<p>I took a chemistry class at the local community college. Unfortunately, I got a B in the class and this was summer before 10th grade. I went out of my way to take the class....so that will give me a plus. But will a B in a college class be noticed at the ivies/</p>
<p>A B will be looked down upon because you are basically saying in your application, “Look at me! Look at all the stuff I did. I’m ready for college level academics!” but when you actually took a college class, you earned a B in it. But then again, it was just out of your freshman year of high school. I say, take another college class (in any subject other than Chemistry, but try to get another science course), work hard, do extremely well in it and prove to the colleges you will be applying to in the fall (I assume) that you can rock college level courses. Then most likely, your B will pale in comparision</p>
<p>^Okay, not at all. You have no idea what you are talking about…</p>
<p>Anyway, getting a B in a college class in 10th grade does not look bad at all. Sure, it is not very amazing, but the fact that you saw a class you liked and took is in friggin’ 10th grade shows a passion for learning. Kids in the Ivies get Bs in college, so there is no point in rejecting a child who recieved a B while doing a college class so young. I do realize that and Ivy class may very be much better than a CC one, but again, I am sure you will look completely fine. And no, you don’t have to take another college class unless you have either exhausted your HS curriculum or want a new challenge. :)</p>
<p>Okay, okay. Lets look at the logistics here before we tell each other off. </p>
<p>If lolomg has a really high gpa (and since he/she is aiming for an ivy league, it most likely is a pretty competitive gpa, im assuming) in his/her high school, but then getting a 3.0-3.3 in a college course is basically saying that the high school that he/she attends is too easy and so easy, in fact, that he/she will have such a great fluctuation when taking a college course class. (Unless there were special circumstances like personal issues the guidance counselor can attest to when lolomg was enrolled in that course.)</p>
<p>Rmadden15: your idea of an IVY LEAGUE or other high caliber school admission officers is one that pictures them to be extremely forgiving and easy impressed, which isn’t entirely wrong but isn’t entirely true… They have seen everything from a student who has taken 20 credits in a local college and received high, competitive scores in all of them to a student who has self studied for AP exams and has received competitive grades on those AP exams. Getting a B in the ONLY college class that a student has taken does not show the best impression of a student’s capability to do really well in an EVEN MORE competitive science class that is being taught by a Noble Laurette or a professor who is extremely knowledgeable in his/her field and conducts research in the area and gets that work published in prestigious science magazines almost yearly. Sure a B isn’t bad especially if the student takes an extremely advanced class but admission officers rather a student take advanced classes if they can handle them. </p>
<p>If you receive a B while taking a college level course as a high schooler is not going to get you rejected (of course it won’t…its silly to assume it even will) but it won’t give the admissions officers anything to be impressed about and they will probably scratch their head wondering if you can handle, lets say, 5-7 college courses at once unless anything in your high school academics or application prove otherwise.</p>
<p>I visited Princeton a week ago. I took 4 college courses during the school year and so, I asked if it would make me look like a more desirable candidate, considering I received A- to A+ in all of them and they were courses like Organic Chemistry I and II. An interesting conversation came up: According to the NJ admission officer representative, so many kids take college courses over the summer or during the school year. It is not as impressive to college admission officers anymore. Sure it may show passion but so many kids enroll in these courses just to impress college admissions officers and to prove they can handle college work and to prove they are passionate about learning that it is difficult for admission officers to differentiate between true passion for learning and attempts to pad resumes. </p>
<p>Therefore, admission officers of high caliber schools predominately evaluate the grades you receive in those classes or carefully read the recommendations from a college professor of whom you were taught by to evaluate your sincerity in taking a college course. This is a big problem in the college admission processes facing the people who evaluate a student’s application: trying to figure out if the student has true passion or faked passion or really good, faked passion.</p>
<p>^Ugh, not in the mood for arguing. A B won’t kill you. It is like getting a B in a normal class will not keep you out of college. It is better to get B in a college class then a HS class without a doubt, and it is obvious that you can get into top schools with a couple Bs. You are overinflating the effect of a B. If a admission officer sees a B in a HS class, then would he assume that if he is getting Bs in high school that he could not handle 6-7 college classes? No, so he would not think it for a college class, seeing that the difficulty is more on par with actual college. However, I am done. Even in your big rant I did not find anything that convinced me other wise.</p>