Please stop worrying about this. There are many reasons why you might not get into Ivy schools and this is not one of them. And please don’t spend your irreplaceable high school years trying to mold yourself into the perfect applicant to please some stranger in an admissions office. That’s the last thing they want. Sit down and think about what you are SCARED of. Does the idea that you might not attend HYPSM scare you? Why? Do you believe that you cannot get a good job unless you attend one of those schools? Do you believe that you will never be happy if you don’t attend one of those schools? If you work hard in your classes and find and pursue your interests in life you will get into good colleges that are appropriate for you. Why is that scary? Maybe they will be HYPSM and maybe they won’t but guess what, they will be full of other students like you. How is that bad?
@mathyone Yeah, I’m stopping all my worries now. Obviously I do not LIVE for acceptance to HYPSM, nor am I believing I won’t happy or get a good job if I don’t attend. I just really like the schools, but that’s just how fierce the other applying competition is, and that is something my 8th grader-self did not know. I’m just regretting for the time being, but I’m trying to forget too. Thanks for knocking some sense into me.
@latiere Stop browsing College Confidential. Come for specific advice, then get off.
As I said before, this is not about your 8th grade Spanish grade. This is about your worrying tendency. Chances are, this worrying will come up again in your HS years. Please address it.
I’ll browse College Confidential if I like, and I’ll ask questions that I want opinions on. I don’t really need a reason to worry again if something related is addressed early on. This only pushes me to work harder. (Not in an obsessive way, I’d think that’s what you might assume) Thank you
Also I address my worrying tendency 
Freshman in HS know nothing to like about those schools except their names and rankings. When you are ready to start evaluating academic programs and visiting colleges late in soph/early junior year, then you might be able to have an informed opinion.
It is fine. Most colleges recalculate your GPA anyway. Just take a challenging curriculum and do your best.
Right now, you don’t know anything except that those colleges are famous and reject 90% qualified applicants. You don’t really know what makes one “qualified” and you worry the B will bar you from having a chance.
What you CAN do is find the Fiske Guide at your high school’s library, and take notes about the following top colleges:
Amherst, Bowdoin, Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, Pomona, Princeton, Stanford, Swarthmore, UChicago, Williams.
These are all rather different. Can you articulate, with your notes, what “personality” each college has, and how would you characterize each? What does each have in common with any other (ie. like A,B, C, D, P has/is…; like A, S, W, P has/is…)
Don’t worry. Seriously: at this level of competition, it’ll matter way more that you took AP Spanish (and if you manage to get to Level 3 or 4 in another language even more, because it’s rare, but if you like languages and are good at it, that’s cherry on the cake not an obligation).
This is the classes you should have: at least 5 at Honors/AP level each year from the following 6-7 classes: 1-2 “personal picks” (could be choir, could be CS, could be art, could be another foreign language, could be doubling up on a subject, could be yearbook or journalism…) and 5 core. You need 4 years of English, History/Social Science, Science, one foreign language up to level 4 or AP, and math up to precalculus honors or calculus. For science, you should take biology, chemistry, physics, plus one class (either one of those at the AP level, or another AP science). AP English Language is a very important AP since the writing skills you’ll get will serve you well in everything you do. You CAN deviate from the plan above, especially senior year when you can “double up” to compensate for not taking a level in one from history (if you intend to attend an engineering program), foreign language (if you reached level 4 or AP junior year only), or science (if you don’t intend to major in anything science-related). However, try to deviate as little as possible, and use your extra periods for leeway. Do not take an AP class if your previous year’s teacher doesn’t think you can make at last a B in it - no one’s impressed with a C in AP (or anywhere). Take AP’s where you think you can get B’s or higher.
Not sacrificing sleep is also essential and I commend you for thinking about it.
Finally, top schools often decide based on how extraordinary you are outside of school. Are you a chess champion, an olympic-level riffle shooter, a soloist in the youth state orchestra? Have you shown originality, courage, or concern for others in your community?
I second reading How to be a high school superstarby Cal Newport. You can also read Make colleges want you.
That 8th grade grade is inconsequential. It doesn’t matter. Even if it affects GPA or rank, it doesn’t matter for colleges. If you have AP Spanish with an A, and accelerated through another foreign language, and impacted your community positively and wowed everyone as a young baritone in the State Youth Choir Spring Concert, they won’t notice and won’t care. When you’re 17, that grade as a 13 year old won’t matter to you and it only feels like a piece of plastic stuck in your throat (my words) because it was just a few months ago to you. If you still obsess a year from now, there may be a problem with you (it’s unhealthy not to have perspective to such an extent) but forget about it and it won’t come back to bite you as long as you do your best now on. Rank doesn’t matter as long as you’re top 10% (unless you’re in a non-competitive high school). GPA doesn’t matter as long as it’s 3.75+.
If anything, @latiere, it might help you!
So far as I know, the best colleges care deeply how prospective students deal with and learn from hardship, failure, things that bother them. Taking this in stride and growing from it (like it seems you’ve done, with that 102%) is probably the best thing you can do.
So keep in mind mistakes happen, failure can happen, and that if you approach things like this with tenacity you’ll only further improve yourself as student and person.
Sorry for the late reply, but I’d like to thank everyone for kindly explaining. I think I understand now. I really do. Thank you so much!