How Can I Raise My Mark To The 90s???

Applying to College
1

<p>I'm currently a junior, and I'm really struggling with my academic progress. C'mon, at the beginning, I thought the courses should be pretty easy to handle and get 90+ As. However, I never knew that I could do THIS BAD (esp. in physics and chemistry). Great, I was originally hoping and preparing since grade 9 for the ivies, and now, with a bad transcript for term 1, I'm probably doomed for reaching my goals. </p>

<p>Also, the ECs have taken a huge chunk of time from my schedule. How can I coordinate both the ECs and the academics altogether at the same time?? PLEASE HELP ME. and also, anyone who's in a similar situation like mine, please post here your thoughts and plans to tackle it. again, PLEASE HELP ME.</p>

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<p>anyone got ANY solutions?</p>

3

<p>Don't Panic
god I love that book/movie : ]</p>

<p>the key is consistency and balance. Don't burn out and remember to have fun. Don't load up on ec just for the sake of having them. Do what you like and you'll naturally excel. It's always a bad sign when you get stressed out from ecs. Once you start having fun and stop worrying, your marks will naturally go up.</p>

<p>And at your age you shouldn't even be worrying about this stuff anyways. You only get to be 16 once in your life so don't miss it :]</p>

4

<p>Where are you from?</p>

<p>Anyway. Just calm down. </p>

<p>Remember that yes, your junior grades are important. REALLY important. </p>

<p>But also remember that grades aren't everything into getting into a great school. </p>

<p>I agree with the former post: you only get to be 16 once. Besides, a few years into the future, you're going to wake up and realize how trivial this college application stuff really is. Make the most of your moment. It's hardto find a asense of balance in highschool, but you'll get there. no worries and keep on smiling dahling!</p>

5

<p>Well, I do have passions, and they are politics, public speaking, and international relations. I love them so much that I put half of my learning time into these passions: organizing political events at our school, inviting election candidates, public speaking contests, debates, working on political campaigns, and etc. These are my passion, and I somewhat enjoy doing them. It makes me feel as if I'm actually doing something worthwhile for myself, and for people around me.</p>

<p>and BY THE WAY, I'm from Vancouver BC Canada too. I go to killarney secondary. how about you guys? how do people manage and balance high grades and "passionate" ECs?</p>

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<p>Hey, I hope this is somewhat helpful. I have been in your situation before many times but it didn't keep me out the ivies (Harvard '02). I even had a few bad grades (like actually bad grades, Cs and worse) along the way. . . though not junior year. And now I am a tutor helping a bunch of extremely stressed out high school students, and believe me, there are a lot of people in your situation. Here are my recommendations for you:</p>

<p>1) Most schools will let you switch down a level even in the middle of the year. It's also very likely that you can change some extracurricular commitments. Keep to the extracurriculars where you have leadership potential and the classes where you are excelling (like, the ones you want to major in or the ones you think you could easily get good recommendations). Be ruthless about the rest.</p>

<p>I actually had a student who, sophomore year, was pulling Cs in AP Bio, President of this and that, hellish courseload, the whole nine yards. I told her to move down to honors Bio and she insisted that she couldn't, it was important for colleges, she was sure she could do AP Bio if she just worked harder, etc. etc. And guess what? She got a C spring semester, too, and now she's a senior applying to college and wishes she'd moved down a level in Bio. So ask yourself if there's anything you possibly sacrifice in order to keep up with your commitments. It's going to feel like cutting off your right arm, I'm sure, but consider it. It's likely that moving down one level in one subject or moving from major to minor involvement in one extracurricular would make a big difference in your ability to keep up with life.</p>

<p>2) It's all about external structure. People are capable of doing much more when they have groups and deadlines than when they're on their own. Find ways to make yourself do the homework, like getting a free/cheap tutor (don't NHS people still do tutoring for volunteer hours)? Even if the tutor sucks, it will force you to spend the time on that class. If you have friends who are good to study with, set up times to study with them. Even get your parents to check in with you. Find ways to make yourself be in front of a desk at certain times every day. . . it will pay off, believe me. </p>

<p>3) Once you're out of this, figure out why it happened. Colleges don't like excuses, but they love to hear "what I learned from my mistakes junior year, and why that lesson enabled me to get a 3.8 senior year."</p>

<p>4) Actually get the 3.8 (or whatever) senior year. Of course, you knew that; I just want to encourage you that it may be possible to make up for past mistakes. Take the SATs more seriously than you would have, too.</p>

