Contact GC? Overreacting Much?

Applying to College
1

<p>Grades definitely slipped a LOT for senior midyear!! As in straight A's up until senior year where I get 2 B +s and a B-!!!!! I had to handle the toughest courseload my school offers and a lot of other extracurricular responsibilities. Oh............. and I applied to HYPS. </p>

<p>So should I tell my College counselor to write to my colleges to explain or is my grade drop not enough that they'll reject me automatcally? I know I'm freaking out and people will probably tell me a B is not the end of the world. BUT 3 B's is no laughing matter, but my rank is still the same at top 4 since all the senior grades dropped at my school because of taking to many APs.</p>

<p>Anyways I'll stop ranting but anyone have any advice!! I honestly feel like my chance and dream of going to Stanford is completely compromised because of overloading myself with so much to do last year!!</p>

2

<p>Relax and breathe. There is nothing you can do about it now. Do not ask your GC to write an excuse for you, unless you have one. If you still have a strong rank, you haven’t ruined your life…yet.</p>

3

<p>But now if you don’t get in anywhere, you’ll know exactly why! Most people don’t have that privilege. Consider yourself lucky :)</p>

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<p>I’m not saying you won’t get in but it seems like people here don’t like their safety schools and match schools at all, which makes no sense.</p>

5

<p>Will 3 Bs honestly keep me from getting in? Sorry for bringing this back up.</p>

<p>Its not that I dont like my safeties because I would be happy, But when you have a dream school that you’ve wanted to attend since Forever, it just makes you feel so devastated that you already know there’s something huge keeping you from your dream school.</p>

6

<p>We don’t know if it will, but I’m sure there are students who have gotten in with 3+ B’s. If you’re really concerned about this, the best thing to do would be to cruise into results day with low expectations, so if you get rejected it won’t be as shocking and if you get accepted it’ll be that much better.</p>

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<p>Thanks Jaddua, admissions to top schools is always a crapshoot so I was never expecting much and you are right the sudden acceptance would make things feel much better if it was true!! </p>

<p>Anecdote time! Last year there was a girl with mediocre GPA, SATs, unhooked, no too special who applied Stanford. Even our college counselor said she was wasting her time applying with her low SAT which was barely over 2000. Biggest surprise of a life time when she’s denied every school ( match/ reach) BUT stanford. Her low expectations made everything sweeter!! I can only dream that it’ll happen to me, but I guess its my fault for not maintaining my grades and prioritizing my time. Oh well … only the adcom gods can decide now!!</p>

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<p>You realize that by dreaming about that happening to you, you’re essentially expecting that you’ll get in, right?</p>

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<p>I always thought there was a fine line between dreaming and expecting. Expecting, in my opinion, meant feeling entitled to believe that the outcome is sure to occur or at least having some evidence that the desired result will be true. Dreaming is more like have 0% foreshadow or inkling of the end result but the continuance of aimlessly hoping that a desired result will occur without any basis.</p>

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<p>I would definitely ask the GC to send a not along with mid year grades saying rank remains the same to signal the drop is typical for your school.</p>

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<p>Luckily, Stanford does tend to look at extracurriculars and essays a lot more than most colleges of the same caliber. I don’t think it’ll completely ruin your chances if you have strong ECs and awesome essays. I was rejected from Stanford EA with straight As (mostly A+s) while other CCers with lower grades/test scores got in. But still I think it may send up a red flag to see Bs on your mid-year report after being straight As. I think perhaps you should have your counselor mention something about it just so that they don’t think the slip in your grades is due to not trying or “senioritis” because that definitely does not seem like the case. Good luck!</p>

12

<p>Thanks everyone! I think I’ll talk to my GC about it, but she already sent in all of her recs and secondary reports so I’m not sure how willing she will be. My school doesn’t rank but since its small everyone knows where their GPA stands.</p>

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<p>At small schools, GCs are usually happy to make a call.</p>

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<p>Another myth hits CC.</p>

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<p>^ Yeah I don’t think it is necessarily true but they must put some more emphasis on essays since they asked for SO many short answers and essays compared to some of the top ivies. But if you look at the actual stats that the schools give about the mid range SAT and GPA of accepted students, it is almost identical for all the top schools.</p>

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<p>^ Look at the threads on who got accepted. Or this…
[Stats</a> Profile Colleges Search Results](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/profiles/2013/stanford-university]Stats”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/profiles/2013/stanford-university)
At least two people accepted (of the few that were accepted) had 3.80 GPA, yet hundreds with 4.0 rejected. Perhaps they were legacies or athletes, but still…</p>

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<p>^ Definitely makes me feel MUCH better when I see people with a 3.8 get accepted but you are right they are probably hooked which I definitely am not!!</p>

17

<p>Well, what can you do? People on here can tell you all they want, you’ll just have to wait until April and see.</p>

<p>and honestly, I don’t think you need to contact your GC. I think that the schools will see your rank and put that in priority to the fact your grades dropped a little.</p>

18

<p>But my school doesn’t rank, its an estimate that my GC gave me for applying to scholarships. So my colleges won’t know.</p>