I know. Junior Year of high school is arguably the most important year, and I just crumbled. There are no excuses for it, I simply crumbled. My 4.0 GPA is going to end somewhere around a 3.7-3.9, depending on my performance on my Final Exams. I am in line to receive C+'s for both semesters of AP Calculus, a B+/C+ for AP Physics C, B+s for both semesters in AP English Language and Composition, and B+'s for both semesters of AP Biology, and maybe even a B+ in regular US History. Many of these were on the cusp, 79s/89s, and I came up short, plain and simple. But I can’t change that. So what can I do now? I’m planning on bringing up some MS grades to pad the GPA a little bit. Are there any courses I could retake online for grade improvement? Summer school? I’ve taken the SAT once, and got a 2150 on it. I’ve taken around 10 AP’s thus far, and attend a pretty competitive high school. I plan on attending the University of Washington, but I believe I may have a slim shot at Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt, UC Berkley, USC. Or at least I thought I had a shot. What can be done? And what other steps should I take to improve my chances?
Looks like you overextended yourself with too many AP’s. MS grades will not be factored into your high school GPA for college admissions purposes. Hopefully you did well on the AP exams to offset the lower scores in the classes and indicate that the classes did not have easy grading. No need to retake any courses. Just put together the best college apps you can.
You need to spend your senior year moving forward, not trying to redo junior year. The summer before senior year is a critical time to finish your college list and to start those essays. Do not apply early decision this fall because the trend lines are not good. Apply regular decision and make sure your first semester senior year grades are better than what you ended with junior year.
I doubt you “simply crumbled” - did you fail to keep track of all your work or to plan enough study and homework time or to ask for help when you got confused or… Look carefully at your experience and learn something from it. All the MOOC sites like Coursera, EdX, FutureLearn, etc. offer “learn how to learn” and “college succes” type courses to help you learn study skills. See if you can find one you like.
UW general admission should still be possible with a 3.7. However, if you are trying to get direct admit to a super-competitive major, that may be difficult. There are kids with amazing resumes who still can’t get direct-admit to departments like bioengineering.
Understand what a safety is and make that your most important selection goal. Like every college kid, if the dice come up against you it may be your only choice so you want it to be something you deliberately chose and not just an after-thought because everyone is supposed to have a safety. Then focus on picking schools where you are a match. Only after that is all done should you spend any time worrying about selecting schools where you have a slim chance.
Most kids do it in the reverse order from the above. Whether to do so or not is up to you.
Don’t take as many AP 's next year. If you posted here last year you were likely told NOT to take both AP physics C and AP Bio, for instance, and once you’ve picked among those two, to pick 2-3 others in subjects in which (based on track record) you know you can get a B or higher.
What’s your schedule next year?
Can you take a class for summer session B at your local community college - perhaps calculus 2 to mitigate the effects of that C+?
Don’t apply Ed.
Spend time looking for two safeties you like and can afford - what do you like about udub? Adults here may be able to suggest less selective universities for your matches and safeties that nevertheless cover some of the characteristics you like.
UCB will not consider your Senior year grades in their GPA calculation, so what is your UC GPA? This along with your test scores will determine if your are a competitive applicant. Also UCB along with all the California UC’s do not give financial aid for OOS applicants, so expect to pay $55K/year.
The best thing you can do is to retune your college list. Vandy, JHU, Berkeley are all big reaches. Your scores and GPA are just not competitive enough unless you have a very very strong hook. Make sure you have some good safeties. Then focus on your essays and recommendations for your reaches knowing that your chances are less than 15%. If you get in great, if not move on.
Try retaking your SAT to get a score 2300+/2400 or 1500+/1600 to put yourself in the best spot for test scores. I would also recommend SAT Subject Tests (2 or 3 of them with scores of 750+). Make sure you go all out on your Common Application and relevant supplements. Also, as previous posters have mentioned, look into some safety schools and match schools where you would be happy.
the UCs are likely out because they only use soph and Jr. Year grades, so your GPA will be lower.
I’m not sure how much senior year grades will matter since when you apply, you won’t have those grades yet. Once your GC sends fall semester grades, they won’t have much impact as a semester vs a year.
UCs would also be very expensive. What are your parents saying about how much they’ll pay each year?
Red flag…
Last January you wrote:
So…a few months ago, you knew your grades were a problem…yet you really didn’t do anything to help the situation…