Your graduating from high school but your GPA is not up too snuff.

I’m sure your worried about not meeting the GPA college requirement for your local college. The good news is you still have options for college.  Let’s face it, a low GPA could be for a number of reasons.  Maybe you were distracted, hated high school, poor teaching (no offense teachers), poor study habits, or not motivated.  If these were your problem, then if you are considering college, you should fix them because college won’t be any easier.  But the past is the past and we should work on the future.

So let’s not dwell on those problems for now…. Your next step is to worry about how to get into college.  Here are a few tips

1.     Community college could be an excellent option.  If you go to community college you have a chance to take classes, which would lead to your final degree.  After 2 years and if you meet the college requirements, you can transfer to a major university.  At that time your high school GPA won’t be considered.

a.     A few things to consider if you choose this route.  Take a full load as if you were going to a major university.  Don’t take one or two classes but take 4 to 5.  Taking less will only delay you getting out in four years but also the major university will be much more expensive.  Also, take this chance to fix whatever problems or bad habits you had in high school.  Finally, check with a few schools in your neighborhood to make sure the classes your taking will transfer.  You don’t want to have to retake the classes because they won’t accept the credits.  You have a little more leg work but it will be worth it in the end.

2.     There are colleges that look at more than just GPA.  Some schools like Butler looks at the extra curricular activities and essays more than GPA.  You should look at sample essay types while you are writing your essay.  College is a business and they are in the business of educating students.  Without students they have no revenue.  The reality is the colleges have a model of what type of student they want on campus.  Yes GPA and ACT play into that but if we look at the very top schools, every child has a high GPA and a high ACT score.  They must use other criteria for admission!   If you have done your college planning correctly, you should have 100 to 200 hours of extra curricular activity.  Maybe you’ve done an internship at a place, or taken on some leaderships roles.

Here is a list of admission criteria a school might use.

·        High school gpa

·        Act

·        Types of classes taken

·        Class rank

·        Letters of recommendation

·        Essay

·        Interview

·        Level of applicant interest

·        Extracurricular activities

·        Volunteer work

·        Particular talent/ability

·        Personal character

·        First generation going to college

·        State residency

·        Geographic residence

·        Ethnicity

·        Work experience

·        Religious affiliation

·        Relationship with alumnus

You see there is much more to it than gpa and act.  Go out and do your research on the schools.

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