Dropping the ball senior year. How much will this affect my chances?

Applying to College
1

The end of first semester is about to end and I’m concerned about some of my grades. At the moment I have a chance of getting B’s in AP Calc BC, AP Lit, and AP Physics C. I have 89-91s in all three but I know that their finals are known to be extremely difficult so I’m prepared for the worst. In addition to these classes I’m taking AP Gov, Adv Music Honors (chamber choir), and Concert Choir (requires two periods).

As a junior I took Precal Honors, AP US, AP Lang, AP Spanish, AP Bio, and Choir and received A’s and also took the Psych and APES AP exams and received 4/5’s in all. At the end of junior year I was rank 8 of 892 and my GPA was 3.97/4.57 (one B in AP Euro sophomore year), however after this semester my GPA may go down to a 3.90/4.55. My SAT was 2370 and my letter of recommendations should be strong, but my extracurriculars are fairly average for top schools and I have no hooks.

Sorry if this sounds pretentious, but would my senior grades be a huge detriment? I’m applying to ivies(excl cornell and dartmouth) , duke, UCLA, Cal, UCSD, and UCSB.

2

It could hurt you (one reason it is a great idea to apply to a couple of EA schools where you have admissions before 1st semester grades are available). Schools do look at those mid-year reports when making decisions, and a fall off in grades won’t be helpful at the very top schools. If you have a reason for this that the schools might understand (illness of yourself or someone in your immediate family, death in the family, homelessness, etc.), talk to your GC about communicating this to the colleges. If you just overloaded yourself, there is less you can do about it.

3

There’s no extenuating circumstances, for whatever reason the material this year is difficult for me, although for others they grasp it easier although they’ve done less well in previous years, which I guess happens to everybody. Is there any way for me to minimize the effects?