Colleges look at GPA…yes….BUT they also look at extra curricular activites, school and community involment, ACT/SAT scores, writing ability (if included on the application). And honestly, your GPA is not that bad.

You might get into UCLA although UCLA rejects kids with GPAs that are even over 4.0 — it would help if you also have some good extracurricular activities like sports or clubs. You’d probably get into schools like UC Irvine (which is good, I got in there but wound up deciding not to go) but everyone has a hard time making it into UCLA and UC Berkeley.

I don’t know if you’d be open to doing this, but I did and I think it was a good decision that saved me money and gave me time to explore what I really wanted to do in life … I suggest going to a community college and then transferring to a school like UCLA or UC Berkeley. It’s much easier this way and the GPA requirement coming out of community college is much lower. Community college is a good experience too or at least the one I went to was — I went to Moorpark College.

UCLA would be tough with a 3.76 unless you play sports, or you’re really involved in some other school activities. a lot of california high schools have AP classes with weighted grades, so a lot of the applicants will have over a 4.0 GPA. it shouldn’t stop you from trying, just make sure you get into as many AP classes as possible, and get yourself involved in clubs and student government. volunteer, tutor, stuff like that. it counts just as much as grades, and it will help you stand out on your application.

Of course you have a chance in getting into a good UC. The beautiful thing about the UC system is that they look at the student as a whole in terms of grades, SATs, extra-curricular activities, and community service. So of course GPA matters but if you were very involved with sports, clubs, volunteer work…etc. that looks very good as well. Schools like students who are well rounded and did not spend all of their time studying. They also look at whether or not you challenged yourself so an A in College-Prep English is not going to look as good as a B in AP or Honors English. So dont be too worried about your GPA…definitely keep the grades up but get involved with something you like whether its sports or ASB or a club.

F.Y.I. I go to UC Berkeley…im about to be a 3rd year!

Oh and also NOT everyone has a 4.0 GPA who goes to Berkeley or UCLA…grades are nothing but numbers and it is your extra curricular activities that are going to set you apart from the rest…..oh and of course your personal statement!

Right now just focus on keeping maintaining those grades and what type of career do you want.

Your GPA is good. Do not let your mother freak out me because that is not going to help you.

All you need to do is to keep a steady routine. Your routine for your classes which is already set in just like the time set in for your sport activites or club activities. You need set up a routine time for study.

I was almost a high school drop out (I almost had to repeat my senior year),and yet I went into junior college. I study hard (unlimited hours), and I went to one of the best University in California (which is one of the best UC) and graduated from the Dean’s list. You don’t know what is going to happen 4 years from now. You can keep your stress and your concern (or worries) at shore by doing routine which will eventually become automatically. You need to keep your stress and your worries at shores to prevent at blood pressure or other health problems. That will help become a peace of mind. Don’t worry about it. Just continue doing the best you can.

Do something different and unusal such as be an exchange student for another country or travel around world or ski or climb a mountain, or do something different and learn. Now is the time to learn and grow.

Wow, you will be just fine – as long as you don’t let freaking out (or your mom’s freaking out) affect your grades 😛 Just kidding.

I have no idea whether you’ll like this idea:

I made it past my masters (working on that PhD right now….) on less of a GPA (whoops) and went to a top college. (Currently rated higher than UCLA, but that may change in coming years 🙂 ) I think what would serve you is to find an area (or two) that you are passionate about studying (this doesn’t have to be “what you want to do with the rest of your life” -far from it!). If you enjoyed any of your classes this past year, this should point you in a direction…if you enjoyed all or most of them – you are seriously doing very well!!

Now, look at Barnes & Noble (or, wherever) for mainstream books on the subject. Then go online and read academic journal articles about it. Better yet: go to UCLA’s website and up which professors teach history, biology, math, …whatever class you liked best this past year! and find their faculty homepage or google their names. You’ll probably find articles and books written BY them, and you can spend the summer studying up on what these people do. After reading stuff you like, you might even contact them via email to ask to meet with them about what a college major in their area of study is like at UCLA.

The reason you’d do all of this stuff is thus: first, you’ll know which school to apply to at UCLA (College of Engineering, College of Arts & Humanities/Letters and Science…whatever they call getting a liberal arts education there, College of Business), but, most of all: good college admissions essays are set apart by passion and dedication to learning. By investigating college-level topics so early, you’ll appear more mature and self-aware…as a serious student. Then, the bonus: if UCLA (or wherever you apply) requires letters of recommendation, these professors are exactly the type of people who can write you a good one, if they are familiar with you. (Your high school teachers can help you with this, too!) The relationships that you build with your teachers, and with your own academic interests, in high school will be extremely important. I would argue moreso than GPA.

Besides, colleges often look at improvement over high school careers: if your GPA gets progressively higher, this (to them) means that you’ve been working harder than other students in order to catch up and “get ahead of them.” If your GPA stayed the same (at 3.8) all 4 years of hs, they might think that you weren’t pushing yourself to improve. …that’s what I’ve heard around the campfire.

Professors love it when young people get excited about…anything. Especially academics.

(If you liked biology and history in high school and aren’t sure how to integrate them, google biocultural anthropology and read up.)

3.76-on 4.00 system that is honor roll or b’s student.

I was on the bottom of my high school graduation class and I got in to college.

If you add football to that and yu could get into college on a sholarship.

yes, because you have 2 more good years to bring it up.

junior year is more important so calm down.