Hi All!
As a junior in high school, My GPA currently is a 3.64, unweighted. My coursework is super strong as I have always been an honors/AP student, and my first ACT score is pretty competitive for the schools I want also. My extracurriculars are plentiful including a sport captain. I've been super worried if having a GPA below 3.7/3.8 is gonna weigh me down during applications, and does anybody have any advice to help up my chances of getting into the schools I want?
A lot could go into that. It would honestly depend on the school as they weigh different factors differently. Using myself as an example my dream school is shown as a hard target. However, I applied ED because for that specific school it can help my chances and give me a slight boost. I also have high demonstrated interest aside from that which they also really care about.
CV can't account for essays and rec letters so while your GPA may be on the lower side if everything else is good you should still have a good chance. Other applicants may have a higher GPA but maybe they have weaker EC's or essays. As a whole in that sense you should have a good chance. I don't think your application would get rejected immediately.
It looks like you know what you're doing so I would continue with high rigor classes, just try your best to get good grades to raise your GPA for senior year.
If I might ask a pertinent question. What are the top 3 schools you are applying to? That would be most beneficial in giving you an answer that is not just an off the cuff one that pertains to your unique circumstances.
I am a senior in high school and have moved from state to state recently where I was facing a similar situation (my unweighted GPA at my old school was better than my unweighted GPA now, and I feared how that would impact my ability to get into colleges I was applying to). I talked to my school counselor about it, and she pretty much told me not to worry about it. She mentioned that colleges you apply to would take your GPA and recalculate it to their "standards" and how the classes work. However, because you are highly competitive in all other areas of your application, I wouldn't worry about it so much. You have the rest of your junior year to better your GPA and your senior year too. Plus, given that you are not far off from having a 3.7, those 0.06 points, I believe, will not be a weigh down in applications.
Personally i think that it'll be fine since you still are a junior and you not only have time to bring it up a little but if you keep on pushing your extracurriculars and test scores it should cover for the GPA
Hi, thank you for asking your question! It is true that for most selective schools (top 40 schools in the US), GPA and standardized test scores are used to create the academic index. The academic index is important for having a chance of admissions at the schools you want to get into, and have a minimum 3.75 weighted GPA and 32+ ACT are our recommendations for having a chance at admissions.
I agree with the below posts about how to increase your GPA. And don't worry too much, if your ACT score is high enough, then it may overcome your slight GPA deficit. I would also check out the livestream called Ultimate Guide to Elite Schools to learn more about what else, besides GPA, goes into a competitive application.
It honestly depends on your target for where you want to go. Personally I am very similar to you with lots of AP and Dual Credit classes. However my unweighted GPA was a 3.3. But I got into the school I wanted to, even though I didn’t have the highest GPA. You seem like you have plenty more amazing things that you are doing and it seems that no matter if your GPA is 3.6 or 3.7, you can get into where you want.
Your gpa to some schools matter more because the coursework is average if you think your coursework is really strong then your gpa will not matter as much but a 3.64 is very good
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Thanks for the reply! My ACT is really good and I'm at least on track to finish my junior year with a 3.71.