<p>So this is my first message. Please be kind. I just finished my junior year. I have a 2310 SAT, which included a 800 M. I also received an 800 on my SAT II for Math II. Even though I do well at math, I received a B in Calculus AB both semesters this year. I am still in the top 1% of my class, but I was hoping to attend an Ivy or MIT. I have no hooks (I'm just another white girl). Does anyone have an opinion on whether two B's in Calculus AB this year is going to kill me with schools like Princeton and MIT? Will my SAT I and SAT II scores in math offset these B's? I know I don't need all A's to get into a good school, but places like MIT and Princeton seem to focus on math more than other schools. Everything else on my record should be OK; I have great EC's (6 varsity letters and several club leadership positions) and my recommendations should be good. My biggest problem are those B's in Calculus. </p>
<p>Any opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.</p>
<p>Yes, the Bs will hurt your chances, so I would not suggest putting math as your prospective major. MIT likely will not think too highly of someone who wants to major in math but cannot get an A in high school Calc. Hopefully, the rest of your application will be good enough to compensate. The B alone shouldn’t be a deal-breaker, so just move on and make sure your essays and recs are amazing.</p>
<p>Maybe you should take a college math course and work hard and get an A in that? For example, Linear Algebra is a great college math courses that uses essentially zero calculus, so if you do good in that, it’ll definitely be good. You could also take BC next year and work extra hard and hopefully get an A by the mid year grades. Good luck.</p>
<p>Agree with dchow, apply knowing they’re reaches and have and solid match and safetly schools; and An0maly, take a course early next year to show your talent in math, either with a college class in the fall or with your HS mid-year grade.</p>
<p>But seriously, you already recognize that Princeton and MIT are reaches. No need to worry about a couple grades you got. If you are as well rounded as you seem, then you have just as good a shot as the next person.</p>
<p>If you were applying to Caltech, I’d say forget it.</p>
<p>all you can do is apply. Having xx chromosomes is a plus factor for ANY engineering school. But, B’s in Calc AB (not even BC) will definitely hurt for engineering school since Calc 1 (BC) is the standard intro course.</p>
<p>Well, you guys confirmed my hunch. The sad part is that our teacher was insanely strict. Only one student received an A this semester (2 received A’s last semester). If getting B’s and lower ruins students chances of achieving their dreams, I wonder why some high school teachers are so strict? What point are they proving when only 1 out of 35 students can achieve an A? </p>
<p>What makes me even more angry is that my cousin attends a neighboring high school that isn’t nearly as esteemed as my school. I’ve been tutoring him for 8 years. He received a 680 on the math section of the SAT (I received an 800). Even so, he received A’s both semesters in Calculus this year, but so did two-thirds of his class. </p>
<p>Because grades differ from school to school and teacher to teacher, I was hoping that MIT would see that I was still at the top of my class and figure out that something unusual was happening in Calculus at our school. Apparantly, they are more myopic than I had hoped.</p>
<p>I’m very sure MIT would understand if you could somehow make the maware of the discrepancies in grading standards - or at least, how stringent your school is.</p>
<p>MIT and Princeton are reaches for pretty much everybody.</p>
<p>I don’t think (as an MIT alum) that the two Bs will kill you - I had Bs in Calc as well, though it was Calc BC, and also had 800s on SAT I math and SAT II Math IIC. The key is that you have to prove that you do have enough math ability to exceed in the required MIT math classes. So instead of worrying about your Bs, make sure that you’ve proved that you are good at math and that what might seem to be mediocre (by top-tier-college-standard) grades are actually flukes, and it probably won’t significantly hurt you.</p>
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<p>Keep in mind, many of the people commenting here are other high schoolers who haven’t even <em>been</em> through the admissions process yet, and the large majority don’t really know how MIT admissions work. Take it with a grain of salt. And if you want better advice about MIT specifically, ask on the MIT board.</p>
<p>Getting Bs does NOT ruin your chances for admission to reach schools. Don’t abandon your dream because of one grade.</p>
<p>Plenty of students get accepted to Ivies and MIT with Bs, sometimes with even more than one! Plus, you are still ranked in the top 1% of your class – that says a lot about the difficulty of your school. Colleges get a profile of your high school along with your application, and that profile often reflects the difficulty and challenge of your HS. Your transcript is considered in light of that HS profile. Your SAT math scores will impress these schools (not very many women get 800s in math). If you get a 5 on the AP exam, that will impress them too. Colleges know about strict graders.</p>
<p>(Plus, most students don’t take Calc until their senior year, which is another bonus for you. Are you taking BC as a senior?)</p>
<p>You’re grades and scores show you’re more than qualified; problem is the elite schools could build a frosh class several times over out of those who apply and show the academic qualifications to do well. So they look to the rest of the app to pick those that get in from those that get polite thank-you letters. And this is the bubble you’re on; you’re not going to be ruled out academically, now you need the rest of the app to help push you to the front of the pack.</p>
<p>Be sure to spend the time to write impressive essays; you can find books that talk about this. Pick teachers that will write letters of rec that really endorse you, as opposed to bland “Becky was a good student and will succeed at your college” type letters. You have to ask the teachers if they will write a strong letter of rec for you; this is perfectly acceptable and don’t be too upset if some teacher you thought wanted to support you demurs; think of what would have happened if you had just asked them to write a letter and they agreed.</p>
<p>I will say that whatever math classes you will take in MIT will be much, much harder than Calc AB… and adcoms will probably think that as well. If you can do well in Calc BC next semester however, then they will probably view your AB grades in better light.</p>
<p>I’d like to add, Happynow, that after spending several years lurking/posting on CC, I’ve seen many questions from kids who have had straight A averages and then along comes calculus. Many, many straight-A students find themselves struggling in calculus and talk about getting Cs and Ds (if you use the search function I’m sure you’ll find these posts). Colleges know how hard calculus is, and a B is pretty good. (Another thing to consider is asking that teacher to write you a recommendation. It might come out there just how rigorous that teacher was, and how a B is a good grade in that class.)</p>
<p>Fireandrain, you’re correct. Not all teachers are equal. Some do a great job of explaning difficult subjects like Calculus, while others are not so good. Our class was cursed. Our teacher spent at least 50% of class time on the computer telling us, “Read the book and figure it out.” He then was extremely anal with grades. It’s a shame that our school has only one AP Calculus teacher.</p>