<p>I feel like I really screwed up.
My freshman year I could care less about school, and finsihed the year with a 3.2 GPA. Sophomore year I became motivated and excited about college and was able to average a 3.8.
Now I am a junior. I got a 4.0 first quarter, 3.8 second quarter...but I dropped down to a 3.3 for my third quarter. I simply lost all my motivation and got caught up in my increased social life. </p>
<p>My grades for the third quarter were:
Honors Eng: A
Alg 2: B
Honors Wrld Hist: A
Honors chems: C (went from A first and second quarter...to a C :( )
Spanish 3: B
Newswriting: A </p>
<p>I think I can end the year with an A average in English, History, Newswriting, and Spanish...but I am pretty sure that it is nearly impossible to raise my math and chems grades any more than a B.</p>
<p>I really feel like I totally messed up. I burned out and totally slacked and now I feel awful. I am motivated once again, but I feel like hte damage has already been done. :(</p>
<p>My dream schools are Boston College and Vanderbilt....what do you guys think? Do colleges look at specific quarter grades...or more the average GPAs for each year?</p>
<p>BTW: I also just quit my biggest EC, but that didnt have anything to do with my school work. I feel like this will give colleges the impression that I stopped caring when it was most important.</p>
<p>For one, I don't think quarter grades matter as they are merely mid term marks. What is really important is the semester grades. Just pull your grades up by the semester and you'll be fine. Colleges will love the upward trend in your GPA. Just make sure everything else is in line and you'll get into some great schools. If It makes you feel better, I got 3 C's in my Junior year and had a downward GPA but I still got into Top 15 schools (some with mad merit aid) and have won several national scholarships, so just make sure you keep your grades up from now on and focus on making the rest of your application stellar.</p>
<p>Blythe,
Your transcripts only show your year end grades. I don't know enough about BC or Vanderbilt to comment on your chances there with your stats. Just do your best to get those grades up for the end of the year.</p>
<p>Most high schools send transcripts that show only the year-end grade. Some may include more information (grades on course finals, state-mandated exams, and/or SAT/ACT scores, despite the fact that these are unofficial scores). I think you should ask your GC for a copy of your transcript so you'll know what you're working with.</p>
<p>Remember that many colleges have a formula for re-calculating the GPA. Some schools don't even look at freshman grades (I'm not sure whether this applies to BC or Vanderbilt). </p>
<p>I don't think you've screwed yourself up irretrievably, but you do need to stay on track, as you already know. Will you have a final exam in Chemistry? How is it counted - i.e., will it count as a marking period grade? You can really boost your average if you ace the final.</p>
<p>BC and Vandy ARE very selective schools, so you'll want to put every effort into the apps themselves. You can apply EA at Boston, and I'd recommend doing that. Write excellent essays! If your recs and SATs are strong, and the 3rd marking period was just a glitch, I'd say you still have a chance. Being from Hawaii won't hurt you anywhere. Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks for the encouraging words :) I will go check with my GC about my transcript as soon as possible.</p>
<p>There is something else that has been worrying me: my ECs are definitely lacking.
I am in 2 clubs, VP of 1 of them...but only joined them my junior year.
Have played tennis since freshman year, but quit my community tennis team just recently.
Had a job and volunteered at bigbrothers up until tennis season started...then quit those.
I am newspaper editor...but just joined newswriting this year. </p>
<p>ACK...as you can see...not so great. BUT I do have something that I am passionate about that I would like to start up. </p>
<p>Recycling isnt very big here in Hawaii, but I think it is very important ESPECIALLY on one of the most beautiful islands in the world. What I would like to do is find a way to distribute recycling bins to my neighborhood that they could use and set outside just like a trashcan. (I have seeen this system used on the mainland.)</p>
<p>How would I go about starting a project like this? Any ideas?</p>