<p>I’ve heard from a lot of people that if your GPA shoots up crazily from the 9th and 10th grade to the 11th and 12th grade, the “upward trend” is considered wonderful because colleges understand that individuals are “peaking” at the right time. I’ve confirmed this fact from many college counsellors! But I’m not sure, does this apply to Ivy leagues like Brown as well? Or just top liberal arts colleges?</p>
<p>Doesn’t really matter what college you are talking about, an upward trend will be better than a downward trend.</p>
<p>^ or preferably no trend with a consistently high GPA.</p>
<p>My 9th grade GPA was pretty low (A-), but has been consistently increasing (A in 10th, A+ in 11th, A+ so far senior year)-- each year with increasing EC’s and increasing riguor. I was accepted ED to Brown.</p>
<p>Just an isolated example, but it matches with what counselor have told you (and me)</p>
<p>The “upward trend” is only good if you had a bad GPA early on (and I don’t mean A-) because it shows that you’ve gotten your act together. Presumably your grades as a junior and senior are more representative of you now compared to your freshman/sophomore ones.</p>
<p>As Yalegradanddad points out, a high GPA from start to finish is ideal.</p>
<p>“My 9th grade GPA was pretty low (A-)”</p>
<p>Another CC kid with no clue…</p>
<p>Haha ZealousKevin, I don’t mean A- to A+, I mean like C to A.
I know a consistently good GPA is great on applications, but still - what about the one above?^ It looks bad among all the ZealousKevins applying to Brown haha but would I be completely ruled out?</p>
<p>no, of course you’re not completely ruled out, but as you said, you do have to compete with all the ZealousKevins out there so I hope there are some other strong points to your app besides the upward swing.</p>
<p>You don’t need to tell me more about your app, I’m not going to look over your stats and chance you so you’ll just be wasting your time.</p>
<p>Thanks i<em>wanna</em>be_Brown 
Haha no I wasn’t gonna bore you with the other details, but yes there are other strong points in my applications Thank you!!</p>