What do colleges REALLY look at?

Applying to College
1

<p>I am now a Junior in High School, This year I have a 3.8 GPA. I realized the importance of my education and my future just recently which is pretty bad. Last year i got a 3.1 which isn't terrible, but wasn't the to the best of my ability. But when I was a freshman, I failed a world language class,Latin. and that REALLY killed my GPA. Ive gotten good scores on my SAT practices, my best was a 1800. My GPA if I stay on pace I'm going end with a 3.15 pretty much at the end of this year. I'm not applying to any Ivy League schools or anything like that but I am very interested in Penn State and Indiana University. Also UMass Amherst. I have some good extra curriculars and I am a Minority. Do you think I still have a shot at getting into these schools??</p>

<p>Now, Ive gone to my guidance counselor and she said I shouldn't be worried, because The class that I failed was when I was a freshman and that that was 4 years ago and it wasnt a "Core" Class (Math,English,History and Science). Also, Indiana doesnt require any world languages which is the one class I did fail. So, I would have had a .8 jump per year in my GPA if I stay on pace. So, can I get into these schools?</p>

2

<p>Probably. You’re GPA is on an upward trend, which isn’t as good as it always being high, but much better than it staying low. Keep up the good work and you’ll be fine.</p>

3

<p>Penn State- Very High Reach</p>

<p>Indiana University- In</p>

4

<p>GPA on the upward trend is good. You can go to the web sites of schools in which you are interested and see what they value most. Search for Common Data Set. Section C shows the stats for incoming freshmen and what the schools use for evaluation. For PSU they most highly weight GPA and Test Scores. For UMass they weight GPA and Challenging Curriculum the most.</p>