Major downward trend... is there no hope for me? Please help--so desperate!

Applying to College
1

<p>I feel like I am VERY screwed...</p>

<p>Freshman Year:
English Honor: A
French Advanced: A
Freshman History Honor: A
Geometry Honor: A
Physics Honor: A
Health/PE: A
Drama: A-
Business: A
Orchestra: A</p>

<p>At the end of freshman year, I applied and got into an alternative program in my high school that only has semester-long English classes specializing in diverse topics.</p>

<p>Sophomore Year:
1st Semester English Honor: A
2nd Semester English Honor: B
French Advanced: A
Sophomore History Honor: A
Algebra/Trig Honor: B
Chemistry Honor: B+
PE: A
Intro to Journalism: A
Orchestra: A</p>

<p>Junior Year:
1st Semester English Honor: B+
2nd Semester English Honor: A-
French Advanced: B+
Junior History Honor: B
Pre-calculus Honor: B- (This absolutely kills me. I was expecting at least a B... apparently I didn't do too hot on my final.)
Biology Honor: A-
PE: A
Journalism Honor: A
Orchestra: A</p>

<p>Senior year doesn't look too good right now either... my schedule is currently:
2 semesters of English Honor
AP French
Education Honor (social studies course)
Statistics (unleveled)
Journalism Honor
Orchestra</p>

<p>I'm dropping science and right now there's no PE that works with my schedule (which doesn't really matter for colleges anyway) but my guidance counselor is working on that. I'm trying to change Statistics to AP Statistics (it's full right now). I really want it, and I did really well on the counting/probability stuff we did this year in math so I know I'll be able to get a good grade (or at least, I know I'll be really motivated).
But whatever the case may be with my senior year grades, you can see the major downward trend in sophomore and junior years... I was struggling with a lot of things and although I recognize my own faults and responsibilities, I might also throw in that I was incredibly unlucky and had to deal with the most horrible teachers I have ever had on top of everything else (sophomore English teacher picked favorites and was incredibly conceited, chemistry teacher didn't teach and expected us to know AP Chemistry, junior English teacher basically insulted me to my face).
So, if I'm calculating correctly, my UW GPA (of only academic classes/electives) would be: ~3.6? I heard colleges recalculate your GPA with senior year grades--is that true? Please tell me it's true!!</p>

<p>Here's some of the other information:
SAT I: 1880 (Will definitely retake. I know what to work on and I'm taking an online course this summer.)
SAT II: Haven't taken yet, but will be taking Literature and French, and possibly a couple others as well.
AP: AP Lang (junior, self-study, waiting for score), AP Lit (junior, self-study, waiting for score), AP French (senior), hopefully AP Stats (senior)
EC: School newspaper (3 years by graduation, was a copy editor and will be a managing editor next year), school literary magazine (3 years by graduation, editor-in-chief junior and senior years), school orchestra (4 years by graduation, leadership position junior and senior years), application-requiring writing programs
Awards: writing awards, French award</p>

<p>I feel screwed... really screwed. I regret so much. I wish I could do it all over.
If I get straight As senior year, how bad will my downward trend and GPA look? Could this summer boost my application at all? I'm volunteering at a museum (only requires 48 hours, but I could definitely do more) and I'm going to start a blog... I have a really good idea/topic and am hoping it will garner reasonable attention in my community.
My passions are writing and languages. Aside from French and (obviously) English, I speak two Asian languages (one is my native language and I've been teaching myself the other for a couple of years). I'm planning on majoring in linguistics and becoming a copy editor. I'm also interested in comparative literature and creative writing, but they're "majors without futures," so....
I'll definitely make note of the cause of the downward trend in my application, having my guidance counselor talk a bit about it in his letter and/or using the Additional Information section.... I could also write an essay on it, but I've read on these forums that that can be a bad idea.... But I'm trying to figure out if I consider myself to have overcome it in some way (not necessarily like, "Oh, I'm TOTALLY over that now!" but if I've learned anything valuable from going through that experience, etc.), and if I think of a way to write about overcoming it, I might consider that.
Wow, this is really long. Thank you to anyone who read until this point. I really, really appreciate it!
One more thing before I wrap up. This is the list of colleges I was considering BEFORE seeing my new GPA:</p>

<p>(Please don't laugh!!! I know like 99% of them are mega reaches....)</p>

<p>Boston College
Boston University
Brown University
UCLA
Carnegie Mellon University
University of Chicago
UConn
Cornell University
Duke University
Emory University
Harvard University
UMass Amherst
University of Pennsylvania
Syracuse University
University of Vermont
University of Washington Seattle
Yale University</p>

