will positive gpa trend make up for poor class rank?

Applying to College
1

<p>i got of to a pretty slow start in hs and my freshman year gpa and 1st semester sophomore year grades were pretty poor. however since then my gpa has been steadily increasing:</p>

<p>freshman:3.3, 3.5
sophomore:3.2, 3.8
junior: 4.2, 4.4
total weighted gpa after junior year: 3.73
uw: 3.5</p>

<p>i am in almost all honors classes, have a 2100 sat, 32 act, and have decent ec's (200+ hrs volunteering, varsity tennis, all suburban jazz saxophonist). however im in like the top 25% of my class now and should be top 20% after first semester.</p>

<p>so do you think my poor overall gpa and class rank will keep me out of top colleges?</p>

<p>heres my rough reaches list:
rice
emory
michigan
wisconsin
illinois
colgate
cmc
umkc 6 year med program (in state)</p>

<p>i do have other safeties not on here.</p>

<p>so what do you think?</p>

2

<p>i think you should be fine for illinois, don't know what umkc is, so can't say for that one. the other ones are so competitive that i don't think you can count on them. positive grade trends count, but if someone else has worked really hard throughout all four years, they'll probably take them instead. who knows though, i'd still apply...oh yeah, i think you're a match at wisconsin as well.</p>

3

<p>Emory, UMichigan, and Colgate won't be thrilled, especially if you just go to a run of themill public school.</p>

4

<p>Maybe you should send your ACT instead of your SAT: a 32 equals roughly a 2200.</p>

5

<p>Colleges won't see your rank after next semester. They will see it as it is now so it doesn't really matter if it goes up after next semester.</p>

6

<p>Well, you really can't do anything about it and if colleges see a upward trend, they see that you're trying to improve so that's always a plus. Just work on factors that you can change such as your essay.</p>