<p>So...I did quite well my freshman, sophomore, and junior year, but unfortunately all that has changed. I got a 79 in AP Calc 2nd quarter and a low B in AP Physics both 1st and 2nd quarters. I got a 77 on the calc midterm and a 73 on the physics midterm. I had a B in honors spanish the 1st 2 quarters (but a 96 mon the midterm). Will this completely destroy my chances to the following schools,
Amherst, Boston College, Lafayette, Colgate, and Haverford,
or will the admissions officers understand that Calc and Physics are difficult courses and give me a break?</p>
<p>(I don't want individual chances. I just want an overarching opinion of the effect.)</p>
<p>To some extent it will depend on what your performance was before the drop and how competitive you were at the schools to begin with. If you “application GPA” was a 4.0 then I would think schools may want some sort of explanation for the drop, (illness, dramatically harder classes, senioritis). Conversely, if your GPA was 3.4, then a drop to the high “C” range may not be as surprising given the rigor of the classes. </p>
<p>If you are more the first case, I think you can survive except at the most highly competitive of your schools. If you’re the second case, then it may reinforce any doubts admissions committees may have had about you. Either way, not a good thing.</p>
<p>Well, I don’t think that it will destroy your chances. I think admissions will understand that those are hard classes, but who knows really. If the other factors of your application are strong, I wouldn’t worry about it.</p>
<p>I got a B in AP Calc and Honors Physics, and I still got accepted to the University of Michigan!</p>