My gpa went from a 3.9 to a 3.7 because of senior year 
is an unweighted 3.7 really that terrible? It basically just means an A- average, right? I know it’s not ideal, but is it at least going to keep me in the running for a spot at schools like brown or duke?
It depends on which classes you got which grade in along with what else you have in your application. I know many students at top schools who had A- averages in high school.
Well in any case we’re in the same boat so good luck to you! Although you do have a drop in grades which is worse than having the same gpa with an upwards trend.
@lostaccount what do you mean by which classes i got which grades in? all of my b’s have been in ap classes… does that make it worse?
@gray7time it means if you’re applying to engineering , slighly lower grades are more forgivable in English but can kill your app in math
Also, gym, art, freshman classes, etc are less weighted
Your junior semesters and first semester senior year carry the most weight b/c they’re generally your most difficult courses. Stumbling there will be tough to overcome in applicant pools where many 3.9s and 4.0s get routinely rejected.
Are you talking about your cumulative? To go from 3.9 to 3.7 in one semester means you got like 2.5 in the fall? Or do you mean your fall GPA is 3.7?
2.5 looks wicked bad. 3.7 might be OK.
@WasatchWriter I guess I kind of exaggerated the situation a little bit - I got a 3.3 this semester, bringing my GPA to a 3.75
bump
I don’t think a 3.7 is bad. I think the downward trend is bad.
If you are in a highly rigorous program, it would not be unusual for your unweighted GPA to suffer as a senior. Even the best students can struggle with IB/HL classes, or with classes like AP Calculus and Physics. A competitive senior will be taking a rigorous courseload, while also participating in some challenging extracurricular activities in a leadership role. Nobody can guarantee admission to Duke or Brown, even with a perfect 4.0. They simply receive too many applications from highly-qualified applicants. I think they would forgive an All-American quarterback or an Intel finalist a 3.3, and prefer it to a 4.0 from someone who spent every afternoon at a tutoring center or in SAT Prep sessions. A 3.9 would be better than a 3.3, naturally, but if your unweighted GPA fell because you had a full slate of demanding activities it is no disaster: it shows that you can handle a lot of competing demands.
Does your school send a bunch of kids to top schools? Does your naviance show that 3.7 students get accepted at said schools? If so then relax. If neither of those apply then a 3.7 is not necessarily good.
You can’t rely on Naviance because the N’s are too low. The fact that nobody at that school got in with a 3.7 does not mean the OP won’t. Consider N! Unless there is something special about your particular school-like if it is a feeder school for Yale, then go with the Common Data Set data that is from tens of thousands of students or look at other sources but looking at outcomes of a few hundred students in one school tells you nothing about your chances.
If your high school sends lots of grads to top schools and you’re taking lots of AP and other rigorous courses, then you’re OK. But otherwise, a 3.7 is weak for top schools.
Realistically, yes, unless everything else is stellar. You can still try to apply to Brown or Duke, of course, but better to set your sights on schools that are a bit of an easier admit (of which there are many good ones!).
gray7time: You asked so I’m assuming that you want the straight dope. You have not given us much to work on, except that you had a mediocre semester, at least compared to your other semesters. A 3.3 UW GPA essentially works out to about 2 As and 4 Bs. So the answer to your question is “of course it is going to hurt your chances of getting into Brown or Duke.” If you have some great hook or are a recruited athlete, then they are much likely to let things slide a bit. But you haven’t told us anything like that so I would hope that you have some fallbacks to Brown and Duke, which are both top 20 schools in the country.
thank you everyone for your responses. my school actually does not even show the unweighted GPA on my transcript, and only shows the weighted so i calculated it myself taking out gym classes and easy elective classes. my weighted gpa is still well above the averages for accepted students on naviance, but those students probably had straight a’s in less advanced schedules so it’s hard to compare
If they had straight As in less rigorous schedules that is good for you. Class rigor is a key component for admission.