TERRIBLE grades- will ANY uni accept me?

qqq123
Tue, 27 May 2014 02:14:34 +0000

I’m currently finishing up my junior year of high school with a dismal 3.1 GPA for 4 quarters, or 81% at the lower end of the top half of my class. I know that these grades aren’t substantially low, but I’m worried because of my poor performances in certain classes, such as my 67% in pre-calc, 65% in trigonometry, and 65% in physics. For the most part, my other classes are in the upper 80’s to 90’s, but they aren’t as challenging as the classes I’m performing poorly in.
I do have troubled internal feelings holding my performance back and it will be extremely difficult to outwardly explain to colleges due to its stigma. I have started to gradually overcome this so hopefully my performance is better next year.

My overall GPA for three years in high school so far is a 3.4, or 86.7%. I received a 94 freshman year and an 85 sophomore year. I took AP US History in sophomore year so my GPA has been scaled accordingly for that.
I received a 1650 on my SATs and I plan on taking the ACT soon. I will definitely retake my SATs to hopefully get at least an 1800.

Extracurricular:
-Violin (Youth orchestra since 9th grade, private lessons since 3rd grade, multiple performances including several recitals, festivals, and a recital at Carnegie Hall hosted by a local music teacher’s association)
-President of Diversity Club in high school since 10th grade
-Member of school tennis since 10th
-Co-Editor of the school newspaper
-Key Club member since this year
-Volunteering at my local hospital & job shadowing

For senior year, I have been admitted into AP Gov and AP Literature, so if I perform well on those, then that’s a plus.

I really want to attend a four year university but I fear that my bad grades will hold me back.
I am looking into California State University LA, USC, Drexel U, and Temple U.

Additional info:
Attending highly ranked public school
Race- Asian
Parents’ Income- $400,000 a year
Pennsylvania resident
Undecided major
My bad grades are only in “advanced” science and math classes.