lower SAT score than you, and got into Barnard with no legacy or anything. So you aren’t hopeless :)</p>
<p>Sorry, I meant USC as in Southern California. I know it’s a high reach but I really want to go there because it’s highly ranked. Would it be possible for me to transfer over there from somewhere like Drexel, Temple, or even CSU-LA? I heard transfers are much harder. </p>
<p>@shawnspencer So many students get discouraged because they don’t have the grades to get into Stanford, or Carnagie Mellon, or UCLA, or Michigan. CC needs to work on understanding that there are colleges outside of the 50 schools on the US News Rankings.</p>
I have to tell you, that is the worst reason in the world to be wanting a particular school, based on numerous factors. It is impossible to get into all those factors here, but it’s moot anyway. There is a 0.1% chance of you getting into USC, based on your current stats. I only put it that high because they could make a mistake. I am not trying to be mean, far from it. That is just the reality. These schools do care about stats (also for a lot of different reasons), but one of them is because it is a decent way to predict success at their school versus the competition from the other students. Let’s look at USC’s admissions stats for their last reported class.</p>
<p>Average GPA: 3.7 (UW) Yours: 3.4 with a downward trend, which is an unfavorable trend. You don’t say if that is weighted or unweighted.</p>
<p>Average SAT: ~2065 Yours: 1650 That is a very wide gap.</p>
<p>I am only sounding harsh on this point because I think you would be far better off focusing 100% on schools that are quite excellent academically that also match your stats to date. You also have to look beyond academics. Size of the school, location, sports scene, Greek scene, urban, rural…what factors are important to you beyond academics? This really does matter. You are fortunate that cost seems to be no issue, so we don’t even have to discuss that. I and many others would be happy to suggest schools where you have a good chance of gaining acceptance that meet whatever criteria you think are important. Spell that out for us as best you can and I am sure you could put together a list of 5-10 schools that make sense for you based on various suggestions.</p>
<p>Oh, and yes transfers are usually an even tougher chance at the most competitive schools. Few slots open up after freshman year because their retention rates are high, and so the number of applicants per slot is even more lopsided.</p>
<p>My son did not apply to UCLA, but he applied to Berkeley, which has similar admissions statistics. He had a similar unweighted GPA to yours, but his UC-weighted GPA was close to 4.0. He did the full IB program, and always took the most demanding available classes at a respected private school. His SAT was 2060; his ACT was 31. He had very strong ECs. He did not get into Berkeley, and knew it was a reach. He was admitted to UC Davis and UC San Diego. Most out-of-state and international applicants expect to be full-pay there. </p>
<p>@fallenchemist I get what you mean. Plus, maybe it’s better to go to a school that’s in my “league” so I’ll have a better chance of earning a high grade. I’d rather go to a lower level school with a 3.7GPA vs USC with a 2.8. I’ll at least have a shot at a good grad school then. </p>
<p>@qqq123 - Yes, Yes, Yes. Now I think you are on track. You really want the school that “fits”. Academically that means not being at the tail end of their statistical pool, but not necessarily being the top dog either. You want to be around people that challenge you for sure, but you are right that you want to be in the mix for a good record of achievement.</p>
<p>Get back to us when you have thought through what characteristics you would like in a school outside of academics. With so many schools out there, and the fact that you are obviously willing to travel, there might be some really interesting ones that you haven’t heard of yet.</p>