I'm a slacker

Don't give up. I had horrible freshman and sophomore years due to COVID. When I finally got to in-person school in my junior year, my grades went back up. We have talked to many admission officers and this was the advice I got:

1) Show interest in the school. Whatever schools you are interested in go to college fairs, talk to the people in admissions, go to tours. If you can't do it in person, register for virtual events.

2) Increase your extracurriculars. Anything practically counts, even hobbies. Join clubs. Part-time jobs count.

3) If the college does interviews, do it. Even if it's virtual.

4) Polish up the essay. College Vine has free peer reviews.

Let them know who you are. Also, they look at applications holistically so all parts count.

One last thing: They told me if I didn't get accepted right away, they may do a deferral until first semester grades came out in my senior year, just to make sure I was doing ok. So there is always a possibility. Don't give up!

Try your best to achieve it, but I would say schools don't only look at GPA now. They take it into consideration of course, but they look at lots of other things. They look at your essay, extracurriculars: sports, community service, paid job, and what you do in your free time. It might not seem likely to get in, but it doesn't hurt to try. The worst is that they say no, but you will make it into A college, no matter where and what college it might be. Education is education no matter if it is an ivy or state school.

To be completely honest with you, I don't know if it is possible to increase your GPA that much in 1 year. With that being said though, I still think you should try your best too increase it, as working hard and increasing your GPA will always help your chances and you never know what could happen.

GPA is definitely important, it helps colleges see how you'll perform there. my advice would be to take as many APs as you think you can succeed in and aim for B+ to As in those. that'll make your weighted look much better and your UW look better. really aim for as many As as you can as that's the quickest way to get your GPA up. don't forget about extracurriculars and clubs though!