Pretend you’re an admissions counselor. Please someone give me a brutally honest answer 😂

Answered

I'll try to be brutally honest as you requested... 😅

Your GPA:

I'm going to give it to you straight. If you want to get into top 20 schools or schools such as the Ivy League, there is a very low chance they would accept you. Even though colleges claim their admissions are holistic (which they are in some ways), GPA will always be an important factor as it reflects your high school years academically as a whole.

What Can You Do?

Take AP classes! While your unweighted GPA may not be amazing, you could possibly get your weighted GPA up to around a 3.3 or so if you take a lot of rigorous classes. This is really the only option if you want a shot (in the GPA category) at mid-range acceptance rates schools. If you have already chosen your classes and cannot change them, try to ask if you can OR self study for some AP classes outside of high school and maybe take dual enrolment classes. I can't really think of anything else you can do.

Your ACT Score:

Lucky for you, since you are currently a junior, lots of universities will be test optional for your graduating class. Unless you can get a very good ACT score, I would apply test optional. If you really want to try and get a good score, maybe attempt the SAT as well, just to see which one you prefer (if you have not already done so).

My Questions For You...

- Do you have any impressive extracurriculars? These are really going to be the thing that saves you. It's rare, but occasionally people can get accepted into top 20 schools with an average GPA as long as their extracurriculars are incredible. These levels of extracurriculars include: starting a business, being president of a club, creating a game, having an internship at a well-known company, etc. So yeah, they are pretty high-tier activities. 😓

- Have you started drafting for your essays? A really good time to start is this summer, the summer before your senior year. Picture this: you are an admission officer and have spent your whole day reading essays all about the same "live-changing" topic. It gets a little repetitive. But then, you come across a beautifully written essay that makes you smile, laugh, or cry. Sure, extracurriculars and grades are important, but essays will be the factor of your application to really show your personality. PLEASE PUT LOTS OF EFFORT INTO THESE!

- Letters of recommendation? Do you have teachers who you can ask that like you a lot? These will be super important.

This is just my point of view. My brutally honest answer to sum it up is that, unless your extracurriculars are unrealistically incredible, schools such as Harvard may be a high reach and not super realistic. However, I want you to know that whatever college you end up going to will not determine your future. I know, I know, this is said a lot but it is the honest truth. Really, college cannot hold you back, it can only give you that extra boost to your end goal. The only thing that can hold you back is yourself. As long as you treat others with kindness, are honest, and dedicated to what you want to do, you will achieve what you want to achieve.

I'd be happy to answer any other questions you may have regarding this. :D

Good luck!

It also depends on the schools you wish to try for admission. You may be able to get into a State school with a mandated lower GPA requirement, for instance (Cal State schools require a 3.0).

Another consideration would be to go to a community college and then transfer into a school after you have established a successful track record. In California there are established paths from CCs to the UCs). You may just have to think outside the box a wee bit in terms of your trajectory!

Best of luck, and kudos for realizing that you are willing and able to apply yourself!

Hello, most schools minimum GPA is a 3.0 (unweighted), so you should definitely try to bring it up higher than that. You can do this by taking AP, dual enrollment, and/or honor classes. If you do well in these classes, it should bring your GPA up. The problem is that colleges will look at your junior year grades first so you should have to explain about your grades in your college application. With the ACT, I recommend doing practice test like you are actually doing the exam to get a better sense of the time. Using your previous score, try to focus on the areas you did not do so well on. For example, in the math section, if you did worse on the geometry questions try to focus on that! Also, learn strategies or tips that would help you with the timing of the test. Remember that academic and scores are not the only factor colleges look at. You did not mention any extracurricular activities you are doing but I recommend trying to be productive over your junior year. Try to find activities, programs, volunteering, and/or internships that you think you would enjoy! Overall, you have a lot to do over this summer but I know you can do it! Good luck!! :)