<p>Hi all, basically in the last week and a half, my entire academic life fell apart. Originally, I was going to finish the semester with only 1 B, however, several of my teachers finally uploaded random obscure grades from the very beginning of the quarter, and even some that hadn't even been counted from first quarter. This dropped me from only 1 'B' to 3 'B's. Since the semester ends on Monday, it's highly unlikely that I can raise any of these without the help of either god, buddha or the flying spaghetti monster. I have not gotten 3 'B's in any semester since freshman year, I've had an upward trend until this semester, how bad will this dip look on my transcript? Will that impression change if I manage to pull all three grades up to 'A's by second semester (I am very confident that I can do this)?</p>
<p>Also, in terms of overall GPA/WGPA, this drop doesn't hurt me too much (lowers both by maybe .03-.04).</p>
<p>If it’s any consolation, I ended my junior year with 3 B’s and 3 A’s out of 6 classes - granted, one of the B’s was a semester-long class. I was accepted to UC Berkeley and UCLA last year, and as a gap year student re-applying, I still managed to get deferred at Harvard SCEA. I’m not a recruited athlete, I don’t have legacy status at any school I’m applying to, and I’m an ORM (international citizen, even). </p>
<p>Unfortunately, junior year is the most important/looked at by colleges. If you do better second semester and continue to show an upward trend then the effect of 3 Bs won’t be nearly as bad as if you continue a downward trend. </p>
<p>Junior year’s important, the WHOLE year. So if the second half is outstanding it can help decrease the negative impact of a poor first half. Also, it depends on the schools you’re looking at and how competitive they are.</p>
<p>My top picks are schools like Dartmouth and U Chicago. I’ve got a legacy at Dartmouth, and (hopefully without sounding pretentious), I believe that I can write pretty good essays for Chicago (I do the prompts every year for fun).</p>
<p>If you want more accurate “chance me” answers what’re your gpa/test scores? ECs? Honors? Legacy doesn’t count for as much as it used to unless your family gives a lot of money.</p>
<p>GPA: 3.74/4.45 (I calculated these values under the assumption that I would be able to correct my grades by the end of the year)
SAT: 2350
SATII: 770/770
<a href=“Academic”>quote</a>
Junior Statesmen of America: Chapter Secretary (2yrs)
United States Politics and Debate Club: President (2yrs) (persuaded several local political figures to come in and speak)
Film Society: Vice President (2yrs)
AP US Government and politics tutor (2yrs) (helped tutor about a dozen kids to a 4 or 5 on the exam)
Student Ambassador (2yrs)</p>
<p>(Non-Academic)
Writer for a few sports news websites (not major like ESPN, HBO et cetera, but they receive a fair amount of web traffic)
200+ Hours of volunteer work at local charity shop and with developmentally challenged toddlers
Head Financial officer/Manager for student-run, humanitarian non-profit (I’ve recently helped secure several thousand dollars in grant money that is going towards helping upwards of 1500 people)
Volunteer boxing trainer for at-risk youth
Ron Paul 2012 volunteer (held information session at my school)
<p>I’d say so. The SAT scores really help you (and will balance out a less impressive gpa). But, while Dartmouth was originally on my list, I didn’t end up applying to either of those schools (got in early to my top pick) so you might want to look more into what each school values. </p>
<p>They’re reaches, yeah, but some people do get into reaches.</p>
<p>Early as opposed to regular? Yes! It will help immensely! Im not sure about the stats for Dartmouth, but for Stanford they accept about 13% early, 7% regular (almost double the chances!). They also accept about half their class early (700 something out of 1700). You can look up Dartmouth’s stats, but I’m sure they also admit a larger percent early.</p>