<p>My freshmen year I had no advanced classes and I had AP human ego. My unweighted gpa was a 3.9, but my weighted is a 4.0. My school only goes by your weighted grade, so I have a 4.0. This year I'm taking AP euro, advance Spanish, and pre AP English with bio, geometry, and electives. Geometry is hard for me so right now I have an 89. I'm going to try and have an A. Euro is the hardest AP in my school and I have a 89 in that too. And I'll be lucking to have a 96 and above in that class. Half the people in my class are already trying to drop out, that's how hard it is. My euro teacher even said it was the harder AP class he took and he took 10 AP classes in high school. In Spanish advance I have an 88.(it's actually hard this year, last year Spanish 1 was a joke) I'm afraid I'll end up with a gpa in the 3.6-3.8 range(hopefully 3.7-3.8) and I want to know how top schools will view this. Is it okay for your gpa to go down sophomore year. I hear colleges don't care about the first 2 years. But the thing is my junior and senior I want take ALL or MOSTLY AP and advance I want to save my B's for that year since that's gonna be my hardest years. When I graduate I hope to have a 3.85-3.9 gpa. </p>
<p>Most colleges will forgive lower grades Freshman year. However, since you are taking more advanced classes in your Sophomore year, your grades may take a hit (within reason like no C’s/D’s or F’s) but it should not hurt you too much since you have increased your rigor. Sophomore/Junior year are the really important years to most Adcoms and they will most likely not see all your Senior year grades until the end of the year. Some schools will require you to send in Mid-year Senior grades to make sure you are keeping on track. The best scenario would be to maintain very good grades all your years while you increase your rigor especially for the elite schools. All you can do is your best, if you find that your GPA is taking a huge hit due to the rigorous classes, you may want to take fewer next year.</p>
<p>My grades took a hit sophomore year. That was all around a bad year for me. I struggled with a lot of things personally and school just made it worse. I did bounce back extremely hard during my junior year though. Do your best this year, but make sure to do better next year when you adjust to the influx of honors classes. </p>
<p>The problem is that AP classes really do teach more than regular college prep classes which can be part of the reason you’re struggling a little now. Your freshman year wasn’t enough to prepare you for this year. If you intend to continue taking AP classes, I’d advise you to grind it out. You’re not struggling between passing and failing, it’s sounds like its a matter between getting a B or an A.</p>
<p>If you get all Bs in your AP classes you will be far better off in the college rat race than if you get all As in regulars college prep and honors classes. The odds of getting into the Ivy League are low but making the effort to get in will put you in position to get a free ride, get accepted at some very good schools and win some academic awards. So, yes a B in AP is better than an A in something lower. Just don’t lose your hair working on it.</p>
<p>My concern is your user name, as with Ivy League/similar caliber schools it isn’t okay for grades to drop at any point. Maybe now is a good time to expand your focus and explore other colleges rather than fixating on a Dartmouth dream.</p>
<p>We’ll Dartmouth is a nice school. It’s my dream school. Others schools I’m considering is the university of Richmond. That’s also one of my dream schools. And it’s the middle of the quarter. My grades are starting to go up to b pluses. I’m going work hard to have straight A’s.</p>
<p>@dartmouthgirl15 </p>
<p>PLEASE try visit Dartmouth & do an overnight/a whole weekend if you can during your senior year. DD visited during MLK weekend this past January & boy, was it an eye opener!! Any school at the top of your list needs to be looked at closely to ensure fit( academically & socially). </p>