<p>Hey CC! I'm a sophomore and during my freshman year, I had 4 Bs in my Geom/Alg II class and 1 B in Physical Science due to laziness and apathy. However, since then, I have finally realized what I want to do with myself and I have decided that MIT is my dream college. Not only has this lapse of judgement hurt my cummulative GPA greatly, but I'm not sure how this will appear to adcoms at MIT. Hypothetically, if I were to get straight As in all my classes for the rest of high school, how much would these poor freshman grades in two very important (to MIT) subjects damage my application? Thanks for the quick replies.</p>
<p>I mean, it won’t kill you but it’ll cut your chances considering that many people who want to go to MIT have straight As in ALL their years in high school. </p>
<p>What do you mean by 4 Bs thought? You mean on tests or on an overall grade. If it’s tests then don’t worry about it but, if it’s the overall grade then you should worry about it a little.</p>
<p>At least you wised up in sophomore year.</p>
<p>I mean 4 Bs overall grades (Ouch). How much would a rising trend help?</p>
<p>Dang, I suppose it would help but, i’d say aim lower because MIT might be out of reach. Go for a lower school, Maybe a state flagship like Georgia tech or maybe UVA.</p>
<p>What’s stopping you from applying to your dream school?</p>
<p>Haters gon’ hate</p>
<p>^It’s ok. I want everyone to be as brutally honest as possible.</p>
<p>@Daxlo, even if I were to explain this lapse in grades away as best as possible in an essay and pull off straight As? Would these poor grades still play a decisive role in my admission?</p>
<p>Btw, I am also planning to take as rigorous and math and science-heavy courseload next year. In fact the most rigorous and science-oriented courseload that anyone in the history of my school has taken. AP Bio, AP Chemistry, AP Physics B, AP Calc BC, and AP Statistics. Would this courseload offset my freshman grades?</p>
<p>I sure hope you’re not planning to take all of those at the same time…</p>
<p>Well we have a block schedule, so I’m still not sure how that’ll play out. However, in essenence, I will be taking them the same year. Sounds like suicide, doesn’t it?</p>
<p>That’s crazy. Good luck for the AP tests is all I can say… AP Bio covers a massive amount of material, and the curriculum for AP Physics B is really broad too. And AP Chem isn’t exactly a walk in the park for some people either. Add that to the burden of taking Calc and Stats and you’ll be going insane…</p>
<p>Thanks for the forewarning, but this is something I must do. You wouldn’t believe my class rank. 
Let’s just say I’m not even in the top 20%. This courseload if executed perfectly, would bring me up into the running for class val. I’m ready to be pushed beyond my limits. In fact, I’m even self-studying some of the material beforehand over the summer to get a better grasp of what I’m getting myself into.</p>
<p>(from a mathy person’s point of view)</p>
<p>Bio: OK if you have a good memory (which I don’t)
Chem: trivial
Physics B: OK if you’re decent at math
Calc BC: trivial
Stats: trivial</p>
<p>Go for self-studying Physics C if you can spare the time.</p>
<p>I think that if you do all that, plus straight As, plus 2250+ SAT, plus a ton of math/science competitions/research/etc., MIT won’t be an incredibly long shot. (It probably isn’t even necessary to do this much, but it won’t hurt you! Unless you end up not liking bio and chem, like I did…)</p>
<p>Why is it your dream college? Because it’s highly ranked?
You can’t choose a dream college because you hear your daddy talk about it.
If you really want a shot you have to get involved in some kind of math/science EC, either research or Olympiad or something. MIT needs awards and great ECs. </p>
<p>You cannot get hooked on one college so easily, because when you don’t get in, you’ll be depressed. </p>
<p>You’ll survive without MIT.</p>
<p>@energize, thanks. I think I can get the straight As and SAT part down. I’m hoping to qualify for ISEF this year, but several of my friends are doing very impressive projects, so I don’t expect much. I’ll probably get to states though (which is still not enough). Hoping for olympiads next year.</p>
<p>@mciasto, your response came off as rather presumptuous. In fact, none of the things you’ve mentioned have played a considerable role in my selection of MIT as a dream college. In fact, my father and mother have never even heard of MIT before. After thoroughly researching the college, and deep introspection on my dreams and aspirations, I’ve decided that MIT would provide me with the most opportunities to carry out these dreams. The research opportunities are copious and the education top notch. </p>
<p>P.S. I’d also be perfectly happy with attending my state u.</p>
<p>I suppose this upward trend in rigor/grades will give you a decent shot but, i’d suggest also trying out for math/science Olympiads, joining math club, and all that jazz. MIT will eat that up but, as a side note, don’t stress over becoming valedictorian. I knew a kid freshman year who already mapped out his HS classes so he could end up with the highest GPA in school but, in order to do this he took a bunch of classes he didn’t like (Alot of the APs) just so he could have a high GPA. It’s junior year now and, regreets doing all that and he feels that his High-school career could have been a alot easier/more fun if he wasn’t obsessed with being the val. </p>
<p>In essence, all i’m trying to say is don’t kill yourself over going to MIT. Your life won’t end if you don’t get in.</p>
<p>Don’t stress too much about it. I had a B in science but still got accepted. Remember that they look at the person in whole not specifically how many B’s he got.</p>
<p>Also I did AP chem, physics B, calc BC, and stat in the same year and I wasn’t incredibly good at science either. with biology included it will be brutal but certainly doable. good luck!</p>
<p>wait, you plan on taking all of that in one year? 
i did that over my 4 years in high school. i don’t think anyone ever takes more than 2 sciences in a year at my school. </p>
<p>as far as ap bio goes, the ap test is super easy (knew like every single question, got a 5 of course) compared to the subject test, which was pretty darn obscure (got a 750)</p>
<p>ap chem ap test was ok, but the subject test was hard… the true/false part is pretty hard</p>
<p>i’m taking ap physics b and ap calc bc right now.
hm, our school once offered ap stats, but i think since no one took it, it’s no longer offered.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. I just don’t wanna be ranked ~100/500 like I currently am. I suppose it’s a long shot, but it’s worth shooting for. I’m looking forward to the challenge.</p>
<p>You’re ranked ~100/500 + Asian and want to go to MIT?</p>
<p>Yeah. Pathetic isn’t it. With my “master plan”, though, I could make val. Thatd be a great essay topic. From 100th to 1st.</p>
<p>Yeah if u can pull that schedule off with all A’s, then I’d say you just about made up for the B’s you had freshman year.</p>
<p>Good luck!!</p>