<p>I'm a freshman in high school with straight A's,but I got a 70 on my Chinese midterm. I'm planning to learn the violin this summer and going to start Community Service next year. Did the 70 ruin my chances, or will they let it slip? Thanks:)</p>
<p>You know that colleges don’t see your individual grades, right? If you have straight A’s, they will see those. That said, starting violin and Community Service now might be too late for those schools.</p>
<p>how is it too late?
im only in 9th grade O__o</p>
<p>Colleges want to see that you have EC’s that you are committed to and passionate about. Starting 2 things in 10th grade and having nothing else isn’t substantial enough. Plus, you have to be good at the EC if it’s a skill based activity like violin for it to really matter, and likewise you have to have done notable things with community service - not just regular community service, but organizing a food drive for some impoverished country and raising a few thousand - for it to really matter. It’ll be very difficult to become a world-class violinist and/or a community service organizer in just 2.5 years (colleges won’t see anything after 1st semester senior year unless you are waitlisted). Come back when you have SAT scores, but even with a 2400 and 4.0 if your EC’s are weak you don’t have a good shot at Ivies/MIT and many other top schools.</p>
<p>I never said I didn’t have any E.C.
All I asked was if the 70 would ruin my chance</p>
<p>…no it won’t.
Colleges don’t see individual grades on tests. /facepalm
As long as your semester grades are where you want them to be, then you’re good.</p>
<p>If those two are you ECs and you haven’t even started them yet, you have almost no chance.</p>
<p>The 70 doesn’t matter though. All they see is the final grade…</p>
<p>*your only ECs</p>
<p>Sorry, I’m on my iPod</p>
<p>Argh freshmen- Calm down and don’t worry about the 70, all they see is your year-long grade. That said, some tier-1s like Hopkins don’t care about freshman year. I suggest having fun and doing well for the next 2 and 1/2 years and not FREAKING OUT over getting into Harvard or MIT as a freshman. Also, you can start ECs in 9th grade as long as you show involvement and exceed in them. Colleges will not immediately discredit a 4.0 kid who, heaven forbid, starts doing something well that he/she enjoys a full year later than other applicants</p>
<p>For better or worse, only a few students get into the tippy top schools… even with perfect stats and incredible ECs. So it is wise for all student to just do their best to excel in high school and enjoy the experience without worrying too much about relevance to Ivy/MIT. The application list needs to include a variety of schools regardless of the student attributes.</p>
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<p>Sorry, although your post was kind of misleading. And I answered that question (as did other people).</p>
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<p>Starting EC’s in 9th grade isn’t a great idea either, if they are your only ones. Having one or two from before 9th is a good idea.</p>
<p>so I can put E.C. from middle school on my college app? =o</p>
<p>Nope, take a look at the common app (commonapp.org) and look closely at the forms. Colleges only care about your activities from 9th grade out.</p>