Will bad art grades affect my college chances? Please Please Help

Applying to College
1

Hi guys,

I’m a rising senior with a problem. So throughout high school I’ve gotten straight A’s, which have included 4 AP classes (3 5’s one 4) and 4 more next year. I’ve taken the SAT and received a 2270. However, my school requires me to take mandatory visual arts classes. Our school is renowned for its arts program and has been featured in newspapers, etc. However, the grading is based solely on the finished result, rather than effort. I’ve spent countless afternoons after school working on my project, but the bottom line is that I am not naturally gifted. My struggles in art have lowered my GPA from a 4.0 to a 3.85. I realize that visual arts are not considered in the traditional field of academics, but they have significantly impacted my GPA. I’m afraid that colleges will view my art grades as a lack of work ethic and diligence, but this is not true. Will my art grades seriously hurt me? I’m interested in several rural colleges (Dartmouth, Williams, Cornell, Amherst, etc.) in the northeast. Please help!

2

As you probably know, every college calculates your high school GPA using their own method. To ease your mind, and have the best chance of admission, you will want to research each college’s methodology and target those that best fit your situation. I was going to get you started by Googling “dartmouth gpa calculator” and found this on their website:

Also, your struggle sound like a good essay topic highlighting your perseverance. Aloha, and good luck!

3

As noted above, many colleges recalculate GPA using academic classes only. I think you will be fine – hopefully you pulled off a C or so – it seems like a pretty big drop to the total GPA for just one class.

And for some unsolicited advice, I will caution you to that all of the schools on your list are exceedingly selective and not all qualified applicants get accepted so be sure to include a number of match/safety schools on your list as well.