Pretty Sad Right Now With my B+'s Ruining my Chances

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

So junior year 2nd semester just ended 2 days ago and I ended up with a shocking 4 B’s, with 3 of them being EXTREMELY borderline B+'s.

I stupidly got a 89.3 in AP Stats and a 89.3 as well in REGULAR US History. This brings my overall GPA that semester down to a 4.0GPA since I am taking 4 weighted classes out of 5 total academic classes (the 6th being a sport). For the 3rd B+ it resulted from missing ONE question on the final test in AP Calc which because the test was 8 questions scaled to a ridiculous 100 points, one question can bring your overall grade down by more than 1%.

None of my teachers would help me round up which led me to be very depressed the last 2 days. I already screwed up sophomore first semester with a potential 4.6GPA wiped to only a 3.6GPA. My dream school has always been UCLA and Stanford but right now my average GPA is only around 4.2 something at most when colleges include my classes taken at community colleges which consists of taking Bio 1, Chem 1, Chinese 4 and Econ 2, so I would generally say my academic level is quite above average.

I only took SAT once so far by self-studying and got 1390 which I definitely can improve but I’m going to try and take ACT, aiming for a 34+ this summer then if I don’t receive a good score on that I’ll return back to SAT.

Can anyone shed some light and give me hope and an idea of how much of an impact these B+'s can have on my chances to UCLA, UC Berkeley and Stanford? Yes I do realize UC’s care a lot about simply academics 90% of the time while Ivy Leagues look for more special students and do not focus as much on academics. I will list my general achievements and specialty about myself down below.

Taken 6 AP exams so far: AP Lang: 3, AP World History: 3, Scores that have not come out yet: APUSH, AP Stats, AP Calc BC and AP Physics. I’m pretty confident that I got a 5 on AP Stats and Calc BC to say the least.

As mentioned earlier I’ve taken 4 local CC classes because the teachers at our school our quite bad so many of my friends in higher grades told me to take them at CC. CC classes I took include: Bio 1, Chem 1, Chinese 4 and Econ 2 which I got all A’s in, surprisingly being way easier with much better teachers.

I’ve been on Varsity Boy’s Volleyball since sophomore year and had and still will continue being one of the starters ever since freshmen year. I was captain this year as a junior and most likely will be senior year. I was also MVP all 3 years so far in high school.

I have a sentinel award and also 4 medals from Academic Decathlon in my freshmen year which consists of 2 team silver medals and 2 individual bronze medals.

I am bilingual and my community service consists of using my 2nd language to my advantage such as tutoring Chinese/Mandarin and helping seniors in my community learn survival English which led to me receive a certificate from my city’s community leader.

**I believe this part will affect my chances a lot with me being from a low income family and me having to start working junior year, most likely resulting my grades to downfall this semester since I was in volleyball season as well.

2

What is your weighted and unweighted GPA right now?

3

@newkidnewtrix
High school weighted is around 4.1, unweighted around 3.7.

Screwed up big time.

4

This may sound harsh, but your odds were quite slim to begin with. If you are one of the “few” they are looking for, a 3.7/1390 is GOOD ENOUGH to still take you. I doubt the would love you but be turned off by a 3.7. Even the UCs.

So buck up! You have a good chance at many great colleges. You should be realistic and focus on a match list too. What other schools do you like?

These colleges you listed are so so hard to get into, please don’t look at it as a terrible blow. If they see something they like in your app, those grades are still fine. If not, you have hundreds of other options! Good luck!

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An unweighted 3.7 is just fine! I second @HRSMom .

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Apply to American, William and Mary, and CWRU

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@HRSMom
I realized that too, sure I may be much more academically advanced than your average student but my grades are quite terrible. The only solid advantages I have right now is that I’m a California resident, 1st generation from Asian immigrant descent and I’m part of the low income family.

Do you happen to know if colleges actually look at the database of your classes consisting of like the grades other students got to fairly judge you and what grade you recieved?

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I don’t think they go that far into it @Xavien . They are probably familiar with the high school you attend tho.

You’re grades are not terrible! Stop beating yourself up and work on what you can control now, which is your application.

Enjoy the summer and don’t worry so much, ok? You have a lot going for you!

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If you can increase your ACT or SAT score, I think you’re in fine shape for the most selective colleges. At our high school, kids get accepted to Ivies, Stanford, etc without straight As. An unweighted GPA of 3.7 at our school (if the student has taken the most rigorous classload with 8-10 APs) gets kids into schools like Duke, Northwestern, Georgetown, etc. Our high school is a high-ranking public school and I think colleges know there’s no grade inflation. Can you look at Naviance for your school or talk to your counselor? I think you could get a more specific (and more realistic) answer if you look at your high school’s history.

And just missing As by small percentages stinks. Our S19 missed an A in Chem Honors by .1 percent and the teacher said she would not round up. One more question right on the final and he would have had an A. So frustrating. What it’s taught him, though, is that every single point matters throughout the semester!

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I guess by this point I just need to focus on getting A’s at my CC classes and getting a good score on my ACT to boost my chances.