Hi, I’m a full IB Diploma student (junior) (with tons of extracurriculars i.e. FBLA for(will be) 4 years, Deca Advisor (will be) 2 years, JV Soccer for 2 years, Academic Decathalon (will be 2 years), and I started my own IB freshmen/sophomore mentoring club, along with Nordstorm’s BP Fashion Board. I was wondering if schools such as NYU, The New School (NYC), U Mich, and University of Illinois Urbana will care more about the fact that I am a full IB diploma student (and was a pre diploma student in my freshman and sophomore year) than the fact that I got very average grades. I feel as if due to the fact that I messed up my freshman year and still don’t have the best grades (I have a 2.9 unweighted GPA) will mess up my chances of getting into these schools. I know that my unweighted GPA is really crappy; however, my weighted is a 3.9 and all the classes I have taken have been HL International Baccalaureate classes (with the exception of math which was SL).
I took my practice ACT yesterday and I feel pretty good about it- I’m aiming for a 30 and am taking a prep course as of right now.
The main question here is: will colleges strongly consider the fact that I have challenged myself (pretty far beyond my abilities based on my grades)? Or will the fact that I earned B’s and C’s completely destroy my chances for any of these schools? Based on responses I have gotten before, people have pretty much totally me to go to community college which is completely devastating considering how much I have challenged myself. Thank you so much for your time, any input is greatly appreciated.
Colleges like to see A’s and B’s in challenging courses, but they’re not impressed with C’s, which indicate either that you didn’t estimate your ability or slacked off.
A 2.9 puts you out of the running for NYU and UMich. UIUC: depends what you’re interested in, but based on your interest in The New School, I assume it’s humanities/social sciences so you may have a shot if your ACT score is 30 (or more), especially considering your weighted GPA. You’re probably good for The New School.
Where are you in-state? What’s your parents’ budget?
The New School and UIUC are quite expensive, especially if you’re OOS at the latter.
Look into : Goucher, Ursinus, Allegheny, Ohio Wesleyan, Wooster, CCNY, Pace, Simmons, Susquehanna, Elmhurst, Loyola, DePaul, Drake, Butler, Beloit, Hendrix, Willamette, Lewis&Clark.
St Olaf, Illinois Wesleyan, or Fordham may be interested in your HL curriculum and may be a bit understanding on your grades but 2.9 would be quite low for these.
Colleges like to see both, frankly.
What’s your predicted score?
UMich and NYU are based on prestige, your GPA literally takes you out of the competition. UIUC is tough too.
I’d go with the community college option myself, build up on the GPA there and then transfer to an amazing college afterwards.
Applying to the top tier colleges in my opinion would just be a waster unless you’ve had a condition which explains your low GPA. Best of luck, anyway.
They like both, but if you can only have one have the better grades
@MYOS hi, thank you so much for you response
I live in Chicago and literally go to school right next to DePaul so I’d rather stay out of the area. I definitely will be touring Fordham (I have booked a trip to go this summer) as well as NYU and hopefulyl (if I have enough time) the New School as well as Boston Schools like BU and BC. The thing is, it is very very rare for someone who completed the IB program at my school to not be accepted to UIUC (and my parents set up a program when I was born that paid off my tuition to any Illinois state school right then and there so they’re really pushing me for UIUC). I would have to get a pretty solid scholarship for me to justify going to a private out of state school. Thank you for those recommendations, they’re greatly appreciated.
I do actually have panic disorder (and it’s been suggested by a psychologist that I be tested for ADD which my parents didn’t want to have done because the only solution for that would be putting me on Adderall and they don’t want to take the drug path given I’m already on Xanax). My panic attacks were greatly increased my freshmen year which is when I had the most trouble with my grades. Would this help as leverage for my case? @digitallysh