So I am in a very sticky situation and I have minimal knowledge of what is going on. I am a junior and I have moved to the US 4 months ago. I used to do IB MYP schooling up until now, where I have switched to doing AP.
As a person who is interested in both practicing law and civil or chemical engineering as a future career, I have selected the following courses:
AP US History - 81
Health (mandatory) - 99
Pre Calc AB - 87
AP Chem - 68
AP Lang - 80
Honors Government (switching to AP Econ next term) - 93
Alongside each course, I have my grade out of 100 posted on there. My past 2 years of education have been transferred and my GPA amounted to 3.7 on a 4.0 scale. I would like to know where I might be headed from now on in terms of GPA and universities that I can apply to. I have used some GPA calculators and most of them calculated that my GPA is dropping to a 3.3 to 3.5 this term.
I would like to know how I can improve that GPA and by how much. Do I have a chance on getting higher than a 3.7? What universities can I apply to (Did several global outreach and community service program, work with Roteract club president in Atlanta, I also play JV basketball//trying to get offers.)
Also what courses should I be taking next year? Also what sounds realistic in terms of scholarships and financial aid. What are the things universities look at other than achievement?
I know this is very unorganized and I apologize. All feedback is much appreciated. Thank you!
Its understandable that moving to a new country and a new school system could result in lower grades at first. Its too bad that its in junior year since that doesn’t give you much time to bring them back up. There really isn’t any advice other than study hard, do your home work, and make sure you understand what the teachers expect from assignments. Just do your best. When the year is over you can see where your gpa ends up and you will have standardized test scores. This will enable you to put together a list of colleges that are in your range both academically and financially.
Its hard to recommend courses for next year since we don’t know what you have already studied. I suggest you work with the guidance counselor at your school to develop a plan for next year.
This isn’t what you asked, but you said you plan to practice as a lawyer and an engineer. That isn’t possible. Both are full time all-encompassing type of careers. I do know people that were engineers undergrad and then went to law school, but they are practicing lawyers. At some point you are going to have to pick one or the other.
@bopper yes many patent attornies have engineering undergrads, but they are not practicing engineers. They are practicing lawyers. The OP said he wanted to practice law and engineering.
@me29034@bopper Thank you both for your contributions. This option of having law undergrad sounds very interesting. I’m still discussing with some relatives who have experience in both fields and I will probably have my mind made up in a few weeks (they are coming over as well so we can have more in depth conversations :D). I also forgot to mention some of the universities that I am looking at:
Duke (ideally//dream college)
Georiga Tech
Arizona State
UCLA
UCB
UCD
Not in any particular order, but going to any of these universities (or campuses in the case of UCs) would be amazing for me. I was wondering how much of a chance I have to make it into any of these? Thanks again for your contributions and sorry for being all over the place.
Do you know how you will pay for these as an international, or are you a citizen, and even then, you can be full pay OOS at the schools like the UCs and GT? Do you understand that you need to fulfil UC criteria? See UC threads. If your GPA is not top notch, if your rigour is not top notch, if your scores are not top notch, you can exclude all but Arizona. UCD will be dependent on money and fulfilling the UC reqs before you can even worry about admission.
FOcus on your instate options other than GT.
Work out how you are paying. Check your residential status. Does it qualify your for instate rates?
Where do you live? Are you a US citizen/permanent resident or are you under a visa?
What’s pulling your GPA down is your AP Chem grade - ask for extra credit, pay close attention during lab reports so that it’s done exactly as the teacher wants, ask for a tutor, because you’re currently getting a disqualifying grade for the colleges you listed. Bring that to a B.
Ask for advice on how to do better, ajd whether theres any extra credit you could do for APush and AP lang so you can bring those grades to 85-87. In calculus, work harder to get to 89, you know that material, you can do it.
Keep your focus on doing well now. I would also suggest taking the AP exams (and using some prep books) at the end of the year. If your AP scores are high, you will at least be able to say you mastered the material but took a while to adjust to the expectations at the new school.
Meet with your teachers and ask for feedback on what you can do to do better. Many may not realize you are new to the school and the US this year and may be unfamiliar with the teaching, expectations, etc. I suspect many can give you help.