Hey guys,
It is my dream to go to Harvard University and my peers at my school say you need near perfect grades (don’t where they get their information though). We have class sizes of about 1100 (yes you read that right, class sizes) and I am somewhere in the top 2-4% in terms of ranking (based on weighted GPA). Extracurriculars, standardized test scores and other factors isn’t what my question is about, just GPA.
So here goes: I have pretty good grades freshman and sophomore year (a couple A- 's and B+'s sprinkled in) but my grades in junior year first semester took a little dip-- as in three B+'s and one B. Before you judge me, I am taking almost all AP’s. If I manage to pull of all A’s second semester and all A’s first quarter senior year and my UW GPA is 3.9 or above (without the fluff required classes) would that technically be an upward trend? Or would those first sem jr year grades have too much of a negative impact? If I applied SCEA, would grades deter me from getting accepted (assuming that other parts of my application are pretty good).
I know most of this is hypothetical (lol) but I’ve never fully understood what upward trend really meant, and there’s those kids at school who say that getting into Harvard with anything less than a 4.0 is highly unlikely. I just need some confidence 
Thanks in advance
Bumpity bump bump. Anything at all.
How do your classes even work? @-)
My understanding of an upward trend is that throughout four years of high school the grades rise steadily while course levels do as well (like going from a regular to an honors or AP.) I don’t think the grades you described are an upward trend because of the dip they took.
Nevertheless, an upward trend is not absolutely required for getting into college. There are still many other things that are important to the application, so don’t worry too hard!
I’m not sure whether it’d be considered an upward trend, and I doubt anyone else on here can either. However, the dip, as long as it isn’t too deep, shouldn’t be too bad.
I think 4 B in the important Jr year is a bit tough for Harvard, to be honest. It will help of course to end the year with higher grades. That isn’t considered an upward trend, that is just recovering from a dip. Having a dip in Jr year is bad timing. You are supposed only to increase to AP when you can handle the workload. It is hard to balance sure. However being in a class that large it is hard to stand out and where you want to stand out is in some really impressive EC or some special talent or accomplishment. It is a given that you have strong SAT and great essays.
If I was having some personal/ family problems would I be able to explain that on the application?
@lottechar what do you mean exactly when you ask how they work?
@chocolatelover12 I was just responding to how you said you have class sizes of 1100. I’ve never heard of more than 30-40.
Class sizes as in grade levels. But yes, our school is gigantic. It has it’s positives and negatives, I guess. : /