Getting worried again

[hs2013]

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Well I had a nice time not worrying about this stuff but now I am starting to again, so far through my 1 1/2 years of high school my gpa is 3.85. This semester the start I have really been slacking off and I feel this semester may not be a 3.9 or 4.0 unless I start trying hard and instead I may get a 3.75 to 3.89. Getting into a decent college like UW-Madison, Northwestern, Minnesota, Marquette, or Loyola do you have to have a steller gpa like a near 4.0. Also my extra curriculars suck right now, all I have is tennis. This summer though I plan on volunteering at a hospital and working, what else should I do. I know it is stupid to worry about not getting into good colleges and maybe not even making med school and then being screwed right now but it just is stuck in my head. 😡🙁

 

[Badger MD]

First, chill out about the GPA dilemma! If I read your post correctly, you still have a fair amount of time to get your GPA up.

As far as UW-Madison goes, as long as you have about a 28 on the ACT and are in the top 86-96% of your high school class, you are golden! Most of the time Madison will not look at GPAs unless a class rank is not available. And if I remember correctly, extracurriculars are secondary on your application (behind class rank, trends in grades, and test scores). However, it has been a while since I have looked at all that stuff so it may have changed.

Marquette on the other hand: From what it seems, the average ACT score is a 26 with 80% of the applicants testing between the 24-28 range. They have no GPA cut off listed, but they do list that 36% of their students were in the top 10% of their graduating class and 71% were in the top 25% of their high school graduating class.

Also, here is a list of things the college specifically looks at when people apply:

Secondary School Record: Very Important

Class Rank: Important

High School GPA: Very Important

SAT/ACT Scores: Important

Application Essay: Important

Recommendations: Important

Interview: Not Considered

Extracurricular Activities: Considered

Talent/ability: Considered

Character/personal qualities: Considered

Volunteer Work: Not Considered

Work Experience: Not Considered

So as you see, working and volunteering is not even considered by Marquette.

I cannot speak for the other schools you listed. Good luck!

 

[hs2013]

What about one bad semester? Like lets say I get above a 3.8 all semester but one semester I get around a 3.4 to 3.6, then what, because this semester I have started a little slow and missing three days really hurt me and I hate catching up, as well as I hate studying so med term and AP U.S History I may get an B+/A- in them which would lower it a bit. As long as I keep my overall GPA above a 3.8 should I be able to get into those schools, especially with around a 28 act?

 

[redhead512]

First of all, you are only a sophomore. Remember that. You need good grades now, but next year is the year that matters. As of right now, your gpa is good. Your getting into Madison no problem. As far as the other colleges I can't say. I currently only have a 3.7 and I got a 27 on the act and I was told that I should get into Madison. That's all that I can tell you! Good luck!

 

[Badger MD]

What about one bad semester? Like lets say I get above a 3.8 all semester but one semester I get around a 3.4 to 3.6, then what, because this semester I have started a little slow and missing three days really hurt me and I hate catching up, as well as I hate studying so med term and AP U.S History I may get an B+/A- in them which would lower it a bit. As long as I keep my overall GPA above a 3.8 should I be able to get into those schools, especially with around a 28 act?

You should have no problem. Especially since you have three more semesters to average into your cumulative before you apply for college.

Not to mention the ACT service sends their own special GPA for you based on a strict A, B, C, D, etc. scale. This helped most of my friends out, including myself. Ultimately that ACT GPA is combined with your weighted class rank and that is what is considered by colleges. This is because GPAs can vary wildly between high schools (some give out a TON of weight for AP classes, some give out none, some grade on ABCDF scales, others on A+AA-,B+BB-, etc.) That is why class rank is a better indicator of how good a student is.

*** Please note that it has been a little while since I have gone through this process so some of this information may no longer be accurate. Some of your own research might be useful 🙂

 

[NickNaylor]

I'm so glad I didn't know about this site in high school.

OP, calm the f down.

 

[MrPolarZero]

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]don't worry kiddo! You're still a sophomore, which means you still have enough time to work really hard for your studies. Don't feel so pressured. Put your best foot forward 🙂.

 

[da8s0859q]

I'm so glad I didn't know about this site in high school.

OP, calm the f down.

This. OP, you're going to burn yourself out if you worry that much about things that don't even come close to justifying all that worry.

 

[fahimaz7]

I'm so glad I didn't know about this site in high school.

OP, calm the f down.

I was just thinking about how sad this post is too. Wow.. High school students who care about this enough to come on SDN and post about their grades as a freshman or a sophomore in high school, as if any of that will really matter down the road.

Will life end if you don't have perfect scores? Will you ever reach your dream of getting into a medical school if you don't go to X, Y, Z undergraduate program?

You guys need to spend less time worrying about grades and SDN, and spend more time chasing chicks and learning how to drive a car.

At the end of the day, every single medical school in the country admits students who do not come from ivy league programs. And for the ones who almost do, they will be colleagues after graduation with guys from the state medical school, making the exact same diagnosis and financial compensation.