<p>I am currently in 9th grade, and I am attending a prestigious private Catholic school. However, it is EXTREMELY difficult, especially in comparison to my old public middle school, which is considered rigorous compared to the average middle school. I used to have mostly A+s. Currently, my GPA is a 94 weighted :(. The only honors classes I am taking are Algebra 2-Trig/H, World History/H and Spanish 2/H. English standard was a huge blow for me, as English has always been my best subject. I scored terribly on the English Honors exam in 8th grade because I never learned complex grammar, as my teachers heavily focused on writing. All of my English teachers want me to become a writer. This year, English is my worst subject. My honors classes are MUCH easier because of the 5% weight. I have a 90 in English, my lowest grade, but mostly because of all of the utter BULLSHIT that I am subject to. Firstly, I have the hardest English teacher. She grades papers with absolutely no leniency, in spite of the paper's length, quality, and vocabulary. Rather, she focuses on superficial rules of how much it mimics HER writing style. I didn't start off with a quote? -5. I always ace her tests and quizzes, but lose points because of more bullshit. For example, I had a 101 in her class in the second marking period. However, we had a HW essay that I left in my printer. I emailed it to her when I got home. NOPE! 0/30. My grade went from a 101 to a 92 in the last week! WHAT A BITCH! I have a B+ for her this marking period! I have been having suicidal thoughts because of English.
Anyway, sorry to rant. My whole life, I have dreamed of going to Princeton. I live 30 minutes away from there, so attending it would also be very convenient. I feel as if getting all 100s at my middle school is easier than getting all 95s at my high school. I used to play CoD competitively every afternoon, guaranteed, because I would finish homework in an instant. Now, I don't have a life. The reason I am only concerned for this year is because I will be taking mostly honors and AP classes (except for English T_T). I will be taking AP Calculus, AP World History, Chem/H, Religion 2/H, Comp Sci/H, and Spanish 3/H. Sorry if I sound cocky, but I truly believe that weighted classes are MUCH easier than standard. Maybe AP is a different beast, but honors classes are currently a joke. Do I have any chance?</p>
<p>I’m sorry you’re going through this and I know it has to be frustrating, but there’s other people (parents, counselors, teachers, any adult in your life) you should turn to if you seriously consider hurting yourself over something like this. I’m a stranger on the Internet and I’m not in any position to help you with that aspect of it, but you’re clearly intelligent enough to reason through the rest of it and I’m going to try to help you do that. </p>
<p>No matter what you do, you’re probably not going to get into Princeton. That’s the case for everybody and you’re placing way too much weight on Princeton. Even if somebody was going to get rejected, having a 94 instead of a 92 on their transcript would not be the difference between an acceptance and a rejection. You’re going to be a lot happier, both now and three years later when you’re receiving notifications from college, if you temper your expectations. Go ahead and apply to Princeton when it’s time, but recognize that it’s a longshot for everyone and that you can be happy and successful somewhere with less selective admissions. College admissions at top schools is a crapshoot at best. You have several years before you’re even going to begin applying to colleges, so work on enjoying it. Is it really worth trading your present happiness for a very slightly higher chance of going to one particular college? Yes, Princeton is great, but it’s not your only shot at a good life. The sooner you recognize that the better off you’re going to be. You should change your attitude about college and school in general because the way you’re approaching it now is only going to make you miserable. </p>
<p>A 92 isn’t even a bad grade. </p>
<p>You’re placing wayyyy too much value on Princeton. It’s a school. Okay, great if it’s your dream. But it’s only 4 years of your life, and I’m willing to bet that there’s probably other schools out there that you like also. </p>
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Yeah, high school is more work than middle school, it’s no secret. After adding clubs, sports, etc. to your workload, high school is definitely tougher than middle school. </p>
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Are you being serious or exaggerating? If you’re being serious, you have a lot to learn, my friend, if you’re contemplating suicide over a 92. </p>
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<p>Well…the assignment wasn’t turned in on time. It’s up to the teacher whether to give any points at all for late work.</p>
<p>Get help if you’re seriously having suicidal thoughts.</p>
<p>It’s just… I’m not used to this. I expected high school to be harder than middle school… but not like this. I barely get any sleep anymore, and I feel as if I no longer have a life. And no, I would never commit suicide because of school, but consideration of the act frequently arises. Many kids from my middle school that now attend my high school had straight 99s/98s, but now have like a 91 GPA. My school is simply ridiculous! Meanwhile, my friends that went to public schools continue to get 99s, but play CoD every day consistently for hours! I am usually a hilarious guy that doesn’t take anything seriously, but I have been severely depressed recently :(</p>
