<p>My high school is weird in that 9th graders go to school at the jr high. Although the grades count in college admissions, the coursework is still extremely easy compared to the work at the high school. First semester sophomore year I got a B in AP bio (which im ok with, since I worked my butt off in that class), but in addition to this somehow got a 89% in world geography and ....band. Second semester i had straight A's except for ap bio again (B). How badly will these affect admissions to top tier colleges?</p>
<p>btw I’m a junior now with straight A’s with a 4.5 GPA this year (got used to the type of coursework at the high school)</p>
<p>It’s not good. It’s not as bad if you’re black, Hispanic, or Native American, so if you are, then you should be a little more optimistic. But you should still try to bring your grades up. </p>
<p>4 B’s in your first two years won’t kill you. Do very well in your courses next year and it will come down to application items besides your grades (scores, essays, recs, etc.)</p>
<p>As he said in Risky Business - “University of Illinois, here I come!”</p>
<p>^ uhh not really understanding the reference or message in that, can you explain? lol</p>
<p>Tom Cruise’s breakout movie from the 80’s. Very good movie. Anyway, he is striving to get into Princeton and flubs up some grades. So he states, knowing he now can’t get into Princeton, “university of IL, here I come.” But I kid. You certainly can still get into your dream school. Don’t be discouraged</p>
<p>Colleges like to see an upward trend, it’s not a huge deal if you do great next year.</p>
<p>“Colleges like to see an upward trend”??? One of the most bandied about myths on CC, IMHO</p>
<p>I’m just going to put this out there. I’m probably going to get flamed for it, but… The fact is that the only way I see those grades hurting you is a top universities if you really have nothing else going for you. I think that Universities are becoming less and less enamored with 4.0/36/2400 kids and more enamored with interesting students who are more than a transcript. </p>
<p>My son had a very successful app process, was accepted to several top schools and will be attending an Ivy in the fall. He also had 25 or so B’s, was not even in the top 10% of his class, is not a recruited athlete, is lily white, not a legacy to a Top 50 school but isn’t First Generation, either. He dropped out of IB and did many of the things that people here will tell you you “cannot do and get accepted to a top school”. Bull hockey. 
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<p>Spend your time wisely. Don’t try to follow some formula to get into a top school. Pursue your interests. Be great at something besides making good grades. And don’t stress four B’s. Life’s too short. Enjoy the ride, be yourself and show colleges who you really are. Good luck and keep up the good work!</p>
<p>What is your class rank? It matters a great deal if you’re very near the top (top 10 or at least first decile). If those sophomore year B’s dropped you significantly below this range then they’ll hurt.</p>
<p>Upward trends may compensate for mediocre early records in applications to mid-level universities. For top tier very selective universities the competition is intense and successful applicants often have perfect records.</p>
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<p>Jon-Stanford How many times are you going to write such silliness. How many times have you made such posts? (I stopped counting at a dozen) Your zeal goes far beyond an intellectual endeavor and crosses into malice. For elite schools, if you have modern proof that it helps being black or Hispanic then prove it.</p>
<p>BTW an elite school like Stanford will admit around 500 minority kids a year. (Frosh-not counting Asians). 250,000 minority kids will likely graduate H.S. Are you so narrow minded that you do not believe that Stanford cannot come up with 500 well qualified minority candidates. Heck they could come up with 10,000 without breaking a sweat. Please study the law of large numbers and get a grip on the big picture. What you are being told is outdated and no longer true. Competition is fierce everywhere including minorities.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input guys! Yeah I think my extracurriculars are pretty unique and show my passion, and I definitely want to base my high school career around those and not worrying about grades. My main question behind this thread was whether my chances at a top school were tarnished because of petty reasons like a few B+'s.
@fogcity- I got a letter saying I was in the top 9%, but I’m not sure of the exact percentile, but but yeah I’m still in the first percentile with my sophomore year.</p>