<p>I'm copying this fromn a previous post, so if it looks familiar that's why.</p>
<p>Class of 2012
Male Uzbek/Russian living in Georgia, USA (I've heard that this might give me minority status?)
Very strong public school (send around 30 kids to top-20's every year.)
3.65 GA Tech GPA
Class rank around 25% (abysmal, I know)
Will have taken 12 AP classes by graduation.
SAT 800 W 720 M 680 CR
Superscored SAT of 2200
31 on the ACT
Have not taken any SAT 2's but plan on taking Math 2, Biology, and 1 other (not decided yet.)
EC's:
Volunteer Club (4 years)
FBLA (2 years)
Secular Student Alliance (2 years; President; the only chapter in Georgia)
History Club (2 years)
Democrats Club (2 years)
1st Place winner in the state of the Math Kangaroo Competition (Participated for 4 years)
Played the saxophone for 5 years (won a recital award)
Published in school literary magazine
Newspaper staff (1 year)
Played baseball for 5 years
Volunteered as a counselor at a writing camp for little kids this summer.
Volunteer at a writing lab at our school year round (editing essays, etc.)
Tutored kids in math, writing, SAT prep, etc. for the past 3 years.
Attended a CNN Leadership/Media Camp at Georgia Tech for a week.</p>
<p>Writing is my strength, so I predict that my essays will be the strongest point of my application. I have a really good piece about perseverance that tells the story of how i've gone from being cut from 11 baseball teams throughout my life to gaining an 85 mph fastball and some college recruiting interest.</p>
<p>My recommendations should be pretty good as well as I have pretty good relationships with all of my past teachers. </p>
<p>Here's the thing, I've recently become very interested in computer science (I'm reading several textbooks on the subject, studying various programming languages, following the online lecture course on MIT OpenCourseWare, etc) and am seriously considering majoring in it in college. However, my lowest grades have been in math, and while I know there is much more to CS than just math, most of the schools with the strongest CS programs are "techy-math" schools. It's not that I'm not capable (as I think my SAT and first-place victory in the math competition show), its just that, well, I've been a little lazy when it comes to academics in high school *gasp. I know that's just about the worst thing in a college application, so what do I do? Where should I be aiming?</p>
<p>Thank you. </p>
<p>Also, what other schools do you think would be good for me to apply to?</p>
<p>See, that’s my fear. I took AP Calc AB first semester last year (junior year) and got a 76 Then I dropped down to honors Calc and got a 94. I honestly don’t think that the material overwhelmed me; my teacher just graded excessively harsh. Once I got into the new setting I did fine. What can I do to mitigate the ill effect of this one bad grade? Will it hold me back from getting accepted?</p>
<p>94=A, but you should have just taken AP I suppose. I’m sure plenty of people get in w/o AP calc., but it certainly helps. </p>
<p>Also, 7steps, you’re in for a world of pain in college if you consider grading yielding a 94 average by the end of a course as “harsh”. You might want to toughen up and rise to the challenge and get over having something below 95-96 (basically, take the risk and go to AP. The worst that could happen is you getting an 85-90 if you don’t work. Given that 94=result of harsh grading at your school, you’re clearly used to easier grading) because in college, 70s-80s in math and science classes may become common and only a curve will get you an A or B grade with such a system.</p>
<p>The harshness in grading that I was referring to was in the first semester AP class, where I got a 76. Then for the second semester I dropped down to honors Calc and got a 94. That grade was fair in my opinion. </p>
<p>Unfortunately I can’t go back to Calc and am taking AP Stat starting next week as a senior. I hear it’s quite a bit easier and I should be able to get an “A” no problem both semesters.</p>
<p>I am a little worried, however, that the 76 first semester of last year will come back and haunt me. My Ga Tech GPA is just below their 25th percentile but my SAT is above the 75th % and my ACT right around the 75th % mark. I do hear that they put more emphasis on standardized testing scores so hopefully that combined with great essays and good EC’s will be enough to get me in.</p>
<p>I got a 74 in AP Chem one quarter, but I continued and ended up w/a 90 (I had 2 quarters close to 100, and 1 at 90). I guess I would consider her a tougher grader (most people got 75 or lower at least one quarter. And it was normally the first, however, some “cheated” semester one by using past exams, thus getting an edge and then their grades decreased a lot 2nd quarter. Generally from 80 something to 60 something), but I’m betting you would have done better had you figured out what went wrong besides your profs. grading and start over the next semester and improve (upward trends are awesome. It would have showed perseverance. I think grading was hard enough across APs and honors here so that people didn’t drop upon getting a C. They only dropped when below 70. Cs and low Bs were common even among the best). Also, is you school seriously so intense that you cannot try AP Calc. AB after dropping? Since you passed semester 1, can’t you just go into semester 2?</p>
<p>We have very strict guidelines on what classes you take once you’re on an established “path” so unfortunately my only options for this year were Discrete Math (which is a joke) and AP Statistics. I just hope it doesn’t hurt me too much.</p>
Then I dropped down to honors Calc and got a 94. I honestly don’t think that the material overwhelmed me; my teacher just graded excessively harsh. Once I got into the new setting I did fine. What can I do to mitigate the ill effect of this one bad grade? Will it hold me back from getting accepted?</p>