# good or bad GPA for a sophomore?



## nightwalker

so basically, this semester (i'm a sophomore), i got a 3.4 GPA. is that good or bad? When i apply for colleges will they look at my sophomore semester gpa and say "this kid sucks"? or is this average. i had higher gpas in freshman year..

or is it that as long as i am above 3.0, im good? lol


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## dax

3.4 is great. I'm sure my overall HS GPA was much lower than that and I still got into a good school.


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## bezoomny

That's actually really good. Also, I think most colleges take into account the difficulty of your courseload (i.e. a B in AP US history is just as good as an A in on-level US history). So don't worry too much about the end GPA, just do your best.


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## Draztek

SAT score is the most important number. Your GPA is good though.


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## laura024

You're doing fine! Don't worry.


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## utopian_grrl

As long as you're not applying to some Ivy league school, it's safe to say your GPA so far will get you into a good university if your SATs are decent. GPA is more important if you want to get into a competitive grad school.


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## dyssomnia

3.4 is awesome, i graduated with a 2.9 

but i'm the kind of person who in highschool was fine with just getting C's or even D's. my mentality was "passing is passing." things are different now in college. i'm no straight A student but i know the importance of good grades. and in college you need to have a C or better average to get credit for the class, so i kind of have no choice either way, haha.

anyway, you should have no problem getting accepted


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## nightwalker

utopian_grrl said:


> As long as you're not applying to some Ivy league school, it's safe to say your GPA so far will get you into a good university if your SATs are decent. GPA is more important if you want to get into a competitive grad school.


umm.. actually i want to apply for an ivy league..


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## Speratus

Draztek said:


> SAT score is the most important number. Your GPA is good though.


I would have to say I disagree with that. I know plenty of people who scored higher than me on SAT's and were rejected from the college I applied for. SAT's and GPA are both equally important, but colleges really look at what you did in high school as a whole.


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## Hoppipolla

My friend graduated with a 3.0 and she got into Syracuse University. With a 3.4 and a good essay you will definitely get accepted somewhere good.


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## mypasswordneverworks

Unless you want to go to an Ivy school, I don't think any of that stuff matters as long as it's decent. I know people that didn't even have a 3.0 that went to the same college as our valedictorian (a state school).


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## Bandy

For myself, if I recall, my cumulative GPA was a 3.42 and my SAT score was 950 the first time and 1380 the second time.

I applied to several Universities and Colleges, got accepted into all of them. 

When I applied, I had grades up to the first quarter of my Senior year posted. Didn't have a strong Junior year (matter of fact it was the year that dropped my GPA the most), but first quarter of my Senior year was strong with more difficult courses.

Additionally, most got the 950 SAT report, not the 1380. Only those I applied to late in the admissions cycle got both for admissions purposes.

I ended up attending a Community College close to home for my first two years. Had lower tuition that the Pell Grant and one scholarship all paid for, not my first choice but no debt there.

It really depends what you're looking at. Private universities are generally going to be more restrictive than State Universities, most community/junior 2 year colleges are open admissions (everyone with a HS diploma gets in). 

There are some Universities that are open admissions, too. The University I transferred to, and attend right now, after the completion of my Associates is technically an Open Admissions 4 year Bachelors granting institute. They only utilize the SAT or ACT for placement purposes. If you score well enough you get to move right into College Algebra and Freshman English without any additional non-credit developmental courses to get in the way.

Personally, the most wonderful resource I had when applying to Colleges and Universities was the Petersons Four Year College Guide. Gives all the details you could possibly want about all the U.S. Universities and some in Canada. They have a 2 year College guide too with the same information. If I remember each profile gave an admissions %, in state tuition, out of state tuition, average age, size of university or college, majors, minors, facilities, organizations, services, etc... pretty thorough. Then at the back of the book they give several charts one which is a break down for all Universities according to whether they are highly selective, selective, moderate, average, or open admissions.

Check out College Board's College Search, too. You can go there and do an advanced search for just about anything you're looking for in a 2 or 4 year school. 

Such things will give you an idea of any college you have in mind. Once you find a handful of schools you think you'd like, maybe stop by their website and look at the admissions section and see what exactly they're asking for.

Most Universities if not open admissions will set forth certain academic criteria, courses you should of taken during HS, minimum GPA, and the like.

Last, it also sometimes does depend on your future major. There are some schools that say accept 90%, then have one or two specific programs that are highly selective where the % may be more like 25 - 50 range.


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## Eraserhead

nightwalker said:


> umm.. actually i want to apply for an ivy league..


If you're applying to McGill, they only really care about your grades (at least if you're Canadian). 3.4 seems solid but you'd probably need to do better in the coming semesters.


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## solasum

State schools are fine... really. Go somewhere more prestigious for grad school. And your GPA, if you keep it at least this high, will get you to places you need to go. It just might not grab scholarships if you want them.


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## Kush

Omg none of you can complain about your grades i have a 1.2 gpa!!!!!


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## coldmorning

nightwalker said:


> i had higher gpas in freshman year..


They generally like to see progression meaning that your grades should be getting better each year. A student who does worse each year is a red flag.


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