<p>I feel so guilty. School has always been unchallenging to me; I got straight A's in elementary, leading to pre-honors in 7th grade, and so forth. I am in 10th grade now. I could and should be taking all honors and AP classes. I could have had the most difficult courses and have had straight A's, to be honest.</p>
<p>I had the opportunity, and I destroyed it. I had 2 honors classes last year and bad grades. This year I'm only taking one. I can't get over the feeling that I wrecked everything and am angry with myself.</p>
<p>Last year I was severely depressed and so, while I scored A's on my tests easily, I never got any work done and my grades weren't great. That's why I only took one honors this year.</p>
<p>I can't change it now, but I don't know what to do. I doubt I'll be able to move up much or take many AP classes next year at this point. Is it even worth trying now, when colleges will see how badly I did and when so many people my age have done much better than I?</p>
<p>My advice would be to forget about the past. Forget about what you did or didn’t do and look to the future. If you’re only a Sophomore I still believe you have a chance to better yourself. As for not having enough Honors/AP classes that may be a problem. When I was a sophmore I took 3 APs. I suggest looking into online courses (like FLVS). You would be able to take at most 2 APs or honor classes there (although they would cost money for non-FL residents). Focus on maintaining a high GPA and study for the PSAT/SAT. And also focus on your ECs (they could be what saves you).</p>
<p>Chill. You might not be HYPSM material, but if you show an upward trend, then colleges will generally see that in a positive light (especially if you explain that you were pretty depressed freshman year). Take as many APs as you can that will challenge you but not kill the rest of your life, get involved in some ECs that you like, study a decent amount for SATs if you need to, and you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>You could even self-study APs if you’re really feeling insecure about not having enough. :/</p>
<p>I’m going to sound repetitive but oh well! </p>
<p>You need to put your college blinders on and only stare forwards. The past might trail behind you but the past is over. So what if you made a mistake! There are plenty of people that made more than you did! What you need to do now is put your game face on and do the best with what you have. Everything can be salvaged with the right know how. </p>
<p>I’m a home schooled junior. For my freshman and sophomore years I went to a private Christian school that was academically advanced. I was a year ahead (academically) of the public schools and 90% of my classes were as hard as AP classes. I WORKED my hind quarters off until I had NO LIFE whatsoever! Sadly, I suffer from anxiety and depression so those two years of HS (Plus another 3 years of JH) were living hell. I had a couple meltdowns and a lot of depression those years. Having parents that don’t except anything lower than A’s didn’t help either. In those years, I came close to pulling C’s and B’s but with a little luck I skimped out of there with A’s. </p>
<p>The point? I came extremely close to bad grades, I risked everything, and played chance with my GPA. Now that I look back, I know how lucky and unlucky I was. I’m still piecing my own self together because the two years.</p>
<p>Just like you I took a chance. Sadly, we both lost something. You lost some high grades and I lost my sanity! Lucky for us, there’s always tomorrow!</p>
<p>I hope you have a Merry Christmas and a happy school year!</p>
<p>@HHSFTW, like I’ve told other ■■■■■■ before, you=fail.</p>
<p>@xxyuuta, my piece of advice is to determine how much you are willing to do to make up for it. In fact, I just had a friend who was in a similar situation. I basically reccomended that she should perhaps take summer school to get back on track to taking the hardest courseload possible. You may also want to see a counselor to try to see if theres anyway to get you back in honors classes or to skip ahead in classes you already are taking.</p>
<p>Buck up. Get straight A’s next semester. Move into the highest level courses that you can next year. Some schools don’t have requirements for APs (mine doesn’t) but if yours does, just move into the next highest level. Make straight A’s. Then take the highest level you can as a senior.</p>
<p>Colleges like to see an upward trend. You haven’t screwed yourself over at all. You just have to work hard.</p>
<p>…Well maybe at like Harvard. But that isn’t the only college out there and if you want to go to a school like that… just do well in college and go to grad school!</p>
<p>Don’t give up now! If you inform colleges of your freshman year situation, they will understand why your grades weren’t great and how it affected your upperclass courseload and overall GPA. As long as you demonstrate an upward trend and prove that you will continue working hard in college, you have as good a chance as anyone else at a HYPSM school.</p>
<p>This about sums it up. Though I’d add that you’re over-stressing; you’re only a sophomore, so you should be fine. Work towards improving next year, and you’ll be fine.</p>