<p>Hi I am a high school student living in N. Cali....just wanted to ask a question to stanford admits about my chances......
So far in terms of grades I had managed fairly well, but what worries me are two things: a C in english elective class in first semester freshman year and a B in honors chemistry for first semester in sophmore year. Except for these two horrible mistakes, other classes are all As'. I managed to replace the C with an A from a comm. college course, but the C still shows in my transcript, although my high school cumulative GPA is raised. Would this C in freshman year, combined with the B in my sophomore year totally destory my chances to Duke? I am pretty strong in terms of test scores and ECs......but still, would these two bad letter grades kill my chances entirely...? Does Duke admissions take high school freshman grades seriously or just disregard them entirely? Any comment or feedback would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>I don't really know about how much Duke looks at freshman grades, but I seriously doubt that two bad grades will shoot down your chances at Duke, especially if the classes you have gotten A's in are higher level classes. But of course it doesn't help, and in my opinion, you must try to stand out in another area to compensate.</p>
<p>As a Duke graduate and with a daughter who has just applied, the application process for Duke is more subjective than one might realize. Certainly, grades and scores are important, but there are all sorts of factors that affect "who" gets admitted. There's no stats that guarantee one's admission. So, the best attitude seems to be: do the best you can, don't get anxious about all this, have some other schools on your radar, and whatever happens will probably be OK, Duke or no Duke.</p>
<p>I think I have heard that Duke doesn't even take freshman grades seriously into consideration. I wouldn't stress out about it. I got a couple Bs freshman year and I still got into a bunch of schools, including Duke. As long as you have been doing really well in upper-level classes then Duke should see you have gotten past that and it even might make you look a little interesting.</p>