Bad Grades Freshman/Sophomore Year

tristatecoog
Fri, 13 Aug 2021 19:32:48 +0000

kevpink:

Wouldn’t an explanation be better than just allowing admissions officers to assume I was lazy freshman and sophomore year? Would a clear explanation take away some of the negative weight that my fresh/soph grades carry?
I am from the midwest and I want to go somewhere not in the midwest. My list is super long right now but I have at least five safeties!

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If 40 pts above average, it would be 1560 SAT. That’s roughly the 70%ile of enrolled students.
If 0.4 below average GPA, it would be 3.46. That’s roughly the 6%ile of enrolled students.
Note that enrolled students have a bit lower stats than admitted students. They will also give a boost to applicants with hooks like recruited Div I athlete, Pell Grant, special talent, state of residency (considered), racial/ethnic status, work experience, etc. Which of those hooks help your case?

A really great SAT will be favorably considered at SMU, Syracuse, Villanova, GW, Fordham, Miami, etc. and hopefully the combo of your junior grades will get you admitted and some merit. You’ll need to show interest at many of these. An option is to attend your state flagship and transfer if you make great grades. Top 20 schools don’t have many transfer needs because they graduate 93+% of their incoming freshmen.