<p>I’m a pretty good student but in my sophomore year, I got a C+ and a C in two different subjects, respectively. Because of this, is my GPA lower than like a 3.8? My school follows the whole GPA/4.0. </p>
<p>Since I think that the highest GPA I can receive is a 3.8-4.0 in my junior and senior year, is that a good enough GPA, a 3.8? I’ve got friends whose GPAs are like 4.3. They are pretty damn smart!</p>
<p>I’m looking at DUKE university, UVA, UofC, Boston U, USF, UNC-CH, UCSD, UCLA, UCI, and possibly USC.</p>
<p>Most likely depends on your “unknown” competition. You could check the previous admission profiles to schools you are considering and or the common data sets.</p>
<p>moviefreak~ you didn’t give any info on rigor of your classes(APs, honors, etc.)also, how you write your essays, standardized test score, recs,ECs all matter. since you’re from CA you know the UC system better than i do, but as far as Duke and UVA, need to know other stuff about you. for UVA, OOS a 3.8 is low, but as i said, don’t know the aforementioned. good luck.</p>
<p>A 3.8 can be a good GPA–it’s above an A- average, which is good. But HOW good (or not) it is is affected by a couple things. For instance, what APs/Honors you took: if you have a 3.8 but no APs/Honors (if there are any offered at your school), that’s not going to look good.</p>
<p>Likewise, clas rank (if your school does it, or otherwise a general knowledge of GPA distribution at your school by the colleges) will also make a differance: a 3.8 reads very differently to adcoms if it puts you in the top 5% of your class vs. the top 20%. </p>
<p>Also, is that a weighted GPA, or not? Because some schools will care more about your unweighted or will re-weight it with their own formula.</p>
<p>sorry that last part was wrong. they have 4.0s. i’ve taken like 5 honors classes and no ap’s for junior year. for senior year, ill take about 3 honors and perhaps 2 ap’s.</p>
<p>dude fresh, soph, and junior year i had a bunch of honors classes and only 1 ap class cuz my stupid school offered **** i hate like world history and english. but senior year im taking 6 AP’s 2 of them are math and 2 of them are science. i suggest you go like me and pack on those AP’s for senior year. then ur application will look much better.</p>
<p>are you a junior or a senior now? im a senior now and handling 6 AP’s pretty well, i also got 2 regular classes (english and spanish lol) im making all A’s and 2-3 B’s right now. it all depends on how much you want to go to the college you want to go. since i had a screwed up 2 years of highschool i kinda didnt have a choice but to do a schedule like this. good luck tho.</p>
<p>I did pretty good freshman year. Then I went down sophomore year. My college counselor said that to make up for last year, I need to be like a straight a student this year. She said taht colleges like it when you make a drastic change because it shows that your are dedicated to learn. Im a junior now and i really want to go to DUKE. DUKE is my life right now. I really, really want to get into DUKE. DUKE is what I’m working up for. If I don’t get in, I will seriously just cry. I gotta work really heard this year. On top of that, I am really involved with school. leadership, etc. and outside, hospital volunteer.</p>
<p>moviefreak~ schools like Duke and UVA want to see consistent rigor. see what others say, but you’re WAY low on APs for those schools. competitve schools can see if a kid kicks in junior year, and not much before. i frequently reflect on our (years ago) visit to UVA and their info session. the Assist. Dean of admissions said their applicants have on average around 10APs. i’m sure Duke is similar, or worse. what about standardized tests? when you get those, re-evaluate, as that’s a big part of the picture.</p>
<p>moviefreak–unless your school doesn’t offer many AP’s you are definitely low on rigor of schedule. You need to compare yourself to other students in the rest of the country, not only to other students in your school. Have you taken PSAT/SAT/ACT in 10th grade? The tests are not everything but they give you an idea of where you stand.</p>
<p>like others have said, if your school offers a more rigorous courseload, you really need to take advantage of that since Duke is very competitive. however, there are also many other aspects of the college application, so take hard classes… but don’t drop everything and kill yourself senior year</p>