<p>5) Don't write off the Ivies: just how bad are your grades, anyway?</p>

<p>If you want more specific advice you might tell us more about your current levels of involvement; you didn't really say what classes you were taking, what your grades were like, and what your extracurriculars were, so it's hard to know what to do. But good luck, and yeah, don't panic!</p>

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<p>I go to Burnaby North...</p>

<p>and am waiting....</p>

<p>impatienting...</p>

<p>for those letters to come....</p>

<p>sigh. at least i leave highschool in only a few months. WOOT!</p>

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<p>the most important thing i learned this year is probably to prioritize. i remember in the fall, when i was trying to squeeze in my SATs and finish writing apps, I did absolutely no hwk. but thank goodness, hwk counts for like only 5% of my term for most classes. but because i was under so much stress and time pressure, i learned to organize what i wanted to do and how i would do it most efficiently. </p>

<p>if you're interested in international relations, try going on a study abroad program during summer or something. i know that they offer a program with the french parliament over the summer )this program is for Canadian kids). so that'll be interesting.</p>

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<p>Yeah Canadian kids ~
I am from Vancouver area as well~!</p>

<p>yeah...
I used to do soccer, basketball, tennis, baseball, football...
I remember getting cramps in my two legs simultaneously all the time....
I dropped some of the sports and pursued soccer and tennis only...
But I find that doing what I love to do actually relieves some of the stress that I burden myself with during studying... </p>

<p>Anyway, Good luck..</p>

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<p>i balance by really loving both. i get absorbed in both academics and ecs when i don't think about college... but by how much i love doing both... and the time and the work just seems to fly by. this probably won't help. probably spend less time on CC?</p>

11

<p>Do this.</p>

<p>Get 100lbs of coffee ( weeks supply) </p>

<p>Drink it whenever you get tried and do not sleep</p>

<hr>

<p>Actually, I recommend quitting ANY EC's you dislike. I joined UIL freshman year because I was good at math and science, but I hated it. Dropped it junior year, and I do not regret it because I can devote my time to art, cooking, music, and martial arts a lot more. </p>

<p>With classes, keep challenging yourself as much as you can REGARDLESS of you average. I'm suffering with a 3.5 GPA unweighted (ranked 13/458) this year because I have 9 classes, 6 IB, 2 AP. My grade is going down, but I don't care because I hate quitting, and because grades don't matter much to me. I just want to learn.</p>

<p>Here's my spin on it. People applying to MIT, princeton, etc all have amazing quantitative credentials, but why do those 1600's with 4.0's and great EC's get rejected? They are boring, and seem like they just want to impress. How do those with 1300-1400 SAT, 3.3-3.5 GPA, and good EC's get accepted then? They are unique, show interest, character, personality. Besides, EVERYONE has weaknesses. My MIT interviewer told me that being weak in an area was not all that bad because all normal people are. He said that personal character outweighs most factors, and that if you have a weakness to make it your strength by striving to excel in that area. </p>

<p>In short, what would impress you more. A student who took a tough courseload with a 3.9 GPA or a student who took the toughest courseload with a 3.3? I feel the second is a better student because he wants to learn.</p>

<p>Hell, I got my English teacher to write me a letter of rec and I have a C+ in that class (I'm damned proud too. I have one of the top 8 grades). She said how I was not very good, but in a matter of weeks she saw my incredible improvement and explained how it was because of my effort. By doing this I have shown that</p>

<p>-I am a very quick learner
-Do not quit even when I have a problem arise
-I have good character</p>

<p>Also, how many people send in recs from classes with a low average? There is a unique spin. (maybe bad though lol)</p>

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<p>lotf629, that was real helpful/encouraging advise you have there. THANK YOU SO MUCH!</p>

<p>Now, if you want to evaluate my stats, here they are:</p>

<p>I take 2 of the 3 only honours courses at my school: English Honours, and french honours.
Our school doesn't offer any AP, but I'm planning to take AP world history and european history on my own by self studying.
I'm from Canada, and here, an A standard is 86-100% (which is quite low comparing to that of the states)</p>

<p>Junior Year first term:
Math 11: 87%
English hon: 87%
French hon: 86%
Socials: 90%
Law 12: 89%
Mentorship(helping sophomore students with mental disabilities)- 90%
and The Worst 2:
Physics 11: 82%
Chem 11: 82%</p>

<p>These aren't great marks, and I'm pretty sure it's going have some effect on my academic credibility.</p>

