I am sophomore at a top Ohio public high school, and am taking relatively difficult classes (AP Statistics, AP Macro+Micro Economics,APUSH, Honors Precalc (had to skip out of two grades of math), HonLit, and Honors Chemistry). I am anticipating that by the end of the semester (definitely by the end of the quarter) I will have a few Bs. If I do well on my AP tests, does this type of record ruin my chance at an ivy or top compsci school?
I’m sorta considering how taking harder courses could make up for getting 'B’s in other courses. The answer is no; it doesn’t.
Getting 'B’s doesn’t kill your chances at selective schools, but you have to understand that they have no shortage of applicants who took classes as hard or harder than you did AND got a 4.0
What if I’m also president of several important clubs and get a national ap scholar junior year? Would that change anything?
No it wouldn’tchange anything, not really. Universities and LACs in the Top 25 want to see recognition, at a minimum, at the state level, but usually at the national level, or research for a college professor. Club president at your school and AP Scholar is nice, sure, but isn’t even on the scale.
A few B’s won’t matter, but that indicates you took too much and can’t handle that satisfactorily. An AP class with a B is always preferrable to a regular class, but no one’s impressed with a C in AP and getting B’s in your honors classes bodes ill for the “core” AP’s you may be taking junior and senior year (Calc AB, a foreign language AP, AP World or European History, AP Bio or AP Chem or AP Physics, AP English language - spread over the 2 years.)
In addition, please be aware that colleges do not like the “everything but the kitchen sink” approach to AP. Right now you’re fine because you’re a sophomore, but your choice junior and senior year should be careful. 3 AP’s among those listed above would be good for junior year, for everything else it doesn’t really matter if you take Honors or AP (Psych, CS…) For a top comp sci school, what will matter most is what you’ve personally taught yourself and developed (developing an app is par for the course, but if it’s downloaded thousands of times it’s better; learning languages and coding in your spare time or creating a club that codes, to the point you can hire out to work for adults in the “real world”…)
@MYOS1634 that’s nonsense. My kids went to an Ivy and a top 3 LAC and neither did research for a professor, neither had national recognition, etc. etc. They were accomplished students and good test takers, tough schedules (but not 4.0), who had shown some flair and whose teachers clearly thought they were something special. They were lucky in the admissions “lottery” but the idea that you have to have cured cancer by 17 is silly.
It’s not “has cured cancer”, doing work and being involved in research for a professor isn’t “curing cancer” but. it shows the kid has intellectual curiosity and initiative. Other ways exist, too, many in fact, but all need to point to a kid who is exceptional, not just in his/her school, but compared to a pool of exceptional applicants from the whole country
Your kids were lucky, yes, but they had something special and they may have had a hook in admissions or have applied ED/REA/SCEA.
The reality is that for unhooked kids they better be exceptional. When 95% students are turned down, by definition the 5% are both lucky and exceptional.
B’s in AP classes are fine but EC’s limited to “president of a school club” won’t cut it.
OP, read “How to Be a High School
Superstar” by Cal Newport. It can help you see how the balance of academic performance and ECs can help with college admission.
@MYOS1634 I disagree that being the president of a school club “won’t cut it” for top schools. Obviously if that’s your only EC it’s going to hurt you – you should have some variation between school clubs, community service, maybe work experience, etc. – but that’s the case at many lower tier schools too. The idea that you need to conduct research, have a perfect 4.0 and a 36/2400/800/800/800 slew is nonsense. Colleges understand that most kids (read: kids who are not WASPs, basically) don’t have access to research opportunities or other “flashy” ECs. For most kids, being the president of a club that they’ve shown dedication to over all four years of high school is the best EC they have, and colleges will appreciate it as long as the student can convey in their essays why it means so much to them.
Back to OP’s original question: no, a few B’s and B+'s here and there will not tank anything. My brother got accepted to Tepper at CMU with a couple B’s (in math courses no less!), and I know tons of people who got into great top-tier schools with a 3.85ish. You’ll be fine.
I agree: 36/4.0/2400 is nonsense. Absolutely. Top colleges do not differentiate based on a couple B’s in AP classes and they do NOT want perfection.
Exceptional doesn’t mean perfect.
And being exceptional doesn’t mean “flashy EC”.
For instance, holding a job 15-20 hours a week is considered a great EC, not because of the job, but because it shows time management skills, commitment, reliability, and ability to shoulder adult responsibilities as a teen, especially for kids from lower-income family and especially if the employee got a promotion based on hard work (dedication even when facing a boring job is a good indicator, respect from hierarchy also, and of course work ethics is always good.)
Look, there’s a grid where you’re compared to others in terms of academics, personal qualities, and extracurriculars. President of a school club is only school-level, not even local/city level. Above local/city, you have state, then you have national, then you have international. School-level leadership is above “membership”, granted. but you better have super-high evaluations on the academics and personal grid to overcome a “school-level” mark.
Also, colleges don’t want to see tons of clubs where you were president (or, worse: a member), but rather 1-2-3 activities where you pushed to the highest you could, based on your personal situation. They want to know how your presence impacted the club, what outcomes you got. Conducting business as usual won’t be meaningful but if you motivated your entire school to do something that impacted your community, then yes it’s highly valuable to colleges because it shows achievement, commitment, charisma/presence, and efficience. You don’t actually need a variation in activities, that’s entirely up to you - what matters is “depth”.
“colleges will appreciate it as long as the student can convey in their essays why it means so much to them” = this is another criterion (essay).
Overall, like @intparent, I’d advise you read How to be a High School superstar and/or Make colleges want you.
Whoever gets into top schools is exceptional in some way. Whether it’s research, state or high recognition like @MYOS1634 said, or glowing letters of recs (students were super active in class, led discussions, best student teacher has ever had), great essays, overcoming unusual or difficult circumstances, are all ways to be exceptional. It is just that achieving recognition in something that the applicant is passionate about is a common thing among accepted applicants.
Colleges want dedication but how do they know who was really dedicated? Outside recognition is an easy way to answer that. A person who is first in the state for running is probably more dedicated than a person who consistently runs last. This is only generally the case, and there is room (such as essays and recs) for the exceptions to discuss their dedication. The intangible impact they had (such as better team morale) can be conveyed through letter of recommendations and essays.
Ivies and top schools want exceptional students. How you define exceptional is up for grabs, but hard evidence (awards, research publications etc.) is a very effective way in conveying that. It’s not the only way though, as shown through the examples above.
At the end of the day though, Ivies and other top schools are complete lotteries. You’re only a sophomore! You still have so much time until college admissions season rolls around.
Don’t focus on only the Ivies. There are thousands of other good schools out there. Also, if you were so worried about grades, I would spend less time on this forum stressing and more time studying to raise those B’s to B+'s or A’s. That way, you would have nothing to worry about!