College Admission fears

Applying to College
1

Hello everybody. I am ‘nerdybirdy7’. I’m new here, but I need some serious help/insight. I am really struggling in high school and I am worried that, with my horrible transcript&cumulative GPA, and my poor PSAT scores, no college will want me.

I am a Junior in High school. I will show you all my grades:

9th Grade (FRESHMAN)

Semesters 1, 2:

Biology C+, C
Health B, A
English A, A
Math A C-, F
PE/Gym A, A
Spanish B, B-
History A-, B

*Failed the Math A course for Freshman year, had to repeat it Sophomore year

10th Grade (SOPHOMORE)
Semesters 1 , 2:

Art A, A-
Chemistry B, A
Math A A, C
History C-, B-
PE/Gym A, A
English B+, B+
Spanish B-, A

AS IF THATS NOT BAD ENOUGH, my PSAT scores:

Total: 1140
Reading/Writing: 580
Math: 560

As you can see, I am doing a bit poorly in school. I don’t even have anything impressive on my report card – not one course that stands out because of the exceptional work I have done in it & any good grades I have gotten in it. Zero. Nothing. And my PSAT has gone horribly, horribly wrong. I really need people’s insight on this. Please help me, will any college want me with these crappy scores? PLEASE DONT SUGGEST COMMUNITY COLLEGE

2

First of all I want to say that there is nothing wrong with attending a community college. In a lot of cases, I think it’s a really good option. However if you don’t want to go to one, I don’t think that you’re totally screwed. What state do you live in? I think that there would be a ton of state schools no matter where you live that would be viable options!
Also relax!! You’re only a junior! Your PSAT score is not bad, like you imply. You still need to take the SAT/ACT, but the good news is you have plenty of time to study for them!! I took act over the summer and that’s when I got my best score since I had the time to adequately prepare.

Also, I think your grades are fine. Although you failed math freshman year, I think you show a general upward trend which colleges like to see. You still have the remainder of this year and your senior year to really improve your gpa. Just be sure in your essays and extracurriculars to play to your strengths!
Relax and good luck!!

3

Why do you think you aren’t doing well in school? Do you not understand the material? Make silly mistakes on tests? Are you just not putting in the study time? You need to examine your approach and develop a better plan. Wishing to do better won’t get you there.

4

Do a search for “four year colleges that accept everyone”. They’re out there, and some of them are in some fun cities. The downside, however, is that you not likely to receive any financial aid. You’ll have to run the NPCs on each site to see what you can afford. Even if you can afford them, it’s possible CC or trade schools might still be your best bets. If you are just not cut out to be a good student, you won’t find college any easier than you’re finding high school.

…and there is this:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/2026961-what-to-do-when-you-arent-doing-well-in-a-hs-class-p1.html

5

You are not doing poorly. Your record is basically that of a B+ student who messed up in Math freshman year. It may seem like everybody is getting all As all the time, but they’re not.

Your PSAT score is not terrible. It is better than about 86% of test takers, I think. If you can manage to do better than 86% of the people on the SAT, you’ll have about a 1290. There are many, many colleges where that is average or above.

You might ask your counselor if the transcript that is given to colleges shows only the final overall course grade. In that case, for academic classes (which are most important), you had something like an A, two Bs, a C, and an F freshman year. For sophomore, it was two grades that are either B+ or A-, a couple of Bs, and a C+. For this year, just tell yourself you are going to do what it takes to have no final grade below a B-, and hopefully get one (or two or three if possible) grades that are at least an A-. If you can do that, you will have numerous good options. Being able to pay for them is of course another consideration, but you will definitely get into some places.

6

I would not worry about your PSAT. It is already well above average. Universities won’t see your PSAT scores. With two more years of school and some SAT preparation you should have SAT scores that are fine to help you get into a good university.

I think that you need to work hard on math. Math is an area where what you learn next year is going to depend upon what you learned this year and last year. As such it pays to try to keep ahead in your classes. You should try to do your homework early, and seek out help if you have any trouble at all with your homework or with any concepts that you do not fully understand.

I would not worry about extracurricular activities at all. Only participate in these if you want to and if you find them enjoyable and if you have time. A few very top schools expect pretty much perfect grades and perfect test scores and excellent references and interesting ECs. For the large majority of the schools they are not all that important.

I think that if you can work hard to pull your C’s up to B’s, given that you are already getting A’s in your best subjects, I think that you are going to do fine to get into a good 4 year university.