Hello,
I'm a freshman in a public high school that isnt that great and I always wanted to go to a good college. The thing that bugs me the most is that I am in no advance classes like honors or AP and I am not excelling in some classes. The colleges that I wanted to attend were:
NYU
MIT
UCLA
University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign
Brown
Harvard
I was extremely motivated this whole year to do good until I discovered my progress report. I would like you guys to look over my "stats" for this year as I am afraid that it could have ruined my chances into getting into the schools. By the way, my intended major for colleges is Computer Science and I am aware it is hard to identify if I could get into these schools seeing that I only have Freshman year results. Below is my stats:
Korean but born in America.
(will be)First generation college student.
Hobbies/sports/extra curriculars:
Fencing(ok at it but not related to school)
Learning Mandarin Chinese(out of school)
Outdoor track(ok at it)(related to school)
Drama
DECA(competing)
Student body
School newspaper
soon to start a math club(I love Math with a passion)
Grades/subjectsfirst and second semester cumulative):
English 9(9th grade)- C
History 9- B-
Algebra 1- A-
Physical Science- B
Italian 1- C+
Culinary and Physical Ed- A
GPA- Cumulative- 3.486
QTR 1-3.333
QTR 2-3.629
What I feel really put down a lot of my grades were the Midterm exams, I am horrible at tests unless its Math.
Its half way through the year and I plan on improving my grades.
I forgot to state that next year I will be taking Pre-AP/honors Biology and I am taking two math classes by switching out my extra curriculars(Physical Ed and Culinary). The math classes will be Geometry and Algebra 2 in order to get ahead in math.
In case you forgot the reasoning for this post, I want to know if these grades have just ruined my chances to the schools I wanted to attend. I know some of you may be laughing at what a joke I am of naming schools I wanted to attend but my grades are not suitable for the them. I hope to change the way I have been studying and the way I use my time to get better grades for next semesters.
Thank you for your time.
-Andrew L.
I also forgot to mention I am learning Python(programming language) and one of my hobbies are Electrical Engineering random projects.
As a freshman, you have no idea of what your life will be like in three years. What you want from a college may change; your decision of major may change; deciding to even go to college may change. Focus on getting good grades that you’re happy with and worry about applying to the most selective schools in the nation later.
I will say that colleges like to see upward trends, so if you pull yourself out of it you’ll look better for it. But you’ll still be up against 4.0 students who never slipped. At that level, it’s basically a crapshoot anyway.
Good luck! Have some fun during high school!
bro calm down ur still young and really a couple of B-'s wont kill ur application — just take into account how cumulative a GPA is, like 3.5 years of highschool, so u still have 3 years of the grind and abllity to make up for it.
tl:dr but i would just advise maxing out the hardest classes even if ur gpa takes a hit from it
Thank you for replying! You are true about my lack of knowledge towards my future. I know I shouldn’t be worrying about this but I want a better life than my family is having now so I have been a bit paranoid. I will take your advice by expressing an upward trend in my grades and not worry too much about college as of now.
Thanks again for your time!
Remember, that many schools that are public schools and out of your state will cost you full fees (UCLA) regardless of grades.
Thanks! I know I’m freaking out about this and you’re totally right that I should calm down. When you said I should take the hardest classes, do you think I should try to take honors Geometry or just take two classes of math? I wanted to double up to be able to do Calculas or Pre-Calculas by my senior year.
Thanks again for your time!
@andrewl2k haha at the LEAST just make sure u have pre calc by the time u graduate ----- calc is good too but many kids that arent that good opt out for ap statistics
Are you able to enroll in Florida Virtual School and take Geometry over the summer, so that you could take Algebra2 next year, Precalc junior year, and Calculus senior year?
Also, I notice none of your classes are Honors… And you have C in English and Italian.
So, for now, find a tutor for English and Italian (plus History and Physical Science if you can), get A’s in ALL your classes, and read outside of class - it doesn’t matter what (magazines, graphic novels, non fiction, fiction), but read every day.
Man you are young - don’t even worry. You have 3 years ahead of you to improve and your GPA is fine right now!! 
If you really want to have a chance at all of those schools that you list, you really need to get your game up. People that get into them usually have straight A’s, so you should try to accomplish that by the end of the year. Try to average your C’s to B’s and B’s to A’s. You might want to take AP’s next year instead of pre-AP classes too. If you want to major in comp sci, you might want to do some EC’s related to it, such as math competitions and computer science ones.
Taking the hardest classes possible is terrible advice for this student. OP, push yourself in the classes you have now and maybe add one AP next year. You are struggling with none. So taking 5 next year would be a disaster.
^I agree with CaliCash. Right now, you need to bring your C’s to B’s, and B’s to A’s. Go get tutors. Add just one AP in a subject where a current teacher thinks you can get at least a B.
Ok, well thanks everyone for giving me advice! I just wanted to conclude that my Math and Science are my best subjects that’s why I am getting placed in honors Biology and two Math classes. The reason for the B in Science is because of the mid-term exam and the A- in Math is because I let my “friend” copy off my homework which I now know that was pretty bad to do. For the mid-term exam, I am not a good test taker overall because I get really stressed out during tests and before as well as I like to always go with my second sense thinking my answers are sometimes wrong. I definitely seek in improving my test taking strategy for sure. For English is the same for test but in Italian… I wasn’t really focusing on the subject but I have noticed I have been doing way better than before.
Best wishes to everyone!
Thanks for the update.
What are you going to do next year?
Sorry this is extremely late, but I want to let you know that I ended this year with a better Cumulative GPA of 3.7(Quarter 3- 4.0 Quarter 4- 4.1). I worked extremely hard after this post from all of the support given from you all and I got an 100% on my math exam which I later got a letter from my teacher saying that it is “unheard of”. My classes for next year are all regular except Biology Honors, Algebra 2 and Geometry.
Thank You!
-Andrew