<p>so i had all As and A+s 9th grade in my school in atlanta. I know that makes it seem like my school's academic courses were easy (compared to other schools across the country), but we were actually top ten in the state in terms of academics in georgia. And i also worked my butt off in 9th grade, sleeping only a few hours a day and becoming salutatorian of my class. However, I had to move to NJ between freshman and sophomore year, and I enrolled in a school that was notorious for giving bad gpa (scale of 4.3 as opposed to my old school's 4.0). My gpa 10th grade didnt end up that well, for i was still assimilating into the environment, meeting friends, getting used to having 8 classes a day (in georgia i only had 5 because of block schedule) and taking the hardest math and history course state. I managed a 3.67 ( which equates to an A-) sophomore year. Now I started junior year, and I have confidence that i will do well, but im worried this drastic fall in grades between freshman and sophomore year will affect my college application process in the future. I'm aiming for ivy league and 2nd tier schools such as northwestern and duke. how much do you think this will affect me?</p>
<p>Don<code>t take it too hard colleges only look at your Sophmore and Junior year Semester Gpa they don</code>t really look at Freshmen year too much.</p>
<p>I don’t think that either Northwestern or Duke consider themselves as second tier – but be that as it may.</p>
<p>Just do the best you can. It’s all you can do. I don’t think you’ve killed your chances.</p>
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Er, Mincxi, that’s probably exactly the advice the OP *didn’t * want to hear!</p>
<p>On the other hand, here’s something to bear in mind that might offer the OP some encouragement. You’re talking mostly about institutions that claim to practice holistic evaluations, as opposed to ones that are numbers-driven. You moved hundreds of miles and changed schools; it took you a while to adjust. An admissions officer who looks at your application closely will see that. And you can either address it yourself in your application, or ask your guidance counselor to address it in the letter that goes with your Secondary School Report. </p>
<p>You haven’t yet done anything that rules you out for selective institutions. But to be competitive, you’ll need to bounce back in your junior year and do well on your standardized tests.</p>