I don’t doubt that you can! just pointing out the gap between ‘can’ and ‘will’: sustained effort is hard.
Which is also one of the reasons that I flagged the UK for you: depending somewhat on the subject, for some students the compressed work schedule is happier than lots of continuing assessment (more bluntly, it suits crammers).
I already talked to my guidance counselor. He just said that one day I’ll meet the people who are meant to be my friends and stay in my life even if I’m alone right now.
“one day I’ll meet the people who are meant to be my friends and stay in my life even if I’m alone right now”
This is certainly very true.
This is also something that I might print out and keep in a handy place for when (not if) I want to mention it to someone who is in a similar situation.
“I know that because I AM working hard as of now” As said, congrats. But you’re noting ONE WEEK. Your competition will have been working to the max since early 9th. Not just doing the work put in front of them, but exceeding, in terms of activities, stretch, and some impact. And the good one does for others.
Tippy top admissions is a “no excuses” world. Imagine kids with solid A, who’ve worked their ways up to high rigor, whose reach extends past the high school context.
They are the competition. Any improvement now will show, but these adcoms will be looking at your full transcript, back through 9th. There will be kids with rigor, breadth/depth… and no B grades.
I don’t mean to discourage you, but the best motivation is for the pure delight of taking on the challenge of turning around your record. It’s not about rebuilding your record semester by semester, going forward. Rather, changing the attitude and where you set your own bar. And some proof in that is not mentioning a hoped-for turnaround in the same breath as applying to tippy tops. Whether you meant it or not, you linked the two.
We ALL have times in our lives when our social supports fail us. And you will suffer losses in college, too. It’s not enough to use hindsight to try to explain some misstep. That doesn’t prepare the strengths for when it happens in college and beyond.
As for being Canadian, it’s one of the hardest nationalities for admits in many ways. Starts with the volume of consistently top performing top Canadian kids who apply and the sheer numbers of UK or other English-speaking kids out there, who also want an Ivy or other tippy top. For diversity reasons, there are limitis to how much any tippy top will front-load more native English speakers from the breadth of international kids available.
So take a breath, let this one-week idea marinate. Learn what it means to become a top performer and the slips and slides along the way. Fine tune, as needed. But first and foremost, getting in is much more than GPA and scores. Learn what that is. It’s not obvious or simplistic, you’ll be submitting a multi-component app and supps.
And then, good luck.
I agree with @lookingforward.^^^
Be realistic, do well in school. You can apply with the hundreds of thousands of students who apply to those schools. Also, apply to your great Canadian schools; they are really good bargains and deals and happen to be very good schools.
Talk to your parents about the costs of schooling at the Ivies and everywhere else.
I suspect you’re out of the running for merit aid scholarships because 9th and 10th grade were not your best. The American schools don’t have great prices like the Canadian schools. Princeton is going to run you $77,000 a year. Because you’re not American, you don’t qualify for a lot of US funding.
Can your parents afford over $300,000, in four years, cash upfront? For most schools, if you don’t pay the bill before classes start, they drop you from the class.
Oh, and just a sidenote, college coursework is hard and stressful and if you can attach yourself to a really good counselor, who can help you through those tough times, then that would be beneficial. A lot of students go to see counselors for help. It is very common, but it’s not openly discussed but it happens with frequency.