<p>I was a pretty solid student my freshman and sophomore years, taking mostly honors classes and I made all As except for Geometry and Biology, both of which were honors. This year I kind of screwed up - I got overwhelmed, had really tough classes my first semester (honors US history, which was pre-AP, and honors Chemistry, along with a math class) and I ended up making Bs in all of those but maintained an A in my French class. Second semester I told myself I'd do better, and I almost did, partly because that was when I had all of my good subjects - another French class, English, and an honors law class in addition to APUSH. Everything was fine until my APUSH exam - I made a B and it was stupid on my part. I know the content but I'm assuming I wrote a mediocre essay so I only made a B on the exam, and it was enough to pull my final grade down to a B. So now I've made 4 As and 4 Bs my junior year. I kind of feel like I've doomed myself - I'm interested in some fairly selective schools (Barnard is my main concern, I'm applying ED), so is there any way I can recover/make up for that? My senior year schedule is pretty good, I'm still taking all honors plus 2 or 3 AP classes (whether one will be offered is still being decided) except for a science class where honors wasn't available. So basically my grades have dropped some, but my GPA is still good (better than last year, actually, because I took more honors and AP classes), it's just not straight As. Is there still hope for me or am I basically screwed?</p>
<p>Take as many APs as you can and make sure you get straight A’s all through senior year</p>
<p>We can only take 4 in one year because we’re on a block schedule and I can’t change my schedule at this point but I’ll have 2 or 3. Most of ours I couldn’t take anyway because I don’t quite have the grades for science ones and I’m not on track for math ones (wanted to try stats but couldn’t because I didn’t have honors algebra) but I’ll be in lit, psych, and hopefully French. </p>
<p>Gotcha. What’re your weighted and unweighted GPA so far, and how many total classes are you taking this year? </p>
<p>Weighted GPA is the one that goes on the transcript and that’s a 4.3. Unweighted is 3.79 and I’ll actually only have 7 next year because AP Psych is year-long. </p>
<p>You should be able to bring it up a little. You’re GPA isn’t incredibly low. Just try your best and keep all A’s. That’s really all you can do at this point. </p>
<p>If you had any unusual or difficult circumstances in your life that led to your drop in grades last year, you can write about that when you apply to college to explain yourself. </p>
<p>Other than that, try to get high scores on ACT/SAT and stuff like that and stay involved in your ECs. That will hopefully help you out some, too. 
Best of luck!</p>
<p>If I did the math right, I can bring it up to a 3.81 UW/4.6 W if I make all As! The most I’ve got as far as unusual or difficult circumstances go is stress and the fact my parents split up right around the beginning of the second semester and that has had quite the financial and emotional toll. My ACT score isn’t perfect (28) but it’s pretty good and if I can bring it up a few points when I retake in September that’ll be a big help and I have some okay ECs. </p>
<p>Thank you, I definitely feel a bit better!</p>