Senior year Grades - somebody please read this

Applying to College
1

<p>Colleges I am applying to:</p>

<p>FIU (accepted/honors college)
FSU (accepted/honors college)
UMiami
UF
Boston College
University of Rochester
Carnegie Mellon
UCLA
UC-Berkeley
Duke
MIT </p>

<p>Here's my info:</p>

<p>SAT (M + CR): 1320
- Math = 720
- Reading = 600</p>

<p>ACT Composite: 28</p>

<p>SAT Subjects:
- Math Level 2: 780
- Math Level 1: 750
- Chemistry: 670</p>

<p>9th Grade Schedule\Grades:
Honors English (A)
Honors Geometry (A)
Honors Earth and Space Science (A)
Spanish IV (A+)
World History (A)
Personal Fitness (A+)
Christian Morality (A)</p>

<p>10th Grade Schedule\Grades:
AP English Language (B+)
AP US History (B)
Honors Biology (A)
Honors Algebra 2 & Trig (A+)
Spanish V (A)
Church History (A)
Web Page Design (A+)</p>

<p>11th Grade Schedule\Grades:
AP Statistics (A)
Honors Pre Calculus (A)
Honors Chemistry (A)
Honors British Literature (A)
Honors US Government (B)
Art History (A)
Economics (A)
Social Doctrine (A)</p>

<p>My extracurriculars are fine. I play soccer, I’m in a few honor societies, and I lead a service project for Key Club.
However, my first semester senior year grades are not that good. I know colleges want a mid year report and I don’t know how much this will affect my application. I pretty much have all B+’s, but I honestly didn’t really “slack off” this semester; my schedule is just really hard and demanding. I don’t know if colleges will take into consideration how rigorous my schedule is or if they will be completely turned off by all these B+’s. How do you think colleges will interpret my senior grades and how much of an impact will these grades have on their final decision?<br>
12th grade Schedule/First semester Grades
AP Calculus BC (B)
AP Chemistry (B+)
Honors Physics (B+)
Honors Latin American History (B+)
Honors Ignatian Spirituality (B+)
Honors Philosophy (B+)
Honors World Literature (B)</p>

2

<p>That does seem to be a very rigorous schedule. I’m not sure about most of those schools, but I believe Berkeley and UCLA aren’t really concerned with your senior grades as long as you don’t fall below a 3.0 or get a D/F. I don’t think they ask for a mid-year report. They only ask for your transcript after you’ve been accepted. </p>

<p>For the big reaches on your list such as Duke and MIT… I think it might just make them even more of a reach for you.</p>

3

<p>UCLA and Berkeley will not see your 1st semester grades at all, your file is closed with them until they review your final HS transcript as an accepted student… in which case under 3.0 unweighted, or any D or F could cause rescission.</p>

<p>The other schools will likely act on your file after receiving mid-year grades. Some won’t, and I don’t know how to tell who will and who will not wait for those grades before reviewing your file… most will see them.</p>

<p>Contrary to the poster above, your schedule IS rigorous. I would suspect that MIT and Duke would not conclude that a 1320 SAT, and several Bs would bode well for how you might perform in the midst of an even much tougher schedule amidst even tougher competition at their schools. If that is the case, you don’t want to be there anyway. I think you might get into Miami though.</p>

<p>If you look at your pattern of performance in AP classes (two B sophomore year, one A in Stats Junior yr, all Bs Sr. year), I would not conclude that you match to any top 35 schools anyway… sorry to say that.</p>

4

<p>I know this sounds blunt, but for schools like MIT and Duke, you are already beneath their mid 50% so the drop in Senior year grades will decrease your chances. UCs accept you conditionally and as long as your senior year grades don’t drop below a C, it should be fine for those.</p>