Ok so I’ve been seeing a lot of discussions on here where people are saying they did “extremely bad” in freshman year when they only got two Bs, meanwhile I completely flopped my freshman year and got a 2.3 the first semester and a 2.1 the second. And honestly to say I sabotaged my future would be quite an understatement. A lot of discussions on here are saying a lot of colleges take in account your grade trends, so I was thinking if I actually tried and got a 3.8 or a 4.0 ( I know I can do it, I got bad grades to purposely rebel against my parents since they didn’t put me in the hs I wanted, and I know that was an incredibly stupid decision but I can’t go back and change the past ) so is it still possible for me to get into colombia, UCLA, or any of the other ivies?
You certainly have a shot if you improve! Try to get or as close as you can to a 4.0. Take a lot of Honors and AP classes as well. Also, nail your SAT/ACT, as they are just as important as your GPA.
Lastly, don’t discount extracurricular activities! Participate in a sport! Join a club! Don’t do everything, though, try to concentrate on a few activities that you really enjoy and can excell in.
Also, UCLA is not an ivy…
And UCLA gives no financial aid to out of state students.
Alienating your parents is not a good idea when you will need them to pay your college expenses.
UCLA won’t consider 9th grade when they calculate their GPA but they will look at the transcript, so you’ll have to explain, especially if you have a D. Don’t bring too much attention to it though, just say you struggled first year (don’t blame anyone, accept the responsibility) and then you figured it out.
Aha yah I know it’s not an ivy it’s just one of my dream schools but thank you for the advice! I needed that little burst of hope.
True heh but I live in Cali so that shouldn’t be a problem.
Okkk thank youuu!
Stanford doesn’t look at freshman year grades!
You’ll be fine. As long as you improve, it really isn’t a big deal. In fact, it’ll make you stand out.
Yayyyy!
That definitely motivates me to do better thank you sm!
“Stanford doesn’t look at freshman year grades!”
I wouldn’t go that far - while they primarily consider 10-12th(first semester), they will look at 9th grade for red flags, which this is, and to make sure you completed the required courses for admission that were taken in ninth. So you have to explain an almost doubling of the gpa.
“You’ll be fine. As long as you improve, it really isn’t a big deal. In fact, it’ll make you stand out.”
Well you’ll stand out but not in a good way. The OP does not have any mitigating conditions or circumstances for the grades, it could stand out if the OP had a LD that say got addressed after ninth or maybe had a sports injury that needed surgery, where you could talk about overcoming something.
Uh that was an interesting move to tank 9th grade, but just improve and colleges will see the upward trend.
I’m gonna be honest. Unless you do something pretty spectacular all of a sudden, Ivys are pretty out of reach. To get into Ivys you have to have a 3.8-4.0 and impressive extracurriculars and volunteering, etc. But definitely improve your GPA, you can get into a great school. But unless you do something very impressive and unique, your 2.3 in freshman year is going to stop you from getting into most top 20 schools.
Do not be discouraged! There are plenty of great colleges that are not top-ranked by US News or other sites.
You can do it. I got my GPA from a 2.6 to a 4.3. There’s a chance but make sure your SAT is also high.
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Columbia? You’ll have a lot of explaining to do before admissions will let you in if you had a 2.2ish for a year…
Unfortunately, Columbia is out of reach. Columbia doesn’t accept students with 4.0 and 1550 SAT, so I don’t think there is any way they will accept a student with a 2.2 GPA freshman year. UCLA is a high reach, mostly because while they don’t look at freshman grades, they will glance over them to see if there are any glaring red flags. In your case, a 2.2 GPA is a big red flag.
Same thing happened to me freshman year but I moved a month to the new district and it was a whole new curriculum and I struggled throughout freshman year. I did decent sophomore year. I think it’s pretty out of reach but never know! Chance me back!
I did the same thing except I messed up in middle school, I had a 1.9 GPA. But now I’m on track to be Valedictorian of my class with a 4.64 GPA. An upward trend might even look better since you can write about your change (I know I did).