<p>SATs:
SAT 1: April
World History: Jan 28 this month
Math 1: may</p>

<p>EC's:
youth league organizer- conservative party of canada
Junior Statesmen Killarney Chapter (JSA)- Chapter founder, coordinator
Conservative party 2004 election- youth volunteer
community policing centre- work experience
library monitor at school- for 4 years already
Student gov't candidate- (3 elections, all lost; but I'm never going to give up since people are finally starting to support me)
Junior State of America- Princeton summer program 2005: took AP US Foreign Policy and AP public speaking and debating</p>

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<p>so what are my chances?^^</p>

<p>and what are yours?</p>

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<p>what the hell are you talking about? Those are great grades! You probably go to a hard school. Seriously, quit stressing. You have nothing to worry about. Now before the 4.0 avg CC'ers jump on my case, I have experience that backs me up.</p>

<p>These are MY senior year stats:</p>

<p>English: B+
Statistics: A-
American History: B+
Writing by Design (seminar): A-
Advanced Biology: B</p>

<p>And these are my BEST grades. Last year, I had a C in math, and just a B in everything else.</p>

<p>1770/2400 SAT (pityful, I know)
470 French SATII ***is lol'ing
580 English Lit.
550 Math IIC</p>

<p>was ACCEPTED to U. Pittsburgh-main campus and Howard U with THESE stats. My point is, work on your gpa, of course, but don't kill yourself. Please. It's not necessary.</p>

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<p>I'm mean by saying: "Can my current grades ^^ pass the Harvard academic admissions standards?" and also for other elite and ivies</p>

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<p>Around 70-80% of those applying to colleges, such as Harvard, are qualified to do the undergraduate work. </p>

<p>I believe each case is looked at differently. They do assess you according to your school though - i.e. how have you made use of the resources around you? </p>

<p>Keep in mind that there are kids in the lower mainland applying who have 97% averages (in the Vancouver area, I believe), and there will be people applying with lower averages. Yes, academics are a major factor of admission into Harvard, but they're not everything.</p>

<p>Stop fretting over your "chances". </p>

<p>Dedicate your time to something else. Worrying conquers nothing. </p>

<p>I do know that a Harvard adcom member did say that "AP exams are one of the best ways to gain an idea of how a student will perform in college."</p>

<p>So challenge yourself. Don't worry about As or Bs. The guy from my school that got in didn't have straight As. The boy that DID apply with straight As however, did NOT get in. </p>

<p>Just chill.</p>

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<p>anyone else in a similar situation?</p>

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<p>"I'm mean by saying: "Can my current grades ^^ pass the Harvard academic admissions standards?" and also for other elite and ivies"</p>

<p>Yes... YES! ....Yes. That's pretty much what been saying this whole thread. You don't seem to get it. Go back and slowly read all the replies.</p>

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<p>Hi jimmy@killarney,</p>

<p>I'm really glad that what I said helped you out. :) </p>

<p>Very quick impression: your numbers aren't that bad. Your ECs are high on participation, low on leadership: you need to do less stuff but shine more. I'd be glad to give you another two cents if you like, but I have a couple questions for you first:</p>

<p>1) When your school reports your grades, does it send just the letter grade (in which case your transcript would show mostly A's, and who's to know that they weren't all 95%, right?) or does it send the percentage? Is it much easier to get an A in Canada, or is it just harder to get into the 90s? I'm not familiar with the system.</p>

<p>If they just send the letters, then you're fine: you have 5 As (3 of them low As) and 2 Bs by my count. If that's actually your worst semester, your transcript is on target for the Ivies. If they send the percentages, your grades are low but you're not sunk. . . as long as your freshman/soph grades were higher and your SATs are solid.</p>

<ol>
<li>What's involved in being "youth league organizer"? Is that an elected position? Did it involve recruitment? What are your responsibilities?</li>
</ol>

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<p>My school actually shows both the letter grade and the percentage on the transcript</p>

<p>and also, the conservative party youth league organizer is for our local campaign office. I basically greet young people who are coming in and take them out to election rallies or show them other jobs that need to be done.</p>

<p>My question is, how many "rows" of interest/ECs do you need to fill out to make a decent looking application for your ECs??
(I mean, you can't just fill two columns with 2 really really impressive ECs and leave all the others blank. That would show you as a person who lacks extracurricular interests about other things that are around)</p>

<p>Also, I did involve in various leadership positions, especially the Junior Statesmen one. I am the coordinator for all large scale events of our chapter and meetings, and I've spent upto 15 hours each week organizing events around the school for the junior statesmen.</p>

<p>As for the other political involvement activities, I can't really act like a "leader" since I am still a youth and my authority isn't that high in nation wide federal election. Yet I contribute to what I can and what is in the reaches of my power.</p>