Im a grade 10 student who had a rough year transferring to private school and my grades are in the mid 80s this year. I want to try to apply to school like UMich and Georgia tech but I’m not sure if me getting ok marks in grade 10 ruins my chances regardless of getting back into the low/mid 90s where I used to be.

23 comments
  1. UMich can be a hard school to get into. I know a few folks that got waitlisted despite being some of the most academically smart people I’ve ever met.

    But your GPA, letters of recommendation, extracurricular activities, SAT/ACT/your country’s equal equivalent are all taken into consideration.

  2. I used to work in college admissions, and with many international students. They might ask for a cumulative GPA, or your Grade 10 grades, but it varies depending on school. Grade 11 is more important though for sure. When in doubt, contact their Admissions office and ask.

  3. Not once you’re accepted. It only matters in that it affects your high school GPA, which may not matter as much depending on what college you go to.

  4. I know that GA tech is a hard school to get into. I never tried but I had friends that did. Average GPA is 3.8, according to google.

    However, I know of a student who got into college with a 1.5 GPA (he had a perfect GPA but missed a lot of school due to medical reasons), because he wrote a very good essay with his application.

    I would try to raise your GPA, but don’t focus on it so much that you forget about other things.

    My cousin has a friend. Her friend had a perfect GPA, and my cousin having 3.6-3.8 not quite sure.
    However, my cousin got accepted into UGA. Her friend didn’t. The difference was my cousin participated in many extracurricular, volunteer and character-building activities, and had a job. Her friend did none of that and focused all on grades.

    Don’t be discouraged because of your GPA. Colleges also look at if you take AP/Honors or not. If so, those classes are harder and you are more likely to make lower grades.

    But to answer your question, according to my research, pretty much all of your high school GPAs count.

    If you improve your GPA for next year and beyond, then that will likely be seen over this years.

  5. It depends on other factors like what you want to study and what type of classes you’re taking as well. Also idk how much this will play into things but colleges also take into account extracurriculars. You might want a sub that might be more specific like for specific colleges or even r/college but you also may be in a different pool altogether. You may or may not be competing against out of state students. Typically state colleges have x% allotted to in state students and y% for out of state. There may be a z% for international student… idk tbh. But to answer the question specifically all grades matter in your high school/high school equivalent years.

  6. I think you’ll be fine.

    *Then again, a DD214 makes up for crappy grades quite often.*

  7. Yes all high school grades matter. Also those are both great schools, so you should have many AP classes (and 5s on all those exams), extracurriculars, and a great ACT or SAT. Iirc you might also want to choose 2 SAT Subject tests that you can get 800s on. Trend allegedly matters so if you have a great junior year and stellar senior year, that can make up for a bad 10th grade. Class rank sometimes helps too and generally if you’re at a new high school, only grades earned at that high school apply for ranking so that’s another metric that can make you look good. High school grades also matter for internships; you first apply for internships before your first semester of college finishes so you only have high school achievements to bolster your resume. Getting work experience over the summers before college is very valuable so hiring managers know you’re capable of not embarrassing them.

  8. Yeah, I would say that 10th and 11th grade are the most important, especially since you start applying in the end of your 11th grade and beginning of 12th grade

  9. All the grades matter, but so does the trend line. Then the SAT is a massive part of the equation too.

    It also just doesn’t actually mean all that much though. I graduated high school with a 2.5, went to community college, transferred to my state school after a year, graduated, got a gap job, went to medical school. In the grand scheme, where you start and where you end are very different things.

  10. Not really. I had terrible grades through most of high school, then better grades in my senior year and I still got accepted to every college I applied to.

  11. Yes, but a few 80s are hardly a death sentence in any but the most competitive programs.

  12. All grades matter, but I believe they can see that you switched schools so they’d probably account for that if your current grades are significantly higher

  13. Your cumulative GPA matters, *but* if your grades show real growth (meaning you get a lot better in 11 and 12) and you have other good things on your record, they might be willing to take a look at you.

  14. Those are both really competitive schools, especially for engineering, so yes, grade 10 marks matter. You have time to get back on track.

    Here’s another thought though… if you don’t get in right away and you have your heart set on Michigan or GT, go somewhere else for the first year and apply as a transfer into UM or GT. Or rock your undergrad and apply to grad school.

  15. The school you get into doesn’t mean shit 98% of the time.

    I’m a hiring manager for a Fortune 200. I don’t care where your degree is from, neither does any other manager. If your resume says UMich, Georgia Tech, or Podunk Community College, as long as it’s accredited, they are all the same.

    I don’t say this to encourage you to not do your best, because you should, but a year or two of mediocre grades won’t ruin your future.

    I failed two English classes in high school and graduated in the middle of my class. I flunked out of college twice and dropped out once. I still went on to get two college degrees and have had a great career. Just keep at it, you’ll be fine.

    Whatever you do, don’t rack up way more in student loans than you need to. In today’s market, there is no reason you can’t get a respectable degree for $30k

  16. If you can show that your grades improved significantly over time, then you should be fine. A better place for such questions is r/ApplyingToCollege

  17. I’d expand your search. UMich is very competitive. Very few will get accepted with less than a 4.0 and stellar test scores, unless you have something else to offer. Sports recruit, maybe you are a member of an underrepresented population.

    I’m sure you’ll get into plenty of schools, but those two might take a minor miracle.

    Most schools look for GPA through semester 6, so end of junior year. You can lose a space as a senior, but you won’t gain a space.

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