<p>Hi, I am beginning my junior year this august and I am worried about my grades. I really went to attend an ivy school but i don't think my grades are enough. I was studying abroad in Chile for a year and a half (freshmen and half of sophomore year) and since i barely knew any spanish, struggled with the material. The school I attended was very prestigious and the best of the region. I got bad grades such as:
Biology C
Tech A
English A
Spanish C
Biology C
Physics A
Math A
Chem A
but i improved my grades sophomore year where i got 3 bs and the rest As. i am wondering, do I still have a chance considering I take 10 aps classes (junior and senior) and get straight As on them? Do ivies like growth?</p>
<p>First, why do you want to go to an Ivy League school? Are you looking into other schools? There are many great colleges out there.</p>
<p>The fact that you lived abroad certainly makes you interesting. Why were you in Chile?</p>
<p>I want to go to an ivy school cause I want to secure my future and also make my family proud. I was in Chile so that i could learn to speak spanish fluently plus to be close to my other family.</p>
<p>Just continue take the most rigorous classes available to you, and do the best you can in them. There really isn’t much more you can do (transcript-wise), so don’t stress yourself over it.</p>
<p>but have people with these low grades, gotten into ivies? like what do you reckon are my chances?</p>
<p>You can have a secure future, and should be able to make your family proud, at all kinds of schools. </p>
<p>If you and your family want to feel better about other choices, maybe there are ways that you can educate yourself/ves about colleges and universities. Try Loren Pope’s books, “Colleges that Change Lives” and “Beyond the Ivies,” or other books like “Cool Colleges.” Are you familiar with the “little Ivies” such as Bowdoin, Amherst, Williams, Wesleyan, Tufts, Middlebury? Have you looked into honors colleges at state universities? How about schools like Vassar, Colby, Bates, Oberlin, Macalaster, Swarthmore, Reed? University of Chicago? If you are female, how about Wellesley, Barnard, Mt. Holyoke, Smith? Look at Bennington, Sarah Lawrence, Hampshire. I could go on and on.</p>
<p>I am not saying that you should not apply to Ivy League schools. I am just saying that there are many ways to meet your goals. Some people find they even prefer some of these other schools.</p>
<p>You can do well by having “reaches, matches and safeties” and should pick schools at each of these levels, where you could truly be happy.</p>