<p>I just applied to 14 of the most selective schools in the country (Harvard, Yale, Duke (Deferred ED), Gtown, Penn etc). Ive never gotten below an A- in any class before, but I am taking 5 AP classes this year and having an extremely difficult time. I am expecting an A (AP Spanish), either A- or B+ in both AP Lit and Calc AB, a B or B + in AP Chem and a B- in AP Macroeconomics. I am most concerned about Econ because I applied to every school as a history major. I already got into my safety (University of Michigan Ann Arbor out of state), but I really want to get into more schools (especially Duke). I am so worried about these grades. Before this semester, I had above a 3.9 unweighted. Do you think these grades (especially the B- in Macro) will kill me? I worked so hard but I just couldn't do well. The class is IMPOSSIBLE.</p>
<p>they look at - and +'s?!!! how come ppl told me colleges don't?</p>
<p>Some colleges do and others don't. It depends on where you are applying. University of Michigan ignores all weighting and +s and -s. Most schools consider + and - grades because they are factored into your GPA.</p>
<p>Sorry, but the grades may be a problem at Duke if you were already deferred. They may have been looking for strong grades in your AP's (especially if you were a border-line case), and a lower GPA won't help. I think you will get into Georgetown, and you still have a small chance at Duke or Penn. Harvard and Yale will be very difficult.</p>
<p>That bad huh? Ok, that's what I thought. Thank you for the response. Is there anything I can do to make up for it? Any more advice/thoughts would be appreciated...</p>
<p>The competition at the schools you named is so intense that any flaw could be a problem. Colleges handle mid-year reports differently. Some don't make a decision without it, and others only use them for borderline cases. In "Admissions Confidential", Rachael Toors was an adcom at Duke and she wrote that they only went looking for the mid-year report in the mailroom in borderline cases. There is no way of knowing.</p>
<p>Thank you, dufus. I guess this is a problem then because since I got deferred, I think I am borderline at Duke.</p>
<p>bump...anybody else?</p>
<p>somebody else please?</p>
<p>Your GPA will suffer but the biggest problem wouldn't be the drop in overall GPA but the fact your grades may seem to any reader to be going down. However if manage to keep only 1 B, it wouldn't make that much of a difference.</p>
<p>You mentioned your unweighted GPA to be 3.9... That already is pretty darn good. Chances are whether or not you get in at those top schools would depend on your SATs, Essays and Ec's and not your GPA because simply- most people applying to Harvard or Princeton would have a GPA of around 3.9. Lets hope you have great SATs and you spent alot of time on your essays.</p>
<p>But then- its always good to have more A's if possible so go put in more effort baby :p</p>