I know all grades matter but are sophomore grades that significant?
I tried hard but I didn’t make the best out of my sophomore grade. I’m expecting 3-4 Bs this year…
If I get excellent grades next year, will I still have a good shot for Ivies?
They’re 1/3 of your transcript at the time of application. Yes, they’re important.
Why are you thinking about Ivies?
I simply used the term “ivies” to denote top tier colleges, not necessarily the 8 colleges themselves. I’m targeting JHU currently, for medicine. My school is really competitive and difficult, where 4.1 or 4.2 GPA (1.0 AP, 0.5 HN) students have been getting admitted to Stanford.
I thought JR year is weighted differently, no?
Sophomore Year, Junior year and Senior year are all very important. Freshmen year is still important but not to the same extent. IF what you say is true about the kid getting into Stanford with a 4.1, then you still could have a shot at great colleges and possibly top tier colleges. If you get excellent grades junior year, and plan a rigorous course load for senior year, you can definitely make up for a low sophomore year. Good luck.
The question is, how bad is bad?
@notjoe I mentioned in the details that I’m expecting 3-4 Bs.
Three or four Bs in one year will certainly make application to the Ivies more daunting. However, a lot will depend on 1: what courses they were 2) whether you continue to take the most challenging coursesl 3) your performance next year; and 4) your ultimate test scores. If three or four Bs in your sophomore year proves to be a temporary blip, there is still hope. If some other part of your application is weak, much less so.
I’m basically taking all APs next year (except English because they don’t offer it). Might not take APUSH though, because my course load will be intense next year.
I mainly had difficult time this year because I’m currently attending a magnet school, unlike last year. So while everyone got a head start and got adjusted to the environment, I was still getting used to it and it took me quite a while to get used to…
I’m hoping to self study quite a few classes before taking them in the fall, so that I’ll have an easier time.
The ones I’m expecting Bs are in AP Bio and AP Calc, and couple others (maybe, I might be able to get As in those but not sure – I’ll see how it goes :/// )