<p>... Okay, I lied. Feel free to laugh. :(
I would really appreciate any input on whether it's even worth applying to Ivies and other top schools now.... Should I just give up on getting into a selective college? I feel like such a failure.
Thank you so much again to everyone who read until now!!! I really appreciate it. I just feel so lost and desperate and I just needed to get some outside opinions and I ended up writing this whole giant post.... Anyway, thanks again!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you so much!!</p>

2

<p>I’d scratch the Ivies, Chicago, Carnegie-Mellon, and Duke from the list. You aren’t competitive. Your grades are fine, your test scores are respectable, but they simply aren’t going to get you into that top tier of colleges. UCLA is probably too great a reach, also. The UCs use their own method of weighting Sophomore and Junior grades, and Berkeley and UCLA seldom accept students whose UC-weighted GPAs are under 4.0. You might have a shot at UC Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, or Davis. Emory might be a realistic reach college for you. The others on your list are all matches or high-matches. </p>

3

<p>You are not a failure if you don’t get into some hyper competitive school. Outside your academics, you seem to be also a very fascinating and interesting person. Don’t let that get you down. Look into realistic schools that are also good fits outside of prestige, which honestly matters very little after graduation. You are not defined by the school you go to but what you do at that school that you attend.</p>

4

<p>Oxford@Emory would be possible.</p>

5

<p>Ditto – I wouldn’t even spend a minute (or the HOURS) that it would take you to fill out the applications for Duke, Brown, Harvard, Yale, Cornell, or University of Chicago. Unfortunately, your grades, course rigor and test scores simply are not there for those schools. But there are lots and lots of amazing schools out there. If you can get your SAT up to a 2,000 then BC and Emory might be a high match. You can still apply to UCLA since it is the same app as the other UCs. I think you need to find some schools that accept 30% or more students and for whom your SAT score (whatever it ends up) is at the 75th percentile mark. I can’t tell from your list what type of college you want – you have a huge range. Urban, rural. Large, small. Engineering/science vs liberal arts. Spend some time narrowing down what it is you want, and then go from there. What about Wake Forest or SMU or Lehigh? Your future is not ruined simply because you are not qualified to attend an Ivy. Keep in mind that if you weren’t able to handle the workload of these hard classes in high school, compared to your peers, why would you want to put yourself in an even tougher position by attending an Ivy? Attend a college that is the right fit for you, where you can succeed without failing and wasting your parents’ money (I am half-joking on that latter part). I promise you that there will be a school that is right for you.</p>

6

<p>If you can afford to apply, you should. The only way to guarantee that you won’t be accepted at any of these schools is to not apply to them.</p>

7

<p>Try to use the Supermatch engine on the left of this page.</p>

8

<p>"If you can afford to apply, you should. The only way to guarantee that you won’t be accepted at any of these schools is to not apply to them. "</p>

<p>You’re telling this student to flush his/her parents’ money down the drain. On the list are definitely impossibles. OP should focus energies on realistic schools, and kill those apps. </p>

9

<p>I appreciate all your candid feedback.
However, I want to emphasize that I didn’t just slack off or couldn’t handle the workload of five/six academic classes (I mentioned this briefly in my opening post but I feel like it might not have been sufficient). I have been struggling with a lot (family stuff, social stuff, academic pressure) since the middle of sophomore year. It was so bad that I was suicidal at one point. Obviously, I got help and am doing better now, perhaps at the expense of my grades. Academic pressure was definitely a part of all that stress, but my worsening grades don’t just mean that I couldn’t handle the rigorous course load, you know what I mean? First quarter of sophomore year actually went rather well: As and one A-.
I’m really thankful of all of you who took the time to read my long post and respond, but if people could be a bit more considerate and sensitive in at least their wordings, I’d really appreciate it. I hope that’s not too much to ask. Again, thank you to everyone who responded. But–and this goes for everyone, not just me–you never really know what someone might be going through, you know?
Anyway, I’ve been working on my tentative college list:</p>

<p>Boston College
Boston University
Brown University*
Carnegie Mellon University*
UConn
Cornell University*
Duke University*
Emory University
Harvard University*
UMass Amherst
University of Pennsylvania*
University of Rochester
University of Southern California
Syracuse University
University of Vermont
University of Washington Seattle
Yale University*</p>

