Okay, so basically I just finished my Freshman Year, and I am going to be a sophomore for the upcoming school year. Recently I have been looking at colleges, and trying to find one that I feel is the best for me. So far, my eyes have been on CU Boulder,CSU,and SDSU. I currently live in Colorado and attend Cherry Creek High School, so I feel that getting into CU or CSU would be fairly easy based on their acceptance rate, the fact that I am a Colorado Resident, the fact that I’m a black male and also that both of these colleges recruit from Cherry Creek High School. So to be completely honest I’m not so worried about these two. However my concern arises when it comes to SDSU(my dream college)1) There acceptance rate is only 31% 2)They only have 12% of out of state students (but Colorado is one of the states they recruit from) 3)I messed up my freshman year of high school. So basically during my freshman year, I ditched many of my classes, rarely listened in class and this resulted in me failing algebra 1, and ending my freshman year with a 1.358 GPA. I decided that I needed to pull my act together, and so I’ve been studying for mostly all of my summer, getting ready for sophomore year. My goals are to get at least a 3.5 GPA or higher during the rest of my years in high school. I feel that this goal is very attainable, because its not that I’m a dumb kid, its the fact that at the moment I was very lazy and I felt that I didn’t need to do anything. So I was just wondering if I screwed up my chances of getting into SDSU or if its not to late. Also, I would appreciate it if you give me advice on getting into SDSU if you feel that I still have a chance of getting into there. Thanks a lot.
PS: I also run track, play bball, and I play tennis. (In case it helps with my chances of getting into SDSU)
The Cal States only use grades from a-g course requirements for 10-11th grade to calculate the CSU GPA: https://secure.csumentor.edu/planning/high_school/gpa_calculator.asp
Since you are OOS, you can only use AP/IB class grades (8 semesters) for the extra honors points in the GPA calculation.
Next you need to calculate your Eligiblity index for SDSU:
(CSU GPA x800) + (SAT Math + Critical Reading) or (CSU GPA x200) + (ACT composite score x10)
If your EI is around 4000+ for SAT or 1000+ for ACT, then you have a good chance for an acceptance.
This is the Freshman profile from last year:
Admitted Student Profile Fall 2014
Freshmen
Average high school GPA: 3.82
Average SAT score: 1159 (Math + Critical Reading)
Average ACT score: 25
SDSU is the 2nd most competitive Cal State with over 77,000 applications this past year. You need to have a competitive GPA and test scores for an acceptance. Good Luck and Go Azetecs!!!
@ricosuave22 wait. Does your school not have a policy that all athletes must maintain a certain GPA to play sports? The vast majority of schools do. You should check in with your school’s policy to see if you can play your sports for the coming year. Also, how many classes exactly did you fail? Just Algebra 1? Because getting a 1.358 requires a lot more than just failing a single class.
Regardless, like the others said, try to maintain a good GPA for the next two years for admission to SDSU. And also get good test scores.
@michelle426 Okay, so when the sports were in session I had mostly all c’s and d’s and I was not failing any classes at all,and our school just requires that you don’t fail any classes In order to participate. As to my gpa … I got the 1.35 gpa first semester and a 2.3 gpa the second semester. Thanks for your response…hope to hear from you
Grade trends. These are extremely important. If you show a strong upward grade trend (meaning basically all A’s and B’s in sophomore year, mostly A’s in junior year) combined with a strong ACT or SAT score, yes, you can still get into college and likely a fairly decent one. Looking at your dream schools, I would suggest trying to look elsewhere, like the lower schools of the UC system. The UC system only uses year 10 and year 11 grades when calculating the “UC GPA”. Though they’ll see your freshman year, many people seem to believe that it’s mostly overlooked. It is well known that when you’re 14 and 15 years old you may not be quite ready for the pressures of high school. SDSU is a California school (obviously) so that’s why I suggested you look into the UC system, more specifically a school like UC Riverside. Don’t let 9th grade discourage you, work hard in grades 10 and 11 and you’ll be just fine.
@MN8286 Thanks a lot:)…the only thing that I was wondering about is why do you recommended a lower UC school. My plans are if I don’t get into SDSU, I intend on staying in Colorado and applying to CU or CSU. I also have other back up schools but these are the main three. I appreciate your feedback and hope to hear from you soon.
@ricosuave22: If you are interested in attending SDSU, you need to have the money talk with your parents. As an OOS applicant, SDSU will cost you around $35K/year with little to no financial aid. It is great that you want to work hard and improve your GPA, but be aware that when it comes time to apply that you can afford to attend all those schools are on your list. Good Luck.
Worst case, attend your local CC after high school. 4 year schools, at least in my area, don’t require any high school info if you transfer from a CC with 30 credits or more. It’s a good transition, the class sizes are smaller. You get more attention, you’re not just a number like at most big public 4 year schools. Plus it’s so much cheaper, you or your parents will appreciate this. I also messed up horribly in high school. Keep your head up and keep truckin.
@ricosuave22 I really only suggested a lower UC school because you’d have a higher chance at getting in, but by all means go for the upper UC’s if you have that goal or desire. Also, I second what @Gumbymom said about SDSU’s tuition cost for out of state, it is very pricey and something to consider. Your backup plan on staying in Colorado sounds very solid as well, in state tuition is much easier on the wallet.
Thanks a lot …I appreciate you guys taking out the time to help me:), and as to expenses my parents said we will be just fine…also, I will be retaking the classes that I had D’s and F’s in , in order to increase my freshman year gpa, and increase my chances of getting accepted into sdsu. Thanks a lot and feel free to leave any additional comments that you feel will also be beneficial to me. Thanks @MN8286@Gumbymom
Freshman year GPA is not used in SDSU’s GPA calculation, but if the classes are a-g course requirements, then you should repeat them since a passing grade of C is required. Good Luck to you.
