<p>By the time I finish high school, I will have taken 9 Honors courses and 7 AP courses. I have an UW GPA of 3.62. If my first semester of senior year counts, I will have around a 3.67.</p>
<p>Here's the thing- I attended a public school for 9th & 10th grade. Both years, I had a B+ average. It was not a good school, but I took the most challenging classes with the exception of 3 in my freshman year (science, math & Spanish) I tried really hard to take math/science classes in my summer going into 10th & 11th grade. Unfortunately, my school made it very difficult for me to do so, offering no credit for all of the courses I found. I was unable to move forward as I wanted to until this summer (I'm taking precalculus). Should I explain somewhere in my app that I did everything in my power to try to move ahead?</p>
<p>Anyway, the top 12 or so students in my grade out of 600 were very competitive. I then switched to a difficult private school for my last 2 years. In my junior year, I had a 4.0 and I'm planning on continuing earning straight A's in my final year.</p>
<p>How will colleges look at the fact that I earned good grades at my public school, but phenomenal grades at a more difficult school?</p>
<p>Bump, please.</p>
<p>I know that B+'s at a public school doesn’t look too great but do 2 years of straight A’s at a competitive private school redeem myself/prove my academic abilities to adcoms?</p>
<p>Redeem and prove are tough words. Is Harvard going to look at 2 good years and admit? No. Will many schools, appropriately chosen with overall stats in mind, be more favorable because of the upward trend and abilty to do well at a better school? Yes.</p>
<p>Academic ability is not the only thing they are looking at. Can a student do well in any environment is a factor.</p>
<p>The reason I wasn’t getting straight A’s at my first school had nothing to do with the environment, though.</p>
<p>So an A- average including 2 years of 4.0s, an SAT score of 2340, two 800s on the Subject tests, all 5’s on my AP exams, ECs that show initiative, and national and international awards is not good enough for Ivies… just because I had a B+ average for my first two years of high school? (due to familial/personal issues, not the public school environment)</p>
<p>You are talking about schools that take an average of under 10% of their applicants. They reject the majority of vals and those with perfect scores. Everyone without a hook is unlikely to get into an ivy. Even at mid tier ivies the vast majority of unhooked applicants were top 2 in their high school classes. </p>
<p>Throw your hat in the ring with all the others, but just be aware they have no room for most with your scores who had As througout high school. It’s not that yours are not good enough, it’s that the vast, vast majority of those with good enough stats do not get in and a chink in your armour makes it that much tougher.</p>
<p>I’ll also note because it comes up so much here, the reason for low grades is not considered by the colleges 99% of the time. I’ve had students with bouts of cancer not be able to get a pass.</p>
<p>That said, if you have a phenomenal EC that changes the dynamic.</p>
<p>I get it, thanks. I’m still going to try but I won’t get my hopes up.</p>
<p>What do you think qualifies as a ‘phenomenal EC’?</p>