Bad First Semester Sophomore Year Grades?

Hi, sorry to bother everyone but would like to ask if there’s any chance I can still get into a decent college? I had a kind of bad sophomore year first semester because of a close friend moving away and then family issues… I started the year taking six classes with four weighted, and dropped out of honors chem. It’s currently two weeks before first semester Finals and my grades are:
Precalculus: 66%
Sophomore English: 98%
AP Art: 99%
AP European History: 89%
AP Chinese Language: 99%
I have confidence in bringing my Euro scores up but no confidence at all in math… Freshman year I was able to end with all A’s except a B in Algebra 2 and swore to do better sophomore year- do I still have a chance of acceptance to UC/Ivies with bad math grades?

Since the UC’s consider only 10-11th grades in their GPA calculation, a low C grade in PreCalculus could impact your chances. It is too early to say how much of an impact and if you are planing to pursue a STEM major, it could have a greater impact than in a Humanities based major.

Right now you need to figure out how to raise your Math grade and not worry about or target any specific colleges. Talk to your teacher about extra credit and find a tutor to help you. Math concepts build upon each other, so you need to get a solid base before moving onto to a higher level.

Best of luck.

Do you only consider "UC/Ivies " to be “decent college”?

Yes, a C/D in a core subject could provide challenges to tippy top schools. But those grades will certainly get you into many, many actual decent colleges.

Your intended area of study will also influence how much impact a specific grade has. A C/D in high school math for a math major application would be a challenge.

Rather than worrying about college 2+ years in the future, focus on current coursework and talk with your teacher on how to improve your performance/grade.