I think my grades sucked the first semester of freshman year...

Hey,
My grades for the first semester just came out and I’ve been really upset because they really aren’t that good. I am a high achieving student and I’ve wanted to go to Dartmouth since I knew what college was. My grades are: B+, B+, B+, B+, A+. Did I ruin my chances? I know that there are a lot of more important things (SATs, ECs) but I’m wondering if I ruined my chances academically? If I get my grades up in the second semester, do you think it will be able to help my GPA overall at all? I’m super worried and don’t want to have my chances at my dream school ruined because of the first semester of my first year of high school.
Any replies/help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

I really wouldn’t worry about it. You have a loooooong way to go, and as long as you strive for mainly A’s, no school is going to reject you for your grades first semester freshman year. I have a friend who only started doing “well” in school her junior year, and got accepted ED to Emory.

Don’t focus on a dream school yet. Just try the hardest you can in high school and then decide on the school list later on.

Don’t worry about it. I had a few B’s freshman year and ended valedictorian. That being said, because you have time, spend high school having fun. It’s justifiable to get involved with a couple things for a resume boost, but if you’re going to do that, rock it. A lot of things I did/do now in college were resume boosters until I started to put a lot of effort into it and now I love them. Second, get involved with things that you enjoy anyways.