Can someone post if they have been accepted to prestigious schools, like Harvard, Duke, UPenn, Stanford, or others, with Bs or Cs on their transcript this year? It would really give me so much hope. If you were accepted, what do you think helped you get in? passion for extracurriculars, high sat score, etc?
I was accepted to Vandy, Dartmouth, Brown, and WashU. I had two Bs freshman and sophomore year but straight A’s junior and senior year. I had a 34 ACT with international awards (presented in the United Nations in front of several ambassadors for world peace, won international music competitions and performed in Iceland, Argentina, Colombia, France, and Switzerland, etc.)
The acceptance rate at these schools have acceptance rates under 10%. Barring a major hook, the chances aren’t great for anyone and the B’s and C’s on your transcript won’t help your case… You will have a better sense after your junior year when you get your standardized tests, have another year of grades etc. In general strong ECs (unless you are a recruited athlete or have done something truly extraordinary) don’t make up for a below average transcript.
As I’d tell anyone, assess your academics honestly and apply to a mix of reach, match, and safety schools that appear affordable and that you would be happy to attend. There are tons of amazing colleges out there that can give you a fantastic four year experience and get you where you want to go in life - it is best not to fixate on a few hyper-competitive schools.
Got into Stanford REA, his dream school, with 33 ACT (NMF though) and 3.9 gpa with 2 B+s in math. No hooks. ORM. College admission process was over in Dec. Used free time to get together more with friends, get summer job, volunteer and get a scholarship for gap year. His ECs were focused in his interest area but I cannot say whether his essays were great, although they looked decent to me. Berkeley and UCLA were match schools and there were two for certain safeties.
Having gotten into Stanford REA, my kid did not apply to other HYPMCC schools but imo I think he could have gotten into one of HYP if he applied, although you can never tell with college applications. We told our kid when he told us he wanted to apply to Stanford that his 33 ACT and 3.9 gpa were strong enough for any school except maybe CalTech, so he should apply confidently.
I do not know anyone personally who has gotten in with Bs and Cs on their transcript, but remember that the people who do don’t usually shout it from the rooftops. Don’t fret or panic about your grades, and consider the following. I hope I can give you the hope you are looking for.
- How many Bs and Cs? If they are sparse amongst A's, you might have a chance. If they are early in your career and you perform exceptionally better afterwards, a good guidance counselor recommendation could pull you through. Play your cards right.
- Extenuating circumstances? Admissions officers are probably willing to overlook poor grades if you were facing a crisis that is understandable, as long as you a) pull up your grades b) get good test scores c) seek other ways to prove academic preparedness (more SAT subject tests than 2, for example) so that they are confident that you can in fact do the work. If this is the case, make sure your guidance counselor mentions it, and include a statement regarding it in your additional information section
- If you have great extracurriculars and amazing accomplishments, you may want your teachers and guidance counselor to emphasize that you excel exceptionally outside the classroom, and that despite being an atypical scholar, could make an incredible addition to campus. If you pull up your grades enough, that could be a compelling argument. People who change the world are not always people who make straight As, and colleges know that
- Apply REA. Many argue you are pitted amongst a better applicant pool and whatever, and although it does not offer the statistical advantage of ED, it is helpful: here's why. They receive <10K applicants in the early pool. For a school that gets 45K applications overall, that means you get your application reviewed by admissions officers when they feel more relaxed, and haven't seen billions of perfect score applicants, and have to read thousands of applications until they are weary. Getting their eyes on your application while they are, for a lack of better word, "chiller", could work in your favor.
I hope this helped you at all. Don’t give up! PM me if you want to chat more
Some exceptions would be athlete recruits.
Very few get in. I had a friend who got into Dartmouth but they had tons of factors to compensate for their one C
I got into Brown through Regular Decision, but again, I also had mitigating factors. If you have had multiple Cs… You might be in deep $hit
There are always exceptions.
So apply to Duke.
But also apply to a bunch of schools where having B’s or C’s on your transcript doesn’t make you an exception.