Will 3bs during junior (2b)- senior (1b) year hurt me? I have a 3.95 gpa uw
I also also ranked top 3% in my county—though this only factors in IB students ( I am in IB diploma program)
Hi! I’m a high school senior so please keep in mind what I’m about to ask is in no way intentionally rude or direct, and that it is my personal take on your situation. I was wondering if you could maybe brief us about how your school calculates grades? If I’m reading your post correctly, you got 3 B’s during junior year? And 1 B in senior year? I was just confused since you only have 2 grade levels in the post but 3 numbers that have B’s after them. In addition, if you’ve gotten 4 B’s throughout your high school career, are you talking 3.95 unweighted or weighted?
Since I don’t know anything about your extracurriculars, programs, sports, test scores etc. I can’t really answer your question of whether or not this GPA will hurt your chances. As a first-gen though, if that is your unweighted GPA, then I do think you have a good shot at many great schools across the country.
Good luck and keep up the good work!!
Hurt you for what? What colleges are you planning to apply to…or did you apply to?
Hi, I’m a fellow IB student. I reckon that for students doing the IB diploma, what matters more is your predicted grade out of 45. In any case, your IBDP grades usually are considered within its own context and it is neither converted by colleges to an unweighted GPA nor a weighted GPA (but ofc, there is some difference between colleges).
I am sorry for the vagueness of this post. I meant 3.95/4 unweighted, and I have gotten the 2 semester bs during my junior year of IB HL english lit while I got the single B in IB SL Math in my semester 1 senior year. My school gives 4 quality points for A grades, 3 quality points for B grades, etc…
I am shooting for top 20-30 schools ( although I know this is a mega reach for some).
I am a psych major, so I was wondering if that will soften it.
Here are my ecs
Extracurriculars:
- Manager for Successful,Small Business Restaurant (heavy family responsibilities )-
At this restaurant , a manager takes on multiple roles. Financially, I manage collaborations with other companies. In the restaurant, I act as a host/director. I also partnered with local hospital to raise 1k+ to combat leukemia. Also raised 1k+ for maimed veterans
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Indp. Research - I published articles , mainly on psychology. In the process, I learned alot about the human intelligence and ways memories function.
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Internship with a IO psychologist in a small business restaurant setting. - I worked as a manager and under an IO psychologist. I learned how to improve job satisfaction and recruitment.
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Indp Research at my Buisness - Researched how to boost our business with psychological studies. I did correlational studies, analyzing the psychology “tricks” with financial data. Did this in my Math Internal Assessment too
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Volunteer Metropolitan Ministries- I organize different type of canned and stored foods to give out to the needy. Social and emotional interactions was also encouraged from volunteers. (30 hr)
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Tutoring English, Psychology to Chinese Students -I helped foreign Chinese students adapt to the English language. I also shared my knowledge of the psychology as supplement to their learning. (200+ hours)
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Completed Coursera - Received certificates on courses of positive psychology, resilience skills, and mental health. (75hrs+)
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Volunteering for Multiple Sclerosis Society- Edited personal essays and created certificates for patients with multiple sclerosis. Given training for handling customer phone calls and complaints. (45 hr)
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Heart for Homeless Project (100 hrs) - Collected and researched medical resources within my area and distributed them to homeless under the supervision of an alumnus.
It’s hard to say. We don’t know about your essays. Top schools reject more great students than they can take. We also don’t know your finances. Some top schools are need aware.
Your TO could hurt. May not but could. Your ECs won’t and grades likely won’t assuming you have strong rigor which based on your county rank, your gpa should be fine. How do you know about county vs school rank ? And is it an estimate or does your school truly rank?
The only way you’ll truly know is to apply but more important than top 30, I would find the right schools for you and ensure to include targets and safeties as well.
Thanks for the insight. My district only does county ranks. I got my rank from my counselor which she told me straight off a compiled data. And yes, I applied to 20 schools, so I am hoping for the best.
So my daughters valedictorian - with a 36 ACT applied to US News top 20 plus NYU and U Tennesssee. Only got into NYU and TN. NYU full pay and now goes to TN.
A lot will depend on essays. Did you communicate well why you are right for that school ?
Is budget a consideration? If so, did you run net price calculators ? Are you sure you can afford where you applied or your parents want to afford ?
