<p>I'm going to be a senior in high school next year and I'm taking a really hard course load:
AP English
AP Env. Sci
AP Chemistry
AP Calculus BC
AP Econ (2nd semester)... then along with some other classes </p>
<p>I'm afraid that I will suffer from a few B's (Chem is the hardest AP at our school with about half of the ppl getting D's but I'm hoping for at least a B).</p>
<p>Would it be bad if I got some B's and the rest A's my first semester senior year if I'm applying to HYPS?</p>
<p>Hmm. I think you can definitely manage straight As if you work at it and get on good, understanding terms with your teachers. I took AP English, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, and AP Calc AB (only one offered at my school), and AP French this year, along with an extra period of Early Bird PE in the morning (Physical Education’s required in IL, only state), and I managed straight As.</p>
<p>Obviously, schools are different and mine especially is known particularly to be something of a joke, but generally senior year classes in my experience seem to be easier than classes junior year, etc. And if things don’t work out, you can always talk to your teachers and chances are they might be a little understanding of your position. My opinion would be to take the classes, if simply for the purpose of challenging yourself and getting more enrichment out of that. The Bs won’t be that much of a deal if it seems they were well earned. Also, for me at the least, everything seems harder until I attempt it. In the attempt, everything’s much easier and less daunting. Just me.</p>
<p>I agree with Internex. I took 6 AP courses this year, though they were undoubtedly among the easier ones (Art History, Biology, Calculus AB, English Literature, Spanish Language, and U.S. Government) and managed to maintain a pretty high average (~98%) in the first two quarters.</p>
<p>Now I’m failing, though, so perhaps you shouldn’t take my word as gospel.</p>
<p>A “B” on your transcript will not be the reason for a rejection which, of course, I hope you are not. But just try your hardest in each of your classes, and there shouldn’t be any.</p>
<p>“Would it be bad if I got some B’s and the rest A’s my first semester senior year if I’m applying to HYPS?”</p>
<p>I guess it would also depend on how everyone else is doing in those classes. If the class average is that low like you said, then it’s obviously a challenging course and a slightly low average on your part may not be that big of a deal. Another reason to take the more challenging classes, in addition to what others have already said, is that they will prepare you better for your college freshmen year and make your life easier later on.</p>
<p>If you’re getting some B’s in those classes, its not as good as getting A’s in those classes.</p>
<p>And your courseload isn’t that ridiculous, in my opinion. Given, I go to a sort of crappy school, but I took (essentially) 4 APs in my Senior year and managed to pull A’s. If your Chem class is really hard, work the hardest on that one, and try to finish at the top of your class.</p>
<p>My perspective is a little different than others’ (only 200 in my class, one every 5 years goes Ivy) but I figure if you’re not able to finish at or near the top of your classes, I wonder if you should really worry about the HYPS schools.</p>
<p>Our Chem teacher makes the class like a real university class (he went to Berkeley and structures it so that your 80% of your grade consists of two mid-terms and a final).</p>
<p>Oh well, it doesn’t matter b/c I’m going to take the classes anyway. Do you have suggestions on how you guys got straight A’s with all those AP’s? It’s fairly hard at my school to do that. I’m worried b/c I’m also filled with ecs, work, and school activities next year. Do you guys get straight A’s on top of a load of other committments?</p>
<p>I was an active (30 hrs and 2 service projects required) member of NHS, treasurer of FHS, TriM, … was a member of my schools Dixieland band, Jazz band, put together performances for three shows (both solo and rock bands/duets) … while taking 6 APs (World, Bio, Stat, French, Lang, Physics C) and my lowest final grade this year was 97%. My last 2 quarters were the best I’ve ever had (100%+ in five classes) … I’m telling you this because I had some of the same doubts you are expressing here. What happened is I kicked it up another notch. One I didn’t even know I had … :)</p>
<p>I worked my ass off junior year. Not nearly as hard senior year. But yes, I maintained the As on top of extra currics, as do most here I’m assuming. Founder of a humanitarian organization, nat. qualifer speech and debate (extemp/impromptu/ld), capt. chess team, scholastic bowl, math team, cross country/track, state representative youth council, and a lot of other bs. Didn’t do all of that stuff at the same time, granted, but most of it yes.</p>
<p>Like everyone else, my school isn’t that great (first to go to Harvard in the district I think), but if it helps give a measure of the degree of learning I siphoned from my studying junior year I was able to pull off four 5s and two 4s on the 6 AP tests I took, including two I self studied for. So it’s possible, though you may have to forego a social life for certain intervals of time at points ;). You’ll just have to decide what your priorities are (currently, mine are more social than academic).</p>
<p>Bs in hard classes don’t kill you. I almost got a C+ in AP Chemistry last year, but I squeaked a B. Phew! I’ve always been a straight-A’s-with-Bs-or-B±s-in-science-and-math humanities kid, and I got into Harvard. (Didn’t apply YPS, and we don’t have grade-minuses. A then B+ then B.) Just as long as you have mitigating circumstances for the grades (humanities kid at a science magnet taking the hard science classes; most kids get Ds), test scores, extracurriculars, etc. can easily weigh against the grades enough that they’ll still give you serious consideration. It’s still definitely not /likely/ that anyone without Olympic or similar credentials will get in, but you have at least as much of a shot as most.</p>
<p>Damn… I don’t think I ever worked this hard in high school. I got my **** done, and usually pulled out A’s, but I needed my down time. Even now in college I spend a lot of time just chilling out.</p>
<p>Think about it: a human’s reading it. If you really think a B will push your application to the “no” pile, then you’ve never had to read applications for anything before. If they want you to be in the class, they won’t care about a B.</p>
<p>That being said, you shouldn’t have a problem and I never got a B and I’m better than all of you.</p>
<p>But seriously, it’d probably be a lot easier just to date an adcom and/or his/her kid.</p>