<p>If playing Call of Duty would make you happy, why don’t you try doing that sometime? You have a 91 average at a competitive private school. That’s not even bad. You need to focus on something, anything, other than school and grades and college admissions. Yes, high school is harder than middle school. Unless you focus on the things you actually like and make time for yourself, it’s not going to get any easier.</p>
<p>Don’t stress over going to college, if Ivy Leagues won’t accept a smart person like you, then to hell with them. Going to these schools is very prestigious, but it doesn’t guarantee success. Going to an Ivy League won’t make you smarter than you would be if you went to a good college such as a UC or Rice. You will still learn the same subjects with nearly the same rigor. Do amazing at any college and you’ll get into the graduate school of your dreams, where the true rigor and money of a college goes into. They won’t give a crap about how many AP’s or GPA in high school. They know that you are smart and deserve to be in a good program. Never contemplate hurting yourself over school, you are much more valuable than that.</p>
<p>Unfortunately I haven’t been able to find this anywhere on Princeton’s website, but I’ve heard a million times on here (for example, in [this</a> thread](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/645972-does-princeton-count-freshman-year-grades.html]this”>Does princeton count freshman year grades? - Princeton University - College Confidential Forums) and [this</a> thread](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/703859-princeton-freshman-grades.html]this”>Princeton Freshman Grades - Princeton University - College Confidential Forums)) that Princeton doesn’t use freshman-year grades when they’re calculating your GPA. You can learn more about Princeton’s admission process [url=<a href=“https://www.princeton.edu/admission/applyingforadmission/faq/reviewing_the_application/#comp000046cc511c0000000dab18e5]here[/url”>https://www.princeton.edu/admission/applyingforadmission/faq/reviewing_the_application/#comp000046cc511c0000000dab18e5]here[/url</a>]. They do consider your class rank, and freshman-year grades have an effect on that. </p>
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Top colleges look at your transcript with your individual grades, not any numerical GPA (because all high schools weight grades differently). Some colleges recalculate an unweighted GPA so they can compare everyone on the same scale.</p>
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What does that mean? Knowing grammar is very important for good writing (but native speakers learn a lot of their English grammar outside of school, and if you’re a native speaker you’ve probably developed some intuition about what “sounds right” even if you never learned it formally). </p>
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Are her rules really as superficial as you think they are? I mean, I can see taking off points for not having quotes from credible sources. I also don’t think length and vocabulary have much to do with anything, except that your paper should be long enough to cover the topic adequately and the words you use shouldn’t be bigger than necessary.
The kind of writing that gets praised in middle school is usually pretentious and lacking in substance. Most middle-school kids can barely write a coherent sentence at all, so teachers tend to reward kids who use big words and write way more than necessary. But you’re in high school now, and your teachers are criticizing you and expecting more from you so that your writing will continue to improve.</p>
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Probably not any more or less of a chance than you would have had if your English grade was slightly better. It’s Princeton, so pretty much everyone gets rejected. Agonizing over stupid little things isn’t really going to increase your chances of acceptance, so there’s no point in doing it. </p>
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This isn’t a good mindset to have either. Colleges don’t reject people because they think they’re dumb; they reject people because the other candidates were marginally better at the time of application. If a college rejects you and you go on to be successful in life, that doesn’t mean they made a mistake in rejecting you. A rejection letter is not a haha-we-think-you’re-screwed letter. The fact that you applied at all indicates you’ll probably be fine in life, and they know that. </p>
<p>You say your school is a competitive school so a 92 average might be relatively high. Colleges evaluate students based on the school they attend and can recognize when there is grade inflation (and when there is not) by the information your councilor sends to every school you apply to. My son goes to a very competitive school and anyone getting a 10.5 out of 12 (12=A+,11=A…) has a good shot at an Ivy and above a 10 should equate to a top tier school. I know this because his school has Naviance which shows you graphs of school acceptances from your school from the past five years. That being said, just because you achieve a certain gpa and sat score does not guarantee acceptance at any college, it is just the minimum threshold for them to look at your EC’s. I would recommend you focus on what you love and find interesting things to do during the summers. Good luck!</p>