I’ve applied to Arkansas Tech and I’m worried I won’t get accepted. My accumulative GPA that my FAFSA took from my transcript is a 1.95, largely because if my freshman and sophomore year. I scored a 21 on my first ACT and I’m taking it again in December but they will have made their decision by then. My grades junior year and this year are a lot better and my current gpa is a better as well, but Im scared that it being so low the first two years will keep them from accepting me. What are my chances of being accepted?
Score really well on the ACT and you may have a shot if your upward trend is really good, 1.95 is a killer for most schools though so don’t get your hopes up.
Keep your GPA up as high as you can for this year. If you do well for two years that will make the point that you are capable.
I do know a few people who have messed up this badly or worse in high school and ended up doing well. In some cases they were able to get into a decent pubic university and do well there. In a few cases they went to community college or a university that was very easy to get into, did very well there, and then transferred to a very strong school. One person who messed up very badly in high school went to a low ranked university, did very well, transferred to a top university, did very well, went on to his PhD, and ended up being a highly respected professor at a very good university that he could never have gotten into straight out of high school.
I also know a couple of people who had a strong upward trend in their GPA where the university that they wanted to go to waited for their mid-year senior year grades to see if the uptrend continued. I am not sure whether Arkansas Tech does this but this is one reason to keep your grades up for this year.
If you get in then let us know. If you don’t, then you still will have options. If you don’t get in then you could call admissions, point out that you have a strong upward trend in GPA, and ask whether it would be better to go to community college for a year and try to transfer or to take a gap year and apply with a full two years of good grades in your junior and senior year of high school. In most cases I have found admissions at most universities to be very helpful for a wide range of questions. Sometimes they do get busy about this time of year.
And definitely don’t give up. You will have some good opportunities going forward, particularly if you can continue to put in a strong effort and keep your GPA up as high as you can.
Thanks so much. I’ll let you know if I get accepted.