I am applying to a few schools that look at senior year workload and grades. As a result of overloading myself with APs, college essays, sports, etc. I wasn’t able to do well this year. At the beginning of the year I was enrolled in
AP Statistics
English 4 CP
AP Calculus AB
AP Political Science/Macroeconomics
AP Physics
AP Biology
I had to drop AP Stats despite being my easiest class solely due to the fact that it consumed most of my time. Since I intend to pursue medicine as a career, I kept my Biology class, which was the hardest. After a few weeks I dropped AP Biology as well because I couldn’t afford getting a D. By this time however, the damage had been done and most my grades were Cs. I ended the semester with a 3.3 Weighted GPA which is very bad (never in my life have I gotten such a low GPA). I am now worried that some colleges I applied to might reject me, USC, UWashington, NYU, because of my struggles this year. What should I do? How badly will it impact me?
I know this isn’t helpful,but I’m so happy I’m not the only one whose gpa went down.(again I feel unhelpful,but I was literally thinking about how my low gpa may affect college decisions and reading this made me feel better because there was someone else going through the same turmoil as me. :)). In my opinion(be mindful I am but a senior just like you and don’t know how admissions committees decide whether or not to admit an applicant) I think the colleges will take into account how rigorous your workload is compared to their other applicants.(I am actually not applying to any of the school’s you listed but here’s an example: I am only taking 1 AP class while you’re taking 5). To be completely honest the grades might hurt you,but perhaps it will be balanced by the rigor of your schedule and thus making your senior year grades have a neutral effect(does this even make since?)on your admissions decision,especially if every other part of your application is relatively strong.again,I am not a person with any true knowledge of what happens in that mysterious room where they make these decisions,these are all just speculations(which I know you didn’t want,but hopefully it’s food for thought).
Oh and as to what you should do?
Like Elsa said"Let it go, Let it go". I mean you did what you could and at the end of the day(as far as I know) there’s nothing you can change about it. You, for the most part, made the decision to take all those AP classes because you believed that you could excel at them(which I firmly believe that you still can)and though you weren’t rewarded with a high grade instead you were rewarded with the wisdom of knowing when too much is too much.Focus your energy on rejoicing in the fact that first semester is over and you have a whole new semester to show the colleges that accepted you how smart and awesome you are. And at the end of the day, treat it as a minor setback in this wonderful(?) thing we call life.
I hope this was helpful,not annoying,and didn’t make you feel worse.