This uptrend will help you a lot, particularly if you are able to keep this up for all of the rest of high school. This will help you with college admissions. However, probably more importantly if you can keep up this improvement consistently it will help you be far better prepared to do well once you get to university.
However, this also makes it more difficult to predict where you will get admitted. You need to make sure that you apply to safeties. For some students “safety” means attending community college and transferring to university. I do know or have heard of a few students who were able to do this very successfully (one ended up as a tenured professor at a university that he would never have been accepted to straight out of high school). If you take this path then finishing high school strong with great grades will help when you go to transfer. However, I also have heard of students (including the former acquaintance of my daughter and also including the person who started a recent thread on this web site) who got their act together and started getting great grades half way through high school, and who then went (or are about to go) straight to a very good 4 year university.
In terms of your question at the start of this thread: I see in Prepscholar that Holy Cross has a 36% acceptance rate and a 3.81 mean incoming GPA. This would put it as a reach for you even if you get mostly A’s with a few B’s from now on.
I have a relative who graduated recently and am fairly familiar with HC. I think it’s realistic for you if you apply ED1 and based on the following:
They are completely fine with test optional
You organise at least 1 interview over the summer- well before you submit your application
Visit in person as many times as possible
Build rapport with your AO through regular, substantive emails, such as with well researched questions by combing through the website, Twitter, Instagram, reported news, any available social media, brochures, etc, any teachers who are active on social media, for example @DrDre, who is a Chem professor who has gone viral on Instagram and been featured on news channels for promoting stem in underrepresented groups, which includes women. Truly inspirational person and a real character.
5)Participate in virtual information sessions- prepare questions to ask to show your interest
6)Your parents can submit a reference. They can highlight your character, tenacity, what you have overcome and how focused you now are, and commitment to community for example
I would augment your community service- I know you highlighted this- it’s very important to Holy Cross
I would make sure your Guidance Counsellor highlights how well rounded you are and where you have shown leadership, as well as your positive upward trajectory and the backstory
HC has an .80 acceptance rate to med school, so it’s very competitive. While your trajectory is fantastic, your GPA will be on the low side when applying, so I might suggest communicating your interest in foreign languages and performing arts, which are strengths in your profile. HC built a new performing arts center in the past few years which they are very proud of.
I would tailor your common App essay to Holy Cross. You can change it if you apply for ED2 or RD should you need to apply to those pools.
since you are pre-med it is important you understand the process at Holy Cross and what it means for your future med school application. HC has an 80% med school admit rate, that’s great, right? Well, they get there by screening applicants. Many private colleges provide what is called the “committee letter” and often the letter, as it is at HC, is evaluative. A college can get any admit rate it wants by supporting only the strong applicants. All you need to know to do this is at https://www.aamc.org/media/6091/download
The rest of the premeds know it is a waste of money and time to apply with a poor letter, so they don’t apply, and the admit rate is right where the school wants it to be. A school doesn’t want kids with a 25% chance to apply because one out of four is overjoyed but the other three drag down the overall admit rate. So with screening none of them apply. And they probably need to discourage kids with a better chance than 25%.
HC makes no bones about letting applicants know if they’ll back them. They say
Nor can you realistically decide to apply anyway and keep the committee letter to yourself. As HC warns on the same page above
it is very unusual to apply without the Committee’s recommendation. It often sends a “red flag” to medical schools, as almost all Holy Cross medical school applicants apply through the committee.
Holy Cross indicates in their Common Data Set that academic GPA is considered “very important” in admissions. No ec’s or personal traits will override a low GPA in an unhooked applicant. High standardized test scores and 4/5’s on AP tests will help.
Also, correcting the acceptance rate posted earlier- it is 16% overall for class of 2028.
Look into Clark U, Saint Michael’s and Providence College as options.
I agree that the uptrend will help and if you maintain this it will help you. If HC is your first choice and the NPC is affordable, I don’t see a reason to not apply ED. I really do think you should try to get a test though. It would provide a solid point of evidence to AOs that you will handle the work. It is also very important to get valuable recommendations highlighting your progress/strengths as a student.
Holy Cross is basically impossible.
You can apply ED but you’d likely waste that ED shot.
That being said, their concern won’t be about character or ECs. It’ll be about academic ability.
As a result, unlike most students, this is what you should do
prep for the SAT. Aim for 1350-1450 as these scores would be at odds with your GPA and thus make them reconsider your grades or background.
take community college classes over the summer, 1 per summer session, and get As - Intro to sociology (rather than HS sociology), Art History, etc. These will show your ability to do college work.
These 2 will yield the most reward because HC (and any college) will see your 9th&10th grade grades aren’t reflective of your ability. The downside is that if you don’t do well, it’ll confirm their concern. So it’s high risk high reward for you, and depending on your mental health issues it could be triggering thus bad. Only you can know whether that’s worth it. Without these 2 pieces (high SAT/ACT scores, dual enrollment classes with As) forget about Holy Cross.
It won’t be a fun summer but hopefully between prep sessions and CC class+hw, you’ll still have time to spend with friends, go to the pool/lake, etc.
your senior schedule should look like this: Honors English or AP lang (since you seem to have completed AP lit?), Foreign language 3 or 4, Precalculus or AP Stats, AP history (world?), APES, Anatomy&Physiology
get As in those
Seconding Clark as an excellent EA choice. They’re test optional but if you score 1250+ it’d definitely help lower the weight placed on your early grades.
