When applying to elite universities, can an upward trend compensate?
I am not an admissions expert, but I do have an opinion on this, based on what Ive read from colleges and also common sense. I think colleges will look at a upward trend, as long as the most recent set of grades is not past their cutoff for review. They will also look at the entire transcript, including the Bs and Cs. Hopefully there arent too many of the latter. Look at it this way. Two students had an identical 3.85 GPA in their last 2 years. One of these students had 3.8 in their first 2 years, while the other had a 3.1 in the first 2 years. If they look at only the last period and ignore the first period, they would be penalizing the student who put forth a committed effort over the whole time. That doesnt seem fair. Still they may or may not wait the most recent grades higher. That you got As in difficult classes I would hope colleges would recognize this. I wouldnt absolutely count on it. You should ask the colleges or your high school guidance counselor. Make sure you have strong references and preferably some extra curricular activities suggesting leadership. Good luck.