<p>Anything that they see will count. People may say AP scores don’t matter much, but adcoms are grading you holistically. They’ll take everything they see and form an image of you. Since you will be competing with a lot of people who score straight 5’s in 6+ APs, any score less than 4 will hurt you. A 3 in Calc is pretty bad, no offense. Especially since the AP Calc test is curved A LOT (50% of the test takers got a 4+ on the AP Calc BC exam in 2009). And since you’re a science-type person, they’d expect you to be skilled in math, too. A 3 in AP Calc would be VERY surprising… in a bad way.</p>
<p>It definitely won’t help you, but I’m not sure exactly how much it’ll hurt you. Anyway, your EC’s are amazing. And adcoms are still PEOPLE… they may not start crying when they hear your story (they’ll see many people worse off than you) but they’ll take it into consideration, as long as you don’t seem like you’re whining about your life. Personally, I think writing about your research/passions would be better than writing an essay on your misfortunes. That way, when the adcom sees your guidance counselor’s letter explaining your situation, they’ll be even more impressed.</p>
<p>Of course, if you WANT to write about your parents/grandparents/brother, and you can pull it off, then by all means, do it. But it will definitely be difficult to make it seem like you are not just looking for sympathy. But it has worked – my friend (class of '08) wrote his common app essay on something very personal to him relating to his grandmother and tragedy in his life… and he got in EA to MIT. Granted, he was also captain of the varsity Ice Hockey and Cross Country teams, voted as senior class Renaissance Man, on student council, and had straight A’s and all that jazz.</p>
<p>Honestly man, I’m sure you’ll get into at least a few Ivies. I agree with rOadTo3b. Why do you need so many people’s opinions…? You seem pretty convinced that you’ll get in anyway, from your responses to people’s negative comments.</p>
<p>well don’t forget, you don’t need to send all your scores. They evaluate holistically, but based on only what you give them. Don’t give them anything that might hurt you.</p>
<p>Yeah but if I decide not to send in calc bc score they’ll just think I failed or sth</p>
<p>what I meant was of course they look at it but they don’t play a significant role
like Sat II or SAT or ACT do</p>
<p>and I need so many ppl’s opinions b/c most of the ppl above are still in hs and aren’t exactly credible although their opinions are still valuable.</p>
<p>I’d say you have good chances. If you did end up doing well and became an intel finalist, that would definitely help but still not guarantee acceptance. You could definitely get into some of the ivy league schools, but it’s a crapshoot. You have as good a chance as people can have. Good luck!</p>
<p>You may have a good explanation of a lot of things, but you can’t explain them all to an adcom. You’ve been writing tens of paragraphs on this page trying to justify your stats to CCers, which isn’t going to help you much. Take a look at the Common Application, it will give you an idea of how you will have to structure things. On top of that, there are A LOT of Asians with flawless apps, and yes a “C few Bs” junior year will hurt a lot. There are other good schools though. Good luck.</p>
<p>Thanks. I’m not going to be explaining anything. My counselor is. And if you mean by “tens of paragraphs” tens of repetitions of the same paragraph then you’re right.</p>
<p>Yes, I did take a look at the Common App and I do know how to structure things.</p>
<p>You’re right. It’s going to hurt but I’ve personally asked an adcom who said that they do consider these kind of cases and that I just have to make sure I don’t whine.</p>
<p>actually idk about the SAt II. Most people think it’s just the collegeboard’s stupid way to make more money, but it’s definitely not worth as much as the APs. Also, if you don’t send in your AP scores, they may also think you didn’t want ot take the test. That’s not good but it’s better than knowing that you failed it.</p>
<p>And you’re entering the Intel STS? good luck then. I entered that this previous year and won nothing :P. It’s bound to be a great competition.</p>
<p>it’s not. They cover almost the same material but AP yields college credit; what’s the point of having you take ANOTHER test containing the same material as AP? It just sounds like Collegeboard’s way of making extra money.</p>
<p>Hm…I heard colleges put more weight or emphasis on SAT II during admission than AP tests but also look at AP scores to decide on the difficulty of your classes etc.</p>
<p>But this could also be a way that colleges help collegeboard make a lot of money ha.</p>
<p>I have looked at the other aspects of your application. You got a perfect ACT, as did I. That will help a lot, but the fact remains that it will be difficult to get into an Ivy with a C junior year. I mean, it’s the most important year.</p>
<p>^lol davidoga, you’re only mentioning my ACT score and nothing else.
And yes, I do acknowledge that a C will hurt but I’ve seen plenty of people get into HYPS with similar situations so it’s fine. And colleges do consider extenuating circumstances.</p>
<p>if you’ve talked to adcomms and know people who gotten into HYPS with similar situations as you, than why are you asking all of us to chance you? You already know your chances, and it will come down to your essays to get you in.</p>