I had a really bad freshman year because of how unmotivated I was and because of that I did not get into any honors in sophomore year and now I can not take AP courses junior year. in senior year I am taking AP courses but I will be taking 3-5 and it is still noncompetitive because people from my school usually take 6-12. In sophomore year, I fell in love with the programs and campuses of colleges such as UPenn, Princeton, MIT, Yale, and Boston college. I am academically very weak as a candidate and I was wondering if I even have a chance there anymore? If yes (even the slightest chance) on what other things can I improve on to higher my chances of acceptance?
By the way, sophomore year I had all A’s and like one b. I have the upward trend but i don’t know if that even shows anything.
Well, it is all relative. If you are stellar outside of school, than you have a great chance regardless of GPA. GPA is one factor, though a big one, so remember that your SAT/ACT will help you recover from a lower GPA than normal. A solid GPA for these schools is a 3.8, but people do get in with less than that. EC’s, essays, and test scores are a piece of the pie so don’t let GPA get you down, stay motivated!!
If you stay after a lot and really invest yourself, your GPA can improve. As a sophomore you haven’t doomed yourself, you still have junior year to do well. I had a C- first semester in a math class and I worked my behind off and managed a A- the second term. It still wasn’t the grade I wanted but rather than a year average of a C-, I got it to a B. This combined with my easier classes allowed me to maintain a decent average.
@stressedmhs But I have no AP classes junior year to show rigour
Honours is rigor. The schools you are thinking of are very very selective, so even if you did take all AP’s, there is still a chance that you would not make it. So focus on getting your scores up and SAT ACT do a great level. If you are passionate in your EC’s, your GPA is just one attribute of your application
Can you give more GPA details? Was your “really bad” freshman GPA a 3.4 or in the 2.X’s?
@newkidnewtrix it was a 3.14
Since colleges tend to disregard freshman year GPA, you might have a chance if you have truly amazing EC’s. It’s still not a bad idea to apply to a “dream” school- you never know- but you really need to make sure that the colleges that you apply to are mostly midrange.
Good luck!
We cant answer this without tests scores. But if you want into those schools, you’re gonna need like a 1550 and/or 34