<p>I’m keeping Brown because I love their Open Curriculum and I’ll be able to stress my agreement with their educational philosophy in my application. I believe that I will be able to handle a challenging workload in the fields that I love. I’m confident that I can write good essays, etc. It’s definitely not to say that I expect I’ll get in or anything, but I’m still willing to try.
I’m thinking of keeping Cornell because they seem to love our school. I know it’s still a reach, though.
I’m tempted to keep Carnegie Mellon because on my school’s Naviance, it says that the average GPA of students accepted from our school was only 0.01 higher than my previous GPA (I don’t think it computed the final junior year grades yet… unless I calculated it wrong)… But then again, that was for my previous GPA and I’ll probably have to consider taking it off my list more seriously at some point in the future.
I’m going to see how much I can get my SAT score up and how this summer goes with the whole blogging thing and volunteering at the museum (it’s a rather prestigious one) before deciding for sure what to do with Harvard, Yale, University of Pennsylvania and Duke. If I’m somehow able to get large-scale attention for the blog or something like that, I could consider keeping a couple of them in… I really don’t know at this point though.</p>

<p>I’m also open to considering Brandeis University, UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara. Are those UCs too much of a reach?</p>

<p>Just wondering, will my goal/dream of becoming a copy editor give me an interesting edge at all? What about if my blog ends up getting a lot of attention? Like maybe even state-wide or national (haha)? I know the chances of that actually happening are quite low, but I’m just wondering…</p>

<p>Thanks again for the help, everyone. I appreciate it :)</p>

10

<p>What is your home state? You have public Us from multiple states. You’ll be full pay at OOS schools. Can your family afford the ~$50K/year for that?</p>

11

<p>Some colleges allow students to present additional materials for consideration. That usually is not the case with large public universities, outside of specialized arts divisions. You could mention the blog in an essay, or ask a counselor to allude to it in a letter of recommendation. If you plan to interview face-to-face with any admissions representatives, you could provide a link to the blog. Also, the traditional copy editing field is dying along with print publications in general. My husband used to be one. It was legendarily the most underpaid, overeducated field in the universe. Almost every editor had a sterling academic pedigree. The typical copy editor, “back in the day,” was an English major from an Ivy League or elite liberal arts college. I am surprised, therefore, that you are looking at some of the schools on your list. Why not consider some quirkier liberal arts colleges (especially if money isn’t a major consideration)? Look at “Colleges That Change Lives.” I think they’d be a much better fit for you, and your application would get more “holistic” attention.</p>

12

<p>It’s not just your GPA, but your SAT score is not in the ballpark for many of these schools. You need to have a realistic expectation of where you can gain admission before applying to many on your list. Don’t waste your time and money.</p>

13

<p>What are your parents willing to pay for college? That is an issue you also need to address. You should also see if you are eligible for financial aid, by filling out an EFC estimator and running numbers through NPCs of some of the schools. </p>

<p>Assuming for now that cost is not an issue at all, look for a few schools that will be certain to take you and that fulfill you wants and needs in a college as closely as possible. That is the true challange of college search. Anyone can cherry pick and list a bunch of name brands. Finding less known schools, less selective schools that offer good fare is the challlenge. Those should be the most researched schools on your list. Once you have them go on ahead and apply to the lottery tickets, but make sure you give those schools you know will take you due attention. </p>

14

<p>“Is there no hope for me? So desperate.” That title concerns me with any teenager. Listen, if that’s how you feel, then your reasons to hope are misplaced. Be hopeful that you can get a good education. Do not be sucked into tying that goal into a single school or class of schools.</p>

<p>Like many kids, you might want to lower your number of highly selective schools, but I would keep 1-2 highly selective favorites. Your schools don’t have a common theme that I can see, nor do I see how your finances play into your choices. Off the top of my head, what about considering these selective (but not highly selective) schools: Emory, Occidental, St. Olaf, University of Puget Sound.</p>

15

<p>Great advice from previous posts. Please throw away the US News rankings. It kind of seems like that’s where you got your list, instead of researching the actual schools and their attributes. You sound like you have some unique EC’s and passions.Find a place where that will be welcomed, not a place where it will be an academic pressure cooker. It seems like someone or something has put incorrect assumptions into your head. Like that you will not be successful or worthy if you aren’t at an Ivy. Please save your parents the money of applying to these hyper competitive schools.
Give yourself 5 or 6 true matches. That’s where you will find success and happiness. Research schools that have your intended major, and then check that they have a mid SAT range of maybe 1750-1950. Apply to a couple dream schools, of course. Find some LAC’s that would embrace your creativity and you will flourish and have a bright future. Plus you have a pretty good sense of humor.
UCSD is a science math school. Often called socially dead. Santa Barbara is 24/7 social life.</p>

