So I did very badly my freshman year, getting a lot of b’s, and a c. However, as a Sophomore, I have a 4.0 Weighted, 3.9 unweighted GPA for the year thus far. I play piano very well, and will play on my school’s varsity squash team in the years to come, likely at the 2nd or 3rd position. I also love to draw, I have a portfolio started. I also do carpentry for the school productions, I will be a senior manager as a senior.I also have lineage as well at Harvard and Columbia. I’m taking 3 AP classes next year, as well as 2.5 Honors courses, and 1.5 normal level ones. If I work my tail off over the next 2 years, can I go to a place like Harvard or Columbia?
how does one take .5 of a course?
Its only for half of the year, mI am taking advanced drawing in the fall, and honors in the Spring.
Nope. You’re fine.
I forgot to add, One of the AP classes is Music Theory, is that bad, should I try to take a summer math course to take 3 academic AP classes?
I think that grades in general are important. However, what is more important is your holistic application.
Does “fine” mean I still have a shot, or is it over?
Colleges will take into an account an uptrend, so you definitely have a chance. If you get a 3.9 this year, next year, and your first semester senior year, you’ll be applying with a 3.7 (junior year + first semester senior year 4.0s will turn that into a 3.74). That’s low for Harvard and Columbia, but they’re still possible if the rest of your app is good.
Also, this is sort of a strange reason to recommend a college for a person, but Tufts mentions that they love an uptrend like 1200 times in their information sessions, so maybe look there.
See how your GPA is after a semester of junior year and re-evaluate. Aim as high as possible, of course, but there’s a lot else out there.
What boxes do you check?
You should work your tail,off so you can get into relaistic choices, and maybe get merit awards. Not to get into those colleges. The odss are against you or anyone.
As a mom, I would say this for anyone regardless of GPA, standardized test scores etc…
Continue to work hard and do your best throughout HS. Also take time and enjoy HS life. Do not pin all of your hopes and dreams on attending Harvard or any other Ivy League college. The acceptance rates are generally well under 10% and there are many highly qualified applicants for each spot. Of course apply and give it your best shot, but don’t make your self-worth be about a hair splitting decision made by admissions officers in a closed room. As you focus more on the college search, expand your horizons, know that there are tons of amazing colleges and universities out there that can all give you a a great experience and take you wherever you want to go in life.
^ Yup. +95% people get rejected at Harvard. You’re setting yourself up for a big disappointment if your improvement is only geared towards literally winning the golden ticket.
I believe, double check, that there are a few schools that do not consider freshman year, Stanford is one.
No idea about legacy at Harvard but Columbia does not consider legacy unless your parent or grandparent went to the College or Engineering, a masters or doctorate is not considered.
I know tons of people (myself included) who has a 3.9+ GPA for all for years who were flat out rejected from the ivies, even with really well rounded stats.
Bottom line is top prestigious schools are competitive for EVERYONE. Only a very small group of people are guaranteed admission into those institutions (Donor Childs (Ivakna Trump), olympic math winners , exceptional athletes with good grades (Jeremy Lin), childs of powerful people (Xi Jinpin’s Daughter)).
My suggestion is to do your research on these schools and at the end of the day, it really is a crapshoot. I recently finished my applications this year and was accepted to Notre Dame. Schools that were much less in rankings and prestige than ND have rejected me.
Keep working hard and make your dreams come true. Know that getting into HYPSM isn’t an end goal, but a bigger window for your dreams. Good luck brother/sister. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask
A parent wrote about students being fixated on a “name” school:
“When you go out to buy a house, you don’t start by viewing the multi-million dollar mansions. If you do, then everything else seems meager by comparison.”
High school students should be wise to adopt the same strategy when targeting schools. If “college” in your mind equates to HYPMS – then the probability for disappointment is enormous.
Forget about Ivy league schools…i mean, if you want to, apply to a couple…but even if you got a 4.0 all 4 years you are not guaranteed admittance. Do the best you can, get involved with interesting ECs and apply to a wide range of schools.
Good for you for improving on Freshman year! Keep it up!!
If you have a 3.2 freshman year then 4.0, 4.0, 4.0 colleges will most likely all but entirely overlook freshman year. Stanford, for example, does not even consider freshman year in its calculated GPA. At that point, they look at the other factors.
You still have a chance, especially if you are receiving excellent grades after freshman year; however, keep in mind that there will be many students with perfect transcripts applying to the Ivy Leagues. Overcoming a rough freshman year and performing well your sophomore, junior, and senior years will be good enough for the majority of colleges. The problem with Ivy Leagues is that there are thousands of individuals applying to them. With that and their incredibly low acceptance rates kept in mind, something as minor as a 3.2 GPA can unfortunately cause you to be rejected. They have thousands of outstanding students to choose from.
Nevertheless, continue working hard. Like others have said, Stanford is a school that does not take your freshman year into consideration… but remember that there are many great universities out there. Not getting into an Ivy League or Stanford isn’t the end of the world.