I'm very scared because my grades aren't doing too good right now

Applying to College
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Hi

I used to live in New York, though this school year entering high school, I moved to Dominican Republic because my dad has business down here. Anyways, I feel like this sort of transition has affected my grades a lot, and I was just wondering if I could get some thoughts, and maybe a bit of confidence haha. I’m scared these grades will create a future roadblock when I apply to ivy league schools once it’s time for me to start doing my applications. My grades are as follows:

Starting your own Business: 100
Digital Marketing: 100
Spanish 1: 97
English 9: 78 (MOST SCARED ABOUT, I feel like the teacher really doesn’t like me for some reason. I don’t know what it is about her, but no matter what I try, I can’t get my grade up in this class)
Brand Marketing: 100
Engineering 1: 87
PE 1: 96
Algebra 1: 97
Earth and Space Science: 84
AP Human Geography: 88
My current GPA: 4.1

Give me some thoughts below, I have no extra curriculars at the moment, though I am very knowledgeable in the crypto space and NFTs, which I think is something unique about myself, and is very different then most kids my age.

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From English 9 I am taking it that you are in Grade 9- correct? Given that you are taking an AP class, I am guessing that you are in an international school (taught through English) rather than a local school (taught through Spanish) yes?

Moving countries, is a genuine challenge, but moving to an international school should make it not much harder than any other long distance move from an academic perspective- and your range of marks suggests that (aside from English) you aren’t really struggling on that front. How do your marks this year compare to those from last year? (keep in mind that grade 9 is a jump up in difficulty from grade 8 for most students)

Obviously, you were probably expecting to be at a marked advantage in English, but what always matters is what the teacher is measuring. It is possible that your English teacher has taken against you personally, or that s/he has unreasonable expectations of you and is marking you against a different standard than the rest of the class- but those are not the most likely explanations. When you say “no matter what I try”- what exactly have you tried?

With no information, but the experience of moving kids to different countries and school systems, my guess is that the grading rubric is grammar heavy. IF that is correct, you may have to work harder in English than you expect, because most people learn most of the grammar of their native language(s) by ear, not by learning the names and uses of the various conjugations. Either way, though, the only way you get on top of this is by figuring out what the teacher is looking for. Your marked work should be giving you a lot of clues! but ime talking directly to the teacher, in a ‘can you please help me understand what I need to do’ way is usually the most effective way. Work with the teacher as an ally, whose critiques are intended to help you learn. IF it turns out that s/he has taken against you in an inexplicable / undeserved / unreasonable / personal way, THEN bring your parents into the mix. Before that happens, though you have genuinely made a focused, diligent effort to understand and meet the teacher’s expectations.

In the meantime, get “Ivy League” schools out of your head. Read this:

Finally, unless you are somewhere like China or Hawaii on Spring Break, why are you posting at 2-3am on a school night?!

eta, your GPA is actually more like a 3.3 - take the average of your 5 ‘core’ classes (English / Social Science / Math / Science / FL) to get an 88.8, which converts to a 3.3.

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For future reference, please give people time to respond before you bump. To expect a response after 4 minutes is unrealistic, particularly when the initial post is made at 2:31 a.m. EDT

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You need a MUCH broader list than just Ivy League Schools….and not because of your current grades. These are very competitive schools for admissions even for students with perfect grades.

So…while you are pondering college…please start thinking of lots of colleges…and varied ones. No one is guaranteed admission to the Ivies. You need a broad list of colleges.

I would suggest you first look for colleges where you likely have a strong chance of acceptance, and which are affordable, and which you like. Then build your list up from there.

And I will add…in terms of your English grade, please look carefully at what the assignments are, and any comments your teacher is making about your work. The vast majority of teachers grade based on a rubric, not based on whether they like you…or not.

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Out of what? 4, 5, 6?

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You are in 9th grade. Some colleges don’t look at grades from 9th grade.

If I were your parent, I would encourage you to work with your English teacher so you understand what is expected and keep doing your best in your other classes.

When it comes down to it, your larger goals are probably more along the lines of have a fulfilling career that allows you to support yourself. College is a means to that goal and many colleges can get you there.

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You are in 9th grade, stop worrying about Ivy league schools and focus on your grades and taking the right classes. Whether you are a straight A student or a B/C student there is a good school out there for you that will help you achieve your career aspirations.

A little bit of hard advise that I give to my kids… In life you are going to have to work with people that you don’t get along with. Part of growing up and maturing is learning how to develop the emotional intelligence to turn those into effective productive relationships.

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If you’re a freshman you should take a deep breath and get off of College Confidential for a while. Adding anxiety to your current stressors is not going to be a good thing. We are here to help but sometimes “help” is not the help you need at the time. And what you need now is to focus on the school topics and interests in your life, not the (fairly meaningless) packaging of that life into the format of college applications.

We all understand that having goals can be a motivator, and it’s fine to use a future aspiration as a reason to strive for excellence (though not the only reason…) What strikes me as skewed in your current perspective on grades is that the 78 “scares” you but you don’t comment on the earth/space science grade. English is almost always a more subjectively scored subject than science. In addition to working closely with the English teacher, you should recalibrate your study habits to raise the science grade (or recalibrate your personal goals to match the level of achievement you’re willing to tolerate for yourself across all classes). Don’t beat yourself up over low freshman grades: use them as a tool towards better scholarly habits (if that’s important to you). Some top colleges don’t even look at 9th grade scores (UCs) and all of them consider upward trend as a positive factor.

If you do find yourself daydreaming about college apps (as a way to build that fire underneath you), then brainstorm ways to turn your crypto and NFT interests into something tangible and rewarding (not for college apps but for yourself and your community). That’s “applying sideways”.

Finally, don’t bump. Good luck!

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Just to give you a frame of reference to how small the Ivy League schools are, less than 0.5% of high school graduates attend one.