Will my GPA/Course Rigor hurt my chances?

Applying to College
1

I slacked off freshman year and had mostly B’s in all regular level classes freshman year. My GPA ended being a 3.44(UW/W).
I took 1 honors class (Alg 2) sophomore year but received a C+. Other than that I had all As. My combined GPA 9th and 10th grade was a 3.62(UW), 3.65(W)
I stepped my game up 11th grade but I still had only 3 honors class but with a 4.0 UW GPA.
My current weighted GPA is a 3.95. 3.71(UW). Although that looks good I feel like it’s not too impressive when compared to my course rigor.

My senior year course load is as follows
AP Comp Sci
AP Macro
AP Calc AB
Dual Credit Eng H
Physics (Regular)

My SAT score combined is a 2120.
SAT IIs: Bio(720), Math II (780)

ECs, recs, and essays are good but I won’t list them here.

My current college list is as follows. (Comp Sci Major)
Rutgers (S)
Penn State (S)
Maryland-CP (M)
U Miami (M)
BU (M)
Ohio State (M)
UIUC (M)
NYU (HM/LR)
Tulane (HM/LR)
Northeastern(HM/LR)
UFlorida (HM/LR)
UCSD (LR)
UNC Chapel Hill ®
USC ®
UCLA ®

Also before anyone asks, I am from NJ, from a Upper Middle Class Family, an Only Child, have money saved up so yes I can afford full pay to all these OOS and privates.

2

Calculate your UC GPA? http://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

3

Bump, I have a similar situation too where I did not perform my best freshman year but brought it up to a 4.0 junior year! Want to know how this would look for USC…

4

Look up the Common Data Set for each school and see where course rigor lies in the admission criteria (Section C7).

5

I’d say your list is reasonable. I think you’ve correctly cited your reach schools.

Consider these?

Purdue (HM)
Rose Hulman (HM)
RPI (M)
Univ Rochester (M)

you’ve done well – nothing to be ashamed of. Congrats, you’ve really turned things around. You’ll have some very good choices.

6

@Gumbymom Using the UC calc I get a 3.8. Does this only apply to UCs though. Do most colleges ignore freshman year?
Also will first semester senior grades have a strong impact on admissions.

@conceitedrain7 Based on my research USC focuses a lot on academic rigor so i made it a reach for me but good to know someones with me on this

@T26E4 I was actually considering Rochester good to know it is a match

7

UC GPA is only for California UC’s and some schools do not include Freshman year grades in their GPA calculation and some do. You need to check each schools criteria. A UC GPA of 3.8 is low since the average is around 4.17. There is no harm in applying to UCLA but it is a slight Reach.

Good Luck.

8

@ishkundu why did you make USC a reach for you just because it focuses a lot on academic rigor?