My GPA is too low to get into the colleges I want to, what should I do?

Keep trying to improve your grades, but don’t push yourself. If you find that your GPA isn’t getting much higher and you’re doing the absolute best you can, then consider looking at more safety/target schools closer to your grade range. You can definitely still strive for T10s but have some backups as well. Just knowing that you are doing the best you can is going to make you feel better in the long run. What school you end up at in the end of the day is out of your hands once you press submit.

Some schools have a requirement for honors societies to offer peer tutoring, and some schools have other methods of extra help, so definitely look into that. Some students are also willing to be tutors as well, don’t be afraid to ask for help!

If you aren’t happy with your SAT score you can definitely take it again, maybe after reviewing with a tutor or building your stamina with practice tests. Taking the ACT as well isn’t necessary but if you want to do it you can.

Just remember that these numbers don’t represent who you are as a person. Through your essays you can explain who you are, and if you want to touch upon why your GPA is low for your standards you can.

Best of luck! You’ve got this :)

Many schools use holistic admissions. This means that they look at all parts of your application, not just grades, to determine if you are someone that they would like to accept. So, if your grades aren't the best, I would try to improve your extracurriculars. Do you have any leadership positions? If you really need help with extracurriculars you could start your own club or group. Starting a study group for a language elective, a school book club, or an association for a minority group (Ex: Gender and Sexualities Alliance, Black Student Union) would be some clubs you could start easily that would look good on applications. I would also say that community service and other things that show you are involved in your community could help your application as well. Make sure your essays are top-notch, and maybe you can get into your first choice with below-average grades for that school. Hope this helps!

It is important to remember that GPA isn't a huge deal. I wouldn't take the ACT just retake the SAT and try as hard as you can to get a really high score. You should work hard on your grades and try to raise your GPA but I would focus more on getting a high SAT score. EC's will also help if you have the time. Hope that helps!

Remember that there are plenty of other colleges that accept lower GPA's and can give just of good of an education as the "competitive" ones. Don't think that school that have low requirements aren't good.