HELP

I was wondering if anyone can help me? See, Im a sophmore at the moment, and I have been working hard towards going to a really good university such as ivy leagues and such Last year I had all A’s and only two B’s in two of my classes which I wasnt happy with, one was an elective and the other was an honors class I believe. This year, I just saw my final grades for the first semester and im not okay, at all. I have 4 B’s, 1 C, & 1 D. Three of the B’s are in my honors classes and the other one is in my spanish class, its a high b but its not like it matters. My C & D are in my AP classes, one is my elective and the other is a core class. Im mad at myself because I couldve done better and pushed myself harder, so I just have a couple questions.

  1. Is there anything I can do such as maybe retaking the classes in summer or next year? I dont want these grades to show on my transcript at all, any of them really but theres no way in hell I can change all of them.

  2. Do ivy leages and other colleges look at freshman and sophmore year grades as much?

  3. Do all Ivy Leagues including really good colleges look at unweighted and weighted gpa’s ?

The main reasons for my ‘bad’ grades this semester is because of stress and sports, as well as other things. I know those really shouldnt be excuses but I take responsibility for not doing as best as I couldve done. I do not want to go to community college, a good university has always been my aim, I dont have a university that is my dream, all I know is I want to be as successful as can be and go far, but these grades are holding me down. So please, help me out maybe with some suggestions as to what I can do now or in the future. Itd help if anyone knew what I could do to alter those grades at all. Thanks :slight_smile: and p.s, if theres any spelling errors I apologize, I was typing really fast.

You will have to check your high school’s policy on grade replacement. We can’t help with that. Most top colleges look at all years’ grades. A few don’t look at freshman year (maybe Stanford?). They generally unweight your grades to evaluate you, but they do want to know how your course rigor is as well.

But you need to realize that there are tons of really good colleges between an Ivy and a community college. But I am going to give you a tough message. At top colleges, you will be competing with students who put in the effort and did really well all the way through HS.

Going forward, get good grades. Study for your standardized tests. Have solid ECs you do well in.

But mainly I think you need to educate yourself more on the wide range of colleges out there. Figure out what your academic interests are, financial situation, and what colleges for your personally. Prestige should take a back seat to those things. A “good university” is one that is a fit for you, not necessarily a very highly ranked school. Get a copy of the Fiske Guide to Colleges and find a range of safety, match, and reach schools.

Thank you, I do understand theres a wide variety of other colleges, I have been researching colleges before and after I posted this. Other than seeing what my school can offer for me, theres no going back, only forward. I am a very competitive person, I do know how competetive applicants around the world are toward top colleges, I strive to do my best, I may not have shown it this semester but im hopeful that the colleges I apply to in the future see how I progressed and worked harder and more thoroughly. Thanks for taking the time to answer, I appreciate it.

They like an upward trend. But you need to be savvy, not just competitive. Have a solid list of schools that are more achievable that you would be happy to attend in addition to a few reaches. It is super easy to just focus on reaches. But that can leave you bitterly disappointed and without any good options if you don’t do the hard work of evaluating schools that are potential matches and safeties.

I will definitely keep these things in mind, thanks again!