16

<p>Why that list of schools? What does U of Washington have in common with Emory that meets your needs?</p>

<p>You admit that you have academic stress. Do you think it will improve at Yale or Brown if you are admitted? You’d be in the bottom of the accepted class with those stats. I think you can find happiness in a less stressful environment - especially if you think you are doomed with a B- in one class. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself. Pick a school you will enjoy and where you can study the things that interest you.</p>

17

<p>Thanks for the feedback, everyone.</p>

<p>Sorry I haven’t been the most active on CC and especially my own thread… summer went by in a breeze and school got so busy so soon…</p>

<p>Anyway, we just got first quarter grades:</p>

<p>Senior year:
1st Semester English Honor: A-
AP French: A
Education Honor: B+
Statistics: A
Journalism Honor: A
Orchestra: A</p>

<p>So, an improvement from last year, but as you can see, it’s not the most rigorous schedule.</p>

<p>Other stats:
SAT I: 2060
SAT II: Taking Literature and French in December.
AP: AP Lang (4, self-study), AP Lit (4, self-study), AP French (this year)
EC: School newspaper (3rd year, managing editor), school literary magazine (3rd year, editor-in-chief since junior year), school orchestra (4th year, leadership position since junior year), application-requiring writing programs
Awards: writing awards, French award
National Honor Society</p>

<p>So… how am I doing? This isn’t THE finalized college list but I suppose it’s getting there, or should be soon:
Boston College
Boston University
Brown University
UConn
Cornell University
Emory University
Harvard University
UMass Amherst
Middlebury College
Syracuse University
University of Vermont
Yale University</p>

<p>Thank you, and happy Thanksgiving to those of you who celebrate!!!</p>

18

<p>Look, you seem like a really nice guy/girl. You’ve got persistence aplenty, I’ll give you that. I took a read of the past responses in this thread, and I recognize that some of the more blunt answers might have been off-putting; I’m certain they didn’t mean for you to be hurt or insulted. And I apologize in advance if anything I say has that effect. If it feels like it’s getting to be a bit much, please take a breather from CC for a few minutes. I promise, promise, promise you, I only want the best for you.</p>

<p>On the whole, It sounds like you have a lot going on, and I want us to keep that in mind. You’re working hard and doing your best to get to where you want to go, and that’s admirable. That said, if I may echo the sentiments of previous posters, are you sure you know where? I’m looking in your list, and I don’t see much of a common thread between schools (I’m looking for journalism, but let me know if I’m wrong). There’s also a big disparity in terms of the rigor you’ll encounter. I’m really glad you took the advice of previous posts in narrowing down your list (and definitely feel free to dream big!), but I want you to be aware of the different social and intellectual atmospheres of these schools. </p>

<p>Regarding your academics, I offer my congratulations on your improved quarter grades and SAT scores. If I am to be honest, they will not have a dramatic effect on your application, but you are stronger for it. Honestly, your list is still a bit top-heavy, but at the end of the day, you’ll have to decide whether it’s worth a try. Just be prepared for the outcomes. That said, you should know that you’re well on your way to a bright future; just keep in mind that there are many trajectories you can take. Happy Thanksgiving!</p>

19

<p>Thanks, JustAnotherTry :)</p>

<p>I’ve FINALLY decided on a final college list:
Babson College (parents pressured me into it as an “alternative”… will probably choose the Literary and Visual Arts concentration)
Boston College
Boston University
Brown University
UConn
Emory University
Harvard University
UMass Amherst
Middlebury College
Syracuse University
University of Vermont
Yale University</p>

<p>By the way, I’m looking for linguistics, but I’m well aware that some of these schools don’t offer it as a major (and there are other things I like about those schools–for example, Middlebury has a fantastic language program).</p>

<p>So hopefully I’ll get into at least one of these schools…</p>

<p>Also, I got my December SAT II scores:
Literature: 660
French: 730</p>

<p>Should I retake them in January (especially literature)? Many of the schools I’m applying to want a complete set of scores by their deadlines but many of them also accept additional January scores… Is it worth it to retake at least literature?</p>

<p>Merry Christmas Eve to those of you who celebrate! :smiley: </p>

20

<p>Bump :)</p>