<p>Would Princeton rather see consistency (high grades, good amount extracurricular activities, and excellent standardized tests) or large improvement throughout high school (low grades, low amount of extracurricular activities, and low standardized test scores in the beginning of high school, but was inspired by the school and improved to have high grades, good amount extracurricular activities, and excellent standardized tests during the middle and end of high school)?</p>
<p>i mean both are good i guess. but imo consistency is more valued.</p>
<p>They’d rather see consistent high achievement.</p>
<p>consistency, but upward trend is a close second in GPA</p>
<p>I don’t imagine any college would say “Oh, I like to see students begin as slackers and later get serious more than ones who’ve been serious all four years”. If so, that sucks for almost every CCer out here. So Princeton would probably prefer that you show consistent drive and success.</p>
<p>That said, an upward trend shows great improvement, and there’s no use agonizing over what’s already passed. However, if pressed to give a middle-schooler college advice, I’d never say “Princeton would like it better if you start rough and then get inspired, so feel free to slack off freshman year!”</p>
<p>Sorry if this sounds smart-alecky; I’m not quite sure how to phrase it. xD</p>
<p>That’s not what I meant. What I meant was someone who was trying hard in the beginning of high school, but had a troublesome start and transition, but pushed through and improved throughout the next three years.</p>
<p>Unless you have a very, very good reason for early trouble (homeless, working insane hrs/wk, orphan, you know), I would assume consistency would be more highly valued. JMO</p>
<p>Chuck: you asked this same question across a number of selective schools’ fora. Here’s the deal: your less-than-great academic performance early on might be the millstone around your neck – overall GPA is a huge consideration – especially for top colleges. There’s no way around it. You’ve basically asked people to “chance you” at a series of top schools. Before asking, you already knew that practically no one has a good chance. Looking at unsatisfactory performance in your history, you asked “well, how are my chances?”</p>
<p>The answer is likely less than everyone eles’s already poor chances. Those are the numbers. As I said in another reply literally thousands of 4.0 or near 4.0 students will be rejected by the top schools. That’s your competition. Unless the schools find something about you that’s *extremely *compelling, you shouldn’t bank on them. (heck, look at the results threads on the various fora and you’ll see the 4.0 GPA + 2200 SAT rejected kids).</p>
<p>The indicator about your maturation during HS is that you’ll most likely be very successful in college. However, your GPA seems to not make you a viable candidate for the tippy top schools. I tell students and families at my info sessions for my HYP alma mater: “if you’re one of the handful of top scholars in your school this moment, then you might be a viable candidate.” By implication, if one is one of those, then one is not a viable candidate – according to my opinion.</p>
<p>Fora</p>
<p>^lulz</p>
<p>Sure, they want top students, but I don’t think they want perfect ones (or rather ones who imagine themselves to be perfect and have the grades and test scores to back up their delusion). If you can frame an interesting story that will place your track-record as a continuous effort in self-improvement, that may be appealing to them. (Psychologically in the same way that “underdog success stories” seem to impress us).</p>
<p>I mean, I was a B student in 9th and 10th grades and that didn’t see me immediately excluded (I got in). Not that I was an underdog of some kind (I wasn’t), but a trend of slightly-better-than-steady improvement worked for me. An upward trend is helpful. (I must clarify though, that probably doesn’t mean going from a B- to a B+ student across your high-school career; I went from B to A and valedictorian).</p>
<p>Actually, I think I saw in one of the Dartmouth live video chats that Maria Laskaris said something along the lines that “we like to see an upward trend”… Noises to that effect may also be made here, on point 2: [url=<a href=“http://dartmouthquestions.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-important-are-my-grades-when-being.html]Dartmouth”>http://dartmouthquestions.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-important-are-my-grades-when-being.html]Dartmouth</a> Admissions Uncommonly Asked Questions: How Important Are My Grades When Being Considered for Admission?<a href=“I%20suspect%20Dartmouth%20doesn’t%20evaluate%20grades%20in%20a%20way%20all%20that%20different%20to%20Princeton’s”>/url</a>.</p>