I am currently in Junior year taking the IB program. Although it is the beginning of the year, I am quite confident that I will achieve mid 90’s in all of my classes. The one exception to this is my Chinese SL class, which I am quite confident I will fail (65% or below). How might this affect my college admission chances? When applying to a selective school, will this greatly impact my chances of acceptance (especially if this grade is a clear outlier from the others)? Could the grade be made up for with awards, extracurriculars, and SAT scores?
Of course a failure will affect your admissions responses. Your academic record is the most important part of your application. You should either look for help in Chinese or find a different language.
talk to your guidance counselor…is there any possibility of changing classes (like do you have a background in another language like Spanish)
otherwise, you have to up the effort on Chinese: Here are tips
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/2026961-what-to-do-when-you-arent-doing-well-in-a-hs-class-p1.html
Solid advice offered above. Nevertheless, if you seek advice from your instructor & work hard, this could be an interesting essay topic demonstrating resilience & the mature realization that one cannot excel at everything, but that doesn’t mean that when the going gets tough we quit.