<p>Okay, lets say a student graduates high school with a 3.5 or 3.4 overall GPA and he really has a chip on his shoulder. The reasons this student graduated with a 3.4 is </p>
<ol>
<li>He went to a magnet school which gave difficult classes</li>
<li>He started out slow his first 2 years (he had a 2.9 overall) because he was not motivated, he wanted to get out of the state he was living in but he was too young to realize his errors</li>
<li>The student had not lived in the same state for his life, in fact he only lived that state for 1 year before entering high school and often in his life his parents had to move around a lot</li>
<li>His junior and senior year he made the honor roll</li>
</ol>
<p>can this student get into college and make a 4.0 GPA and possibly go to an ivy league school for grad school?</p>
<p>Well, I graduated high school with a 2.8, left community college after two years with a 3.7, and it’s nearly midterm time at Umich and I’ve managed a 4.0 so far-- not likely to stay that way til graduation but it should still stay up there. I intend to apply to an ivy or two for law school. My circumstances for my 2.8 were different but if anything I would think my circumstances made it LESS likely that I would succeed in college, and I still managed it. So I would think that this student stands a shot at achieving the goals you’ve outlined if he really gets a move on now. Being unmotivated and irresponsible in college won’t magically yield better results than it did before.</p>
<p>Oh my gosh, of course, of course! Only in the fantasy world of CC is a great education, and wonderful successful life limited to those with 4.0 GPAs, 2400 SATs, who have published a novel, won Intel and solved world hunger. </p>
<p>There are tons of reasons students don’t have stats that reflect their potential in HS. You provide some, and there are many many more, from one’s family environment, to the nature of the HS, to maturity and finding one’s strengths and real interests. </p>
<p>And yes, with a 3.4 you can go to tons and tons of great schools where, if you do well, doors are open to you for graduate work or professional programs at tippy top schools. And btw, most will not at all require a 4.0 in undergrad.</p>
<p>I have a good friend who teaches at Cambridge, who couldn’t even apply to attend as a student. I have friends who are now full professors at Harvard who attended undergraduate schools you’ve not heard of (the likes of Idaho Northeast State @ Babbaboo campus). Oh I have so many examples! The majority of top academics in my field didn’t attend ‘wow’ undergraduate schools and msot of us are recruiting students now for our graduate program and really take them from across the board (I think its more than a coincidence that none of my academic colleagues are particularly concerned about getting their child into a ‘top 20 school’ for that reason; they know better). </p>
<p>Do a bit of looking about online and you’ll see that in the most amazing graduate programs, there are graduate students from all calibre of schools (as I mention in another post, the current Harvard MBA class has its share of students from top 10 schools, but also students who graduated from Arizona State, University of Calgary, and a number of other schools that aren’t particularly selective by CC or USNWR standards). Does it increase your odds of success down the road if you were super-duper HS student and went to a ‘prestigious school’? Sure! But it is not at all necessary.</p>
<p>My son went to a very tough high school and graduated with a 3.5. He’s now a sophomore with a 3.99 at a not-so-tough college. It’s done wonders for his self-esteem and he’s loving every minute of college life.</p>
<p>"
Okay, lets say a student graduates high school with a 3.5 or 3.4 overall GPA and he really has a chip on his shoulder. The reasons this student graduated with a 3.4 is "</p>
<p>Those are not average gpas. They are far above average.</p>
<p>Certainly such a student probably has the brain power to get even higher averages in college. However, even if such a student duplicated their h.s. average in college, at many colleges, they’d still be graduating with honors.</p>
<p>My son had a 3.5 average in high school, which was considerably lower than it could (should?) have been. Medical problems brought his grades down during his first two years of high school, and an overly casual attitude toward school brought them down during the last two years. </p>
<p>He went to our flagship state university, worked considerably harder than he did in high school, and ended up with a 3.8 GPA and an honors degree. More important, perhaps, he became involved in undergraduate research and decided that he wanted a research career. He is now in a Ph.D. program at a university that is ranked among the top 20 (but not the top 10) in the country in his field.</p>
<p>It’s not quite what you’re aspiring to, but it’s a pretty decent outcome, in my opinion.</p>
<p>I am talking about myself. I had an odd life, I was born in Chicago but then 1 year after my birth my parents moved to Japan and I lived there for 5 years of my life, after that they moved to France and I lived in France for 3 years of my life, from ages nine to eleven, my parents constantly moved every 6 months to places like Italy, England, India (lol and I am Indian) and then my parents came BACK to America and we settled in places like New Jersey, California, New York, Washington, Connecticut, Massachusetts and we have lived in GA ever since I was 13 yrs old. Now I am 17 and I must admit that living in this state has been difficult for me, outside of the magnet school I go to, most of the people here are not at all amiable and I get tons of flak because I am Indian…</p>
<p>I hope to go to an out of state university.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about what is in your past…your future is in your control. A friend of mine was a so-so student in high school, ended up getting a degree in accounting at the University of Illinois (at the time the #1 school in the country), with very, very high grades (Bronze Tablet) and ranked #1 on the CPA exam and, later, #3 on the bar exam.</p>
<p>He was a late bloomer. He didn’t care about academics when he was 14 or 15…but he did care when he was 18, 19, 20.</p>
<p>Maturity can make a big difference. Desire can make a big difference.</p>
<p>My oldest was not all geeked out about high school, did OK and his college GPA is higher than his high school GPA. Find a college you like that you and your family can afford and go for it. Yes, desire can make a big difference.</p>
<p>haha, we all have stories, well I had a friend of mines who graduated a local public school with a 4.0 GPA and made a 2370 on the SAT. He was named the best and brightest student in our county, as a result he ended up going to Harvard. This was 2 years ago, now he is back and he is going to a state university. His friends told me that he was just too full of himself as a result he flunked at Harvard.</p>
<p>“His friends told me that he was just too full of himself as a result he flunked at Harvard.”</p>
<p>Doesn’t make sense to me unless his parents decided not to pay for him to attend Harvard again. From what I saw when I went there, when students run into grade problems at Harvard, Harvard has them take a semester or year off, and then allows them to return. Harvard realizes that the failing student has the brain power to flourish at Harvard, but may need to mature to take advantage of the opportunity.</p>
<p>Just as is true for other colleges, some people at Harvard get low grades due to drugs, emotional problems, partying, or paying too much attention to ECs. Due to the stringent admission standards, though, far fewer students flunk out than is the case at many other colleges. In general, the best way to predict future behavior is to examine a person’s past behavior.</p>
<p>I have a friend who barely graduated HS with less than a 2.0 GPA. After working for the railroad a few years he begged a CC to let him in and they did, on probation though. He transferred to a 3rd tier state U after two years and He is now an Doctor in Kansas City.</p>
<p>Story from my doctor: His son got Bs and Cs in HS…the dad can’t remember a single A. Dad and mom didn’t pressure their son because they really thought he was working to the best of his ability. He went to community college and did well. After that he expressed a desire to become a doctor…parents were very doubtful. The son transferred to an okay state U, did very well and is now a third year med student.</p>