Colleges similar to Holy Cross but more accessible: John Carroll, Washington (MD), Loyola MD, St Michael’s, Emmanuel, Siena, Elizabethtown.
While upward trend is favorable, be careful in that courses with D grades may be not counted toward recommended or required courses by colleges that have specific lists of high school courses for admission.
If you want to give Holy Cross a try nobody here will (or should) stop you. Give the application your all. Just understand that particular college will be a major reach with your GPA.
Was your friend a hooked applicant (ex. legacy, recruited athlete, etc.)?
Yes I stated in the original post that I’m VERY aware of HC being a hard reach for me due to my gpa but it’s extremely disheartening to see some of these users making assumptions about my intelligence based off of this factor. I scored above average in all of my state tests and earned all A’s in junior high before COVID as well as having many teachers convey tha my intellectual abilities not lining up with my cum gpa (which isn’t even final yet since I’m a junior).
No, she just wrote an amazing essay about being a first generation student and had lots of niche ECs
Nobody should question your intelligence…none of us knows you.
Outside factors may have impacted your GPA, some students get serious about academics later on, etc.
Create an application list that includes reach, match, and safety schools that you would be happy to attend and you will be fine. I also suggest that you apply to some safety/match schools either EA or rolling so you can hopefully get some acceptances by December. I would second Siena as a great option that offers early acceptance decisions.
The problem with admission to a highly selective college that all applicants face is that they have way more excellent applications than they can admit.
I’m sorry this is disheartening for you, and you’re right, it is - so, you should give it your all. That means high SAT/ACT scores and as many high level classes with As as you can handle (but not so many that it’s too much and your grades slip -generally, for instance, it’s not wise to tqke more than 4 APs Senior year due to the work required by college apps.)
Their concern won’t be intelligence but they won’t admit anyone whom they worry may not succeed academically; that’s also why people recommend you don’t mention mental health issues in your applications - they also won’t admit someone who has a history of needing mental health services. The best thing would be for your GC to indicate in their LoR that “freshman grades are due to illness”, nothing more. To determine whether you have the ability to do well at HC, they look at your HS transcript, weighting jr/sr years more than sophomore year and especially freshman year. You can see how they would need to have as many recent data points as possible.
What’s your current SAT or ACT score and if not 1400/32 do you think you can get there?
Will you reach level 3 or 4 in a foreign language by the end of Senior year? Will you be taking Precalculus or AP Stats (or Calculus)?
Have you taken bio, chem, physics already?
Any reason why your grades until now were below a 3.0? I only ask because if you pursue premed (IIRC on your other chance me, you said you wanted to go to medical school to be a psychiatrist), your grades in college will need to be significantly and consistently higher. In addition, you will need a strong MCAT score, patient facing experience, shadowing, volunteering with underprivileged populations, and great LOR. And that’s just to get to the interview stage.
You wrote this on one of your other threads:
Yes, I plan on going to med school and working as a Psychiatrist.
Medical school is hard, very hard. And is filled with test after test after test.
If you are interested in health care…check out this website for other options.
Re: your chances at Holy Cross…I’m not an adcom, but I don’t think they are high. But you can’t get accepted if you don’t apply. Just make sure you have a varied list of colleges to apply to…including ones that are less competitive for admissions.
I don’t think anyone is making assumptions about your intelligence. You’re asking about the strength of your application, and that (not your intelligence) is what we’re trying to assess.
What I don’t understand is, if you feel that you generally do well on standardized tests, why would you be reluctant, in your current situation, to use the SAT/ACT to validate your academic strength? Test optional is a fine strategy for students whose transcripts speak for themselves, but your whole argument is that yours does not. If you really want to be premed, you’re going to have to get comfortable with test prep, because you won’t be going to med school without a strong MCAT score. Might as well start laying that foundation now, and becoming the best test-taker you can with SAT/ACT prep while also strengthening your college application with a score that matches the way you want AO’s to see you.
Your grades are not an indication of your intelligence. Your grades are, however, extremely likely to affect your chances of college admission at highly selective (rejective) colleges.
That said, take a look at the faculty bios of almost any university. The faculty will generally have been getting their PhDs from top programs (there are far more highly qualified individuals who want to be college professors than there are spots). Professors, particularly at regional and smaller colleges, will be happy to assist you in your endeavors to grow intellectually, whether that’s through involving you in research, or supporting your efforts to attend conferences, or work as a TA for a class, etc.
Additionally, you will find peers who may have also had a rocky start to high school but whose intellect is just as strong as your own. There will be people who had an amazing high school career and will be attending a school because the school gave them big scholarships to induce them to attend. Just because a school has an acceptance rate above 30% doesn’t mean you can’t get an outstanding education there.
If Holy Cross is truly your #1 choice and it is affordable for your family, feel free to ED there. Although I think the odds of an acceptance are very slim, you can’t be accepted if you don’t apply. But make sure you dive into the offerings of other colleges as well to see what interests you and what special opportunities really speak to you. Because once you start digging in to other colleges, you’ll find that they really do have some cool things going on. Make sure you find at least two schools that are extremely likely to admit you, extremely likely to be affordable, and that you would be happy to attend for four years. I suggested several possibilities on your other thread.