What are your match and safety schools ?
What is the end goal after four years ? Job. Grad school (which is more $$).
In those 20 colleges, are there at least two where you have a very high probability of being accepted AND where the costs are affordable for your family?
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A 3.95 GPA is a good enough GPA for admission to any school in the country, so don’t worry about a few Bs.
That said, of course, no GPA is a guarantee of admission anywhere. A friend of my daughter’s with a perfect GPA, perfect SAT score, and impressive ECs was rejected by Stanford.
But Stanford (or a similar school) might prefer YOU as an applicant because you are first-gen or your essays were compelling or they thought your work experience demonstrated more leadership or passion. Or any number of other reasons, including the mood of the person who first read your file.
So try to relax. So much of this is not in your control. But your grades will not be the deciding factor. And it will work out — you are a great candidate and will get a fine education somewhere and go on to do wonderful things.
Which 20?
ty sm for the response. you’re right, I should be more lax about my decisions and put less energy in this process
I hope I did. I spent a considerable amount of time editing my common app (about 3 months) and polished my supplementals to the max (although for 20 schools, it was quite demanding).
My parents are willing to pay no more than 40k a year, which is really good for me because most schools rounded to 25k-39k when i ran the net price. However, they are willing to pay any amount for top 20 schools.
My match (UF- I have a free ride there (local scholarship + bright futures) ; counselor also said i am very likely to be admitted ; case western (but i was deferred?) ) ; saftey- Uni of Minnesota Twin cities
My end goal after four years is to pursue a master sciences degree in Industrial-Organizational psychology and hopefully, become a HR manager/analyst
- Amherst
- Bowdoin
- CMU
- CWRU
- Claremont Mckenna
- Dartmouth
- Northwestern
- Pomona COllege
- Rice UNi
- Stanford
- Swarthmore
- UF
- U Miami
- UMN
- UNC
- U Notre Dame
- USC
- Vanderbilt
- Williams
- YAle
Sorry - it’s in the title.
OK - so 1380 is no reason to apply TO (to some):
I agree you will get into UF. I’d say 90% chance.
I know you wlll get into UMN - but why did you apply there? You could get to your cost with merit aid - but there’s no guarantee you’ll get merit aid… My son got $15K the other year. However, his test was a 34 (and weighted 4.6).
I don’t believe you’ll get into UNC - but you never know. It’s a tough get - but that’s fine. You want to get turned down. They do meet need, even for OOS students - so that’s good.
Miami - you’ll likely get into.
CWRU defers many - worst case you’ll get WL there and they’ve taken from the WL but it’s very possible you’ll get in.
The rest are a crap shoot but I’d give your best odds at Notre Dame and Claremont McKenna but not good odds.
The fact that you’ll have one affordable school is all that matters.
I’m surprised you did not apply to FSU, UCF, or USF - just to be sure in case UF didn’t work out. Or based on my bigger concern - most your schools are small to medium but you’re likely to end up at UF which is enormous whereas the Wilkes Honors College of FAU or New College seem like they might fit you size-wise. Not sure if you can still apply to either - but might be worth taking a peek - just in case they would be of more comfort.
If you are uncomfortable with your odds of UF and want a cheapie, there’s always Alabama - you still can until May 1 so you can see how things shake out. Your total cost would be low/mid 20s with the automatic $24K merit. You could have earned more if you applied by Jan 15th. You could do the Honors College - which is always a plus everywhere. It’s a simple, 10 minute application.
So just a minute on your career choice - you might have been great for the ILR major at Cornell. Anyway, many today are working b4 grad school - and honestly, I couldn’t think of a (in my opinion) worst part of business to go into. Much of HR today is outsourced and automated - although there will always be HR people. Today, at least at my company, it’s much more quantitative - measuring performance whether of employees, retirement plans, etc. But that’s for later. With a psych degree, one can go many ways!!
Hope I provided something of value - but looks to me like things will work out fine.
Good luck to you.
due to certain health problems and covid, i was only able to take it once, which i got a 1380
i was also not aware of the importance of sat till senior year… so yea that was dumb of me
I just edited a previous message - didn’t think you saw it - so it’s above the two you just posted - in case you miss it.