How much of an impact do my early grades have on my admission?

Applying to College
1

Hey everyone,

When I transitioned from a British middle school to a competitive American high school I had trouble at first. Our GPA is semester based. At first the registrar sorta messed up and gave me a B for both semesters in 8th grade Spanish. This wasn’t supposed to happen, but they were stubborn and never changed. The first semester of my freshman year I got a C in honors geometry, and 2 Bs in other honors classes. After that semester I greatly improved and got all As and one B in honors geometry. I got all As, and only one B in one semester of my Stats AP class, in my sophomore and junior year. I took a very heavy course load throughout high school and I am in the top 10% of my class with a UW gpa of 3.845/4 and a weighted gpa of 5.55/6. I also got a 34 on the ACT and have very solid ECs and volunteering. How would this really bad start impact my chances to get into good schools? (Cornell, UCLA, NYU, etc).

2

Up trends are favorably looked upon. I would say you have a good shot at NYU, but they are notorious for terrible FA. UCLA OOS won’t give you money. Also, hard to get in OOS. Cornell is a reach for anyone. There are lots of other factors at play, and you certainly need to form a more complete list of colleges you are interested in, including match and safety schools.

I am not sure what grade you will be in, but keep up the good work and you will have a shot at many great schools. I don’t think the Spanish grade will be a problem, or the C. Good luck.

3

Bump