Should I give up on Ivies? (From a sophomore, Class of 2019)

Pre-College Topics High School Life
1

Hi, I am sorry if this post comes off as neurotic and irritating, sophomore year has been pretty rough and I just want to know if others have felt the same as high school got harder. I go to a public high school with a lot of students on Long Island, New York. I would say that my town is middle class, overall, it’s a nice town to live in with an average school district.

When I first started high school, it was actually very pleasant for me. I didn’t struggle at all and I had a GPA above 100 for freshman year with these courses: Living Environment H, Geometry H, English H, Global H, AP Human Geography (only AP offered to freshmen), Symphonic Band, and Gym. This achievement gave me a sense of pride. I’m not arrogant or anything but it did make me pretty confident with the rest of my high school experience. My dream school has been Harvard ever since I visited there in 8th grade (I know, how cliché, but it really is my dream). I started to think about colleges in freshman year and most people in my school thought of my grade as “tryhards” because we are pretty academically competitive. However, sophomore year has been really different and I’ve been at my lowest this year. My grades aren’t what I want them to be, I had 80s as my average in a few classes, I feel pretty inadequate, and I’m sleep-deprived most of the time. Here are my courses for this year:

Chemistry H
AP World History
Algebra 2H
English H
AP Psychology
Spanish 3
Band
Gym

My GPA is going to be a lot lower than what I had in freshman year, even with the AP and honors weight. It is not going to be above a 100 like most people who got into Ivies had and that sort of worries me because I feel pretty inadequate. I’m taking the SATs junior year and I plan to take two or three SAT subject tests. I have no chance at being valedictorian or salutatorian (not that I really care about those positions anyways), but I do know most people who get into top tier schools were val or sal in high school. I am Chinese and I don’t know how I feel not fitting into that Asian stereotype that we’re supposed to be good at STEM (I am mediocre at best) the desire to become a doctor or engineer (my dream is to be involved in international politics). Has anyone else hit a low point in their high school years and were still able to go to their dream schools?

Even though I’ve had a pretty rough experience so far, I’ve never done anything in order to get to a certain college. I’m just worried because I am not performing as well as I used to and it has honestly made me all around dead inside this year. However, I still feel invigorated by the things that I really love which is international politics, social justice issues, and my favorite club, Model United Nations. I’ll never forget that feeling when I walked into my first MUN conference and that feeling when I won my first award. For a day, I forgot about my personal issues and saw the big picture and dealt with what the world is facing. I want to continue to be involved in this and have it be a part of my life. I plan to enter essay contests, start a chapter for an organization that I really care about in my school, and be a part of my county’s young democrats. I love my MUN team and I hope to be Secretary General (currently treasurer) of it in my senior year to lead and help others. The MUN club is my school doesn’t get much funding so I really want to find another way to go to more conferences (we only go to 2 for the school year). I am involved in other extracurriculars but that is the one that I really have a love for.

Although my GPA won’t really recover from this year, I hope I can still get a good SAT score, further pursue my passion, and get into a great school. I am taking some easier classes for my junior year: AP Lang, APUSH, AP Environmental Science, College Pre-Calc, College Spanish, etc. I plan to apply to colleges with a more urban environment and here are the ones I am considering from where I really want to go to the most at the top:

Harvard
New York University
Georgetown University
Cornell
American University
George Washington University
Boston University
Fordham University
Hunter College
Brooklyn College

I hope junior year is easier on me, and I just need some sort of guidance to get through the rest of sophomore year. I am suffering mentally, and I am just trying to hold on. I know I am not completely at fault for struggling because some of my teachers aren’t very helpful or fair which is so frustrating to me. I think I might end this year with a 97 GPA coming from a 103 last year. I’m hoping that I get up there again junior year. If you are a high school student, how are you guys doing with school and other activities? And if you’re in college, were you able to get into great schools even though you’ve experienced rough times in high school? How did you guys cope? Should I give up on Ivies or other top tier schools and just look at state schools and more realistic options?

2

Hi, I am also a sophomore in High School who has found this year a bit more challenging than Freshman year. I don’t know if I will be much hep advice-wise, but I can say this: don’t give up on the Ivies. If you aspire to be in that environment, you will end up in that environment or one very similar to it. You have a solid course load and as long as you show improvement Junior year; stay with your extracurriculars (it seems like Model UN is a passion of yours?); and do well on your AP and SAT tests, you should have no issue getting into an excellent school. Shoot for Harvard, but if you aren’t quite there, don’t give up!

You and I seem to have similar current and planned schedules, and I know that these classes are not easy. You mentioned that your average was in the “B” range, that isn’t bad. You are still passing your classes, and these grades allow for growth in your remaining High School years without a scramble to compensate for them. I’m sure that you will end up with the grades you want and the skills you need to get into a great college! I hope this helped a little, at least to calm your nerves a bit. Good luck in your endeavors (including your future Ivy League school applications)!

3

They’ll be more lenient on sophomore grades, just get them up junior year. And please don’t tailor your life into aiming to get into a college, just do what you love and it’ll show

4

@assemblingphilosophies Thank you for the help! This year has definitely been challenging but I am not giving up! Model UN is definitely my passion, it is what gets me up in the morning. I plan to apply to Harvard, NYU, and other schools I want to go to early action senior year. If I don’t get into Harvard, I think I will still have a pretty good shot at NYU. One of the reasons why I turned to this website for help is because most of my friends and peers are heavily involved in STEM and are really realistic with their college choices (schools like Stony Brook University and other state schools) while my head is sort of stuck in the clouds, dreaming of what could be. Do you mind me asking what are your plans (future major, college choices, ECs, courses, etc)?

5

@latinvibes Thanks for the advice, and I definitely plan to do what I really love. This year has felt like a fire inside of me was put out but not completely, like a flame is still flickering. I think it is pretty reflective of the US elections this year, the result was upsetting for me but also incredibly emboldening because faith can be restored. I never want to do something just for acceptance into a certain college. I am very optimistic for the rest of my high school years :slight_smile:

6

Do the best you can for yourself, work hard, but also find some activities you enjoy to balance the academics.

Enjoy your high school years.

Do prep for SAT and ACT.

When it’s time, apply to schools that your family can afford, where you can get a good education, and where you find a good fit.

You can still try to send an app to an Ivy, but you have the same slim chance as anyone else, so don’t be unhappy for all of these years.