I am a sophomore. Please rate my chances of getting into a top college!
Major: Computer science
SAT I:haven’t taken yet
SAT II:haven’t taken none
GPA so far: 2.3 (since I mostly been in the hospital)
Rank: no ranking at my school
Course Load:
Freshman Year (Fall, Spring)
Geometry: C
PE:A
Honors French 2: C
Honors English 1: C
World Civilization 2: B-
Biology: C
Comp. Rep. 1:B+
Comp. Rep. 2: A+
( Beginning of the year took 4 honors classes but had to drop due to the fact, I was diagnosed with kidney failure. Halfway through the year I started getting homeschooling while I was still in the hospital)
Sophomore Year (Fall, Spring)
Health: A
Algebra 2: A-
US History 1: A-
Chemistry: A-
French 3: A
Intro to Electronics: A+
Intro to computer science: A-
(I had to return to the hospital 2 months after school started to get a kidney transplant, so I wasn’t able to take more tough courses due to that. I also have to recover for 3 months while taking homeschooling; after recovering I’ll get to return to school)
*What I Hope To Take The Next Following Years
(Summer) Pre-calculus
Junior Year (Fall,Spring)
AP Calculus AB
AP Computer Science
AP US History
Honors Physics
Academic Lit 4
French 4
PE
String Orchestra
(Summer)
-Health
-AP Calculus BC
Senior Year
AP Literature and Composition IV
AP Microeconomics
AP French
AP Art History-Maybe
AP Physics C
Honors Unified Calculus
Honors Introduction to Engineering
Possible AP Tests
US History 2
US History 1
Chemistry
French Language
Calculus BC
Calculus AB
Computer Science
Microeconomics
Art History
Physics C-Mechanics
Physics C-E&M
Extracurriculars: Math Club, Robotics (spent most time in the hospital and didn’t have a chance to do clubs)
Sports: Cross country
You should work on getting your GPA up to at least a 3.8, taking AP tests and scoring at least a 4 on them, doing more ECs (doesn’t need to be a ton, but all should speak meaningfully to you), making at least a 2200 or a 33 on your SAT/ACT respectively, and learning how to write a great essay.
Just raise your grades as much as possible. Try to get straight As, and be selective about courses you take that are known “GPA killers”. Meaningful ECs are important as well, especially if they are enjoyable to you and tie into your career goals. An impressive CS related EC could be designing an app in the app store or competing in math/science competitions.
I feel like a lot on here are going to say you have no shot because it’s mathematically impossible to cross a 3.5 unweighted, which is generally a pre-requisite to a top 20 college. However, I feel like you could have an inspiring story for adcoms if you did a complete turn around for grades, considering circumstances. I would recommend looking into the best schools that don’t count junior year (UCB, Princeton, UCLA), and make sure to ace your standardized tests. Good luck!
P.S.: Why take Calculus BC over summer? That seems miserable to cram all the content in two months, and you would have to remember it almost a year later when taking the AP exam.
If you’re able to get A’s from now on you’ll get a pass on what happened freshman year. Don’t listen to some of the poster above about your lack of ECs or your gpa etc. Just work on doing well in school, managing your health and then layering in EC’s that are meaningful to you. You’ve been through a lot and colleges appreciate kids who are able to rise to the challenge of adversity and then succeed.
Ivies for the anyone are a crapshoot. Period. What you may have is an incredibly compelling essay about recovering from kidney failure and a transplant. Stay healthy (most important!) and keep your grades up. Maybe do some research or a project that’s different and compelling, too.
If you do well in A/B, B/C over the summer shouldn’t be impossible. My S is in it now, and they’re pretty much at the point of hitting reviews - they’ll finish the year’s content within a week or two, and even a lot of fall semester was review of A/B. His A/B was pretty rigorous, but if you “get” Calculus, B/C probably won’t be horrible.
I think the poster above had a typo: you should look at schools that don’t consider freshman year, not junior. Indeed, that includes the UCs and Stanford, though if you are OOS for California, the UCs will cost you 55K a year.
I agree that you are going to have a tough time with the tippy top schools, even with a big bump in your grades sophomore year, if only because some of them will barely look at apps for unhooked students with lower GPAs. BUT, there will be plenty of top schools (top and tippy top being two different things!) that will look at a huge grade turn around + personal story + strong standardized tests (study for them!) and evaluate you holistically, taking into account your extenuating personal circumstances. So keep those grades up, and then when you apply, still apply to a few of the tippy-tops if they have your heart (and esp if you age the standardized tests), just not too many (like, 1-2, 3 if you include Stanford, which discounts freshman year grades). You never know! Then fill out the rest of your list with a mix of high match schools, match schools and a few safeties. Write some GREAT essays and you could have a great holistic package.
Good luck with everything–I can only imagine how awful and hard it has been traversing high school with your health problems, and you show great tenacity in your sophomore year grades.
The tippy top schools are holistic. They will not hold freshman year grades against you if you were sitting in a hospital bed fighting for your life - especially if your grades after the ordeal are stellar. You don’t need to just focus on schools that ignore freshman year. That being said, admission into the very elite schools is extremely difficult so you need to perform at the highest level from now on. Perhaps, you can let what you’ve been through inspire you in some way that will become a focus of your EC’s. Best of luck!
@collagequestion I really wouldn’t stress about it. Teachers these days LOVE students with a desire to do well. I’ll bet you even if you continued to fail your tests, if you did extra credits projects on the side or even made deals with your teachers to do a huge thesis project to get your grade up to at least a 90, they’ll work with you. Really, students underestimate how grueling being a teacher really is solely because of the fact that most students just do not care. If you’re a likable, well behaved student with a passionate work ethic you will get great grades, guaranteed. Really, I had an 85% GPA and I just went with my intuition on most of the assignments… my teachers just liked me, honestly. I just contributed a lot to class discussions and I was always a proficient writer. That’s it. Honestly. Can’t even stress it enough.