<p>I currently have an 86 in AP Chemistry and it looks like this grade won't be coming up much before the end of the nine weeks (next week). This is the lowest grade I have ever gotten (Prior to this I had had only two B's with one being a 92 in 9th grade English and the other in the first nine weeks of Chemistry). I got a 90 in it first nine weeks and a 95 second nine weeks (though this was technically Advanced Chemistry). This nine weeks no one has an A in the class and a B has come to be viewed as a A by everyone taking it (except for myself, I am very disappointed in this grade though I worked very hard to keep it in the B range).</p>
<p>I am currently ranked number two in my class (out of 372) and I do not think this grade will negatively impact my ranking because everyone but maybe two people in the top 10 are in AP Chemistry and the two that are not in it are ranked 8 and 10 (plus this class is weighted 10%). What I am worried about is the possibility of this negatively impacting my college admissions. My dream school is Rice University with my second and third choices being Emory and Vanderbilt, all very competitive schools. Will this low grade in one class have much of an impact on my chance for admissions if it is offset by an otherwise strong application?</p>
<p>@terinzak
I’m not sure what you’re trying to tell the OP with that post. It’s clear that he’s saying that the grade will not be reflected as an “A” but rather as an 86 which is in his school’s “B” range.</p>
<p>@alex
Different schools have varied norms for certain classes. Some teachers are harsher than others in grading, or there might be inflation or deflation of grades. I myself got a 97 in AP Chem my 1st semester and currently have a 98 the 2nd semester, although there are a good amount of people with an A in the class at my school</p>
<p>Regardless, a single ‘lowish’ grade is not going to hurt you, especially if it doesn’t effect your ranking. And even if it does slightly lower your GPA/rank, which is unlikely - we’re still talking about a miniscule difference. I expect it will have virtually no impact on your overall chances</p>
<p>I don’t know the rest of your record, but I can tell you this. My daughter got a B in 11th grade. It didn’t impact her college admission at all. The only rejection for her was Harvard, and you know how that goes ;)</p>
<p>Seriously, nothing to worry about. Not only is 1 B not a serious threat to chances of admission as long as everything else is good (especially at the schools you’re looking at), but you being able to maintain your class rank reflects that you are still on top relative to others despite the ‘bad’ grade which is telling of the difficulty of the course for everyone.</p>