So for my freshman year of highschool, I had a 3.4 GPA which…isn’t bad but eh. I’m basically done with my first semester for my sophomore year but my grades aren’t impressive. At all. These are the lowest grades I’ve ever gotten and I honestly feel terrible: my GPA is a 2.6 (or a 2.8 depending on if my math and chem teacher love me). It looks like my GPA is gonna drop to a 3.2 (I think? I’m not sure how to actually calculate it on my own).
So my main question is this: realistically, what is the highest GPA I could obtain by the end of my junior year? I was aiming for anything between 3.6-3.8. I do plan to take some IB courses my junior year, but I’m really at a loss.
I’ve never done this poorly. I’m aiming for a UCSD or UCLA, but unless I somehow pass my ACT/SAT’s with perfect scores that dream can be flushed down the drain. And I think my second question would be, is everything ruined because of this my 2.6 semester GPA? I feel like it sets me so far back, and I’m honestly terrified for myself ; - ;
@grumbymom ?
High school can be a big change in homework time and in rigor over grade school. Probably the bad news for you is that I believe UC schools don’t look at freshman grades, so you are looking at a GPA on the low side for those schools.
You should talk to your guidance counselor about the levels of classes you are in and might take going forward. If you aren’t doing well in honors classes as a freshman/sophomore, the IB curriculum may not be appropriate for you. Everything is not ruined, but obviously you need to turn the ship in a new direction.
Have you tried these suggestions?
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/2026961-what-to-do-when-you-arent-doing-well-in-a-hs-class.html#latest
UC’s use only 10-11th grades in their GPA calculation but will review all grades and classes taken 9-11th grades to make sure the UC required a-g courses are completed with a C or higher. The UC’s give extra Honors points for any UC approved Honors, AP, IB or Dual Enrollment courses taken 10-11th with a cap of 8 semesters for the UC capped weighted and unlimited for the fully weighted UC GPA.
UC’s tend to be very GPA focused so doing well on the ACT/SAT is important but high test scores do not make up for lower grades.
One semester of a 2.6 GPA will not completely ruin your chances, but it will impact your chances at the top UC’s. What you need to do is figure out why you are struggling and find out how to move forward and improve your grades. I would forget about specific colleges at this point and concentrate on your HS experience. At the end of Junior year, you can calculate your UC GPA and see where you stand. Believe me, there is a great fit college out there for you and it does not have to be a UC.
Best of luck, hang in there and things will work out in the end.
The most important thing to do at this time is to figure out why your GPA has dropped, and fix it.
Have you moved to a significantly more difficult course load? Are you taking AP classes? Is something going wrong in your personal life?
I think that taking IB classes your junior year is probably a very bad idea.
There is a secret which you need to learn: It is possible to take classes that you are not ready for. However good you are at math, there are math classes that you are not ready to handle. However good you are at science, there are science classes that you are not ready to handle. You need to take classes at a pace that you are ready to handle. If you have a 2.6 or 2.8 GPA this year, then taking more difficult classes next year is very likely to lead to an even lower GPA.
Once you figure out what you need to do to get your GPA up, then you can think about what universities make sense for you.
Don’t dwell on that one semester! Try your best in the next one and try to improve your GPA as high as you can. If you took too many honors/AP level courses, maybe drop one or two to regular so it’s easier to handle? Colleges do like to see you challenge yourself but if it’s too difficult (getting C’s or lower) you should drop down a level. I personally did not do well the first semester of sophomore year, but I worked hard the second semester up until now. Although I’m not exactly happy seeing that semester on my transcript, it tells a story, that I’m working to improve myself over time, and I’m sure the colleges will like to see that I’ve had an improvement in my grades over time. Also if you had a specific reason why you didn’t do well, you can explain that to colleges too.