<p>Alright. I am currently a first-year(going to be a second year the following fall) student.
I guess I am in SERIOUS trouble now.
As the title described, I wish to transfer into a top 20 university perhaps next year.
And I only have a 2.6 gpa (unsure, but I guess that's the lowest possible) for freshment year.
And I have no extra-curricular activities for now. (My social skills are extremely poor in real life)</p>
<p>What I wanna ask is,
What will be my chances if I get all As next year and have some nice extra-curricular activities?</p>
<p>(What makes me so hopeful is something on UChicago's website: At UChicago, you are more than your GPA or test score. But, I mean, could this possibly be real?)</p>
<p>And, I'm here looking for advices and perhaps some courage, so please don't leave some note saying I'm stupid or I'm simply just daydreaming (I already know that, I guess).</p>
<p>Some schools exclude freshman year GPA. Find those schools, apply there, excel in GPA sophomore, junior and senior year. Find out how to monitor you class grade during the school year. Our daughter either finds how many total points are required in the class and calculates how many points are needed in that class to get A+ A A- B+. She monitors her progress through out the year. actual/YTD </p>
<p>@cidzor - there’s no reason actually and that’s why I say I’m in serious trouble…</p>
<p>@Sohoist - Thanks for providing this option… but I think my only goal is to get into those top schools and almost al of them counts freshmen year gpa, don’t they? And also thanks for your advice on how to get good grades It is truly helpful!</p>
<p>Keeping in mind that many top schools have a minimum 3.0 GPA requirement (likely 3.5 min. for top 20 schools), I would say that you’d need at least a 3.7+ with a RIGOROUS courseload for the best chance at a top 20.</p>
<p>As for the “At UChicago, you are more than your GPA or test score” statement, don’t take it out of context. At top 20 schools, majority of the transfer applicants will have very high GPAs and test scores. A student with a GPA and/or test scores that are out of range for the schools usual admitted students should not count on getting accepted.</p>
<p>Another year of taking classes at your current school (with normal course loads), even with straight As, won’t put you at the 3.7+ range. You will likely have to apply at slightly less selective schools. Also keep in mind that if you were never a straight A student, it’s likely going to take some time for you to start getting straight As.</p>
<p>Did you earn the GPA you have because of poor study skills? To reiterate the question above by ocnative, which top 20 schools are you interested in? </p>
<p>Your expectations for a top 20 school are unrealistic. You’re presently enrolled in a less selective college and have demonstrated you are struggling. How could the most-competitive colleges have confidence you could handle a more rigorous academic environment? </p>
<p>While reading about GPA and bad starts, on one hand I have read that why would anyone hold a 14 year olds feet to the fire for a bad freshman year. A successful return to a high gpa as a sophomore to senior will be enough providing you create a stellar story in the other criteria being considered: SAT/ACT scores, E/C, Community Service, Leadership, Essay, Competitions (National Merit Scholar, Intel Science Fair, Olympiad) , Life Experience, Legacy Elite. </p>
<p>On the other hand, I have read that the school ranking is all important. The top 4% of your school does include your freshman GPA. That is the point Xfer14 is making in paragraph 3.</p>
<p>I found this quote here at this forum about schools disregarding 9th grade gpa, but double check:</p>
<p>“CARNEGIE MELLON, UC’S, PRINCETON STANFORD… UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN ANN ARBOR JOHNS HOPKINS and dartmouth barely looks at freshman year”</p>
<p>Immediate strategy includes every opportunity for the AP class bump to GPA and rigor. Foreseeable problem is not being allowed into some AP classes because you don’t meet the prerequisite grade in the earlier freshman class. Biology/AP Biology. </p>
<p>Take more classes than the standard 7 classes each year and that will increase your GPA. How? Every summer take accredited H.S. classes online at Florida Virtual School, or elsewhere like a H.S. Algebra 2 Honors class or AP class.</p>
<p>To put it simply, no. Your gpa is too low to meet minimum requirements =/. We can’t calculate your future gpa, because its dependent on your units. I suggest a gpa calculator though. Once you input your data, most have a feature to tell how many units you need to raise to that gpa. It doesn’t help you though. When you apply colleges take your previous grades, which will be 2.6. Your future grades wont show while the committee makes their decisions. So even if you aced fall 2014, that won’t help you, as your applied for fall 2015. You would have to apply in two years time if you want next years grades to reflect. Or go to a less selective school. </p>
<p>First, just a general thank you to all of you who have commented here. Your comments/suggestions are truly helpful :)</p>
<p>And, here’s my answer to @ocnative and @XFER14 -
I earned those grades simply because it is extremely hard for me to concentrate when there’s little to none homework and mostly self-control sort of learning/studying.
I will say there’s really no specific one of the top 20 schools that I am leaning toward (perhaps Johns Hopkins?).</p>
<p>And here’s a new question:</p>
<p>What will be my chance to get into Univ of Washington (which has a similar ranking to my current school)?</p>
<p>And what will be my chance to get into UC Davis (Animal Biology major, to be specific) from a lower-ranking (but not too low) UC School? Because I’ve heard that UCs prioritize community college students so chances for UC-UC transfer is low…</p>
Welcome to college Freshman year is certainly difficult for many who were used to the structured environment in HS. It will take some time to adjust but you’ll get there eventually if you take some time to figure out what exactly you need to do to succeed.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what your chances are to UDub or UCD because I’m not familiar with their transfer process. Since they are publics, see if there are articulation agreements available for prospective transfer students. My further suggestion would be to look for threads like the JHU one above for UDub and UCD to see what type of applicants are applying. </p>
<p>Finally, since both are public schools, and assuming you are OOS for one of them, make sure they’re affordable for you (little to no FA is offered if you’re an OOS transfer applicant). Acceptances won’t mean much if can’t attend so make sure they’re affordable first.</p>
It is truly helpful!</p>
Freshman year is certainly difficult for many who were used to the structured environment in HS. It will take some time to adjust but you’ll get there eventually if you take some time to figure out what exactly you need to do to succeed.</p>