Bad Grades Freshman/Sophomore Year

mamabear232
Fri, 13 Aug 2021 16:21:53 +0000

While it’s great that you have overcome adversity and you have pursued a lot of interesting ECs and community service projects, that is not going to compensate for your GPA at T-20 schools, unless you attend a HS that does not inflate grades and that 3.45 UW places you in the top 5-10% of students in your class.

By way of comparison, I have a kid who graduated last year from a very competitive HS. The top students had unweighted 4.0 GPA, 99% ACT/SAT scores, many national merit finalists, multiple APs with all 5s, significant ECs at the regional and national levels, etc. Some of these students got into one or two T20 schools (especially if they applied ED and/or had hooks) and some got rejected or WL to all schools at this level.

College admissions move so quickly that Naviance data can become outdated very quickly. It also doesn’t take into account any hooks an applicant might bring, like being a recruitable athlete. Even if the data is relatively current, you should not overweight SAT and underweight GPA. Even though Vandy likes high test scores, there isn’t a whole lot of difference between a 1530 and a 1570 SAT while there is a great deal of difference between a 3.45 and a 3.85 UW GPA.

The good news is that you have a wonderful profile that is likely to yield interest at schools that are a bit less selective and/or value the kind of leadership and community engagement you have developed. If you are female, have you considered women’s colleges? And while you want to leave the midwest, I could totally see you at a LAC like Macalester, St. Olaf, Oberlin, College of Wooster, etc. where you would be more competitive for admission.