I’m a freshman in high school and before you start laughing at me worrying about colleges, please take the time to respond.
Georgetown University is my dream school but it’s an institution known for their high academic performance. At the point where I’m at (finished my first two terms of freshman year and midterms), I think I have completely ruined my chances of being considered to be admitted into Georgetown.
In my first term, I had three B+'s as a Term 1 grade (Spanish, Biology, History). In Term Two, which just recently ended, I had two B+'s (Biology, History). Besides that, I had all A’s or A-'s. Note that I’m taking all honors (AP’s aren’t offered to Freshman) and Journalism.
For midterms, I received all A’s and one A- in all the courses I’m taking except for Biology, which I scored an 83 on. Our Term Grades and midterms and finals for each course are averaged together at the end of every year. Obviously, Biology isn’t going to look so hot on my college transcript. Furthermore, it will bring down my entire GPA as a whole.
Georgetown mostly admits students who are in the top three of their class. Therefore, my dream is crushed. I try not to compare myself to others, but a lot of my peers have no problem with Biology while I seemingly struggle with it.
Can someone offer any advice on how to better my chances of getting into Georgetown?
Also, for extracurriculars, I write for my school paper, take art classes, and run on the track team. I’m hoping to apply for an editor position in the spring for my school paper. And this summer, I’m planning on taking a summer academic program at Georgetown.
Dude…
Your dream is nowhere near crushed. Most colleges barely care about freshman year. Your grades aren’t even half of your application - when they consider you, they’ll look at SAT and SAT II scores, extracurriculars, leadership, etc. etc. You still have an entire half a year to improve your grades (remember they will only see your final year grade for each course) and while it would be great to get A’s, getting a few B’s isn’t the end of the world - especially in honors classes.
In addition, colleges really like seeing an upward streak throughout high school - so if you don’t do so well freshman year, doing better in sophomore and junior year looks really good.
I don’t know who’s been telling you that Georgetown looks at the top three students ranked in each school - that’s ridiculous and completely untrue…
I remember having this exact same panic party my freshman year, and about the exact same school! I’ll tell you from experience- you have to start by calming down. What you look for in a college could change drastically your senior year- I’m not even applying to Georgetown this year, after worrying about whether or not I could be accepted for three years! Secondly, your grades are not bad, and many people find freshman year tough because it is a difficult transition from middle to high school. If you are serious about going to a selective school, keep your resolve, believe in yourself, and study hard. I had the same grades you did my freshman year, and since then I’ve gotten straight a’s…what I mean is, if you put your mind to it, you can do it. Step one is to relax! 