<p>Pitthopeful - What year of high school are you currently? My son was also in the gifted program in school, and he underperformed his freshman year of high school. Maybe not underperformed as much as he failed to take advantage of the more challenging honors/AP coursework that his school offered.</p>
<p>Even though my S was identified as “gifted” way back in elementary school, he lacked the confidence and focous that he felt he needed to do well in the honors/AP classes. After some encouragement from his father and I, as well as his guidance counselor, he began to take honors/AP courses after his freshman year. He actually did better in the honors/AP courses than he had in the college prep. Turns out all he needed was the added challenge that these courses offered. So, if you’re not already taking your school’s most challenging classes, do so, and if you are, take more of them. Since you are in the gifted program, you obviously possess the intellect necessary to succeed in these difficult courses, so go for it.</p>
<p>By the way, my S was accepted to Pitt’s main campus last year with a 3.93 unweighted/4.17 weighted GPA within 4 weeks of his application.</p>
<p>Best wishes.</p>