Hi, my sophomore year grades have just come in and I am not sure what to make of them. Anyone who can help me will be really appreciated. I did not do as well as planned, so if anyone can tell me if my sophomore year grades ruined me at certain colleges. I want you to assess me purely on grades, (I know other factors play a role in college admission, just look at purely grades). A lot of people will say that I am making a big deal of small things, but the truth is I have no idea what is going on so if someone could tell me that would be great.
FINAL YEAR GRADES:
History Honors: A
English Honors: A
French 2: A-
IB Chemistry 1 (HL): B
IB Bio 1 (HL): B
Precalculus Honors: A+
All other electives/gym were A or A+. I am very concerned about Bio and Chemistry, I plan on majoring in that field. I am taking Chem 2 and Physics 1 next year, if I do well in Chem 2 will this make up a little for my Chem 1 grades? I am looking at top 15 engineering colleges. I am taking a rigorous course load this year (double up in science) and next year (also double up in science). Freshman year grades were all A-, A, or A+
Any feedback? Judge me based on my grades alone, in comparison to other people applying to top 15 colleges.
Did the two B’s I get ruin my chances completely?
Every student has a level of knowledge/intelligence/background/study habits/work ethic.
Those lead to you earning various grades in various subjects and various SAT/ACT scores.
When you choose colleges, you will find one that matches your grades/scores.
That may not be Ivy leagues…but even if you got all A’s/2400/1600 you would not be guaranteed admission.
There will be a college for you that will challenge you out there.
@VickiSoCal yes I am a diploma candidate, I feel strongly about chemistry, my teachers were good just a difficult course, I am not confident with biology though, my teacher was not good. My 6 IB tests would probably be, english, history, chemistry, physics, math, and environmental science
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Well, this really says it all if you want an answer regarding how you stand in “comparison to other people applying to top 15 colleges.” You are not really in the same league. The most selective colleges in this country are looking for people with initiative and inner drive, that accept responsibility for their learning instead of trying to deflect blame onto others.
There are tons of resources on the web (Khan Academy, etc) for getting help with academics. There are your peers in HS with whom you could have set up study groups. There are problem-solver books that have thousands of worked problems you can use to study. Yet it seems you didn’t avail yourself of these; perhaps it never even occured to you that if you weren’t happy with the grade you were earning than you should do something about it. Such kids actually exist; perhaps not in great numbers, but in numbers sufficient for the top 15 colleges.
Colleges will learn this side of you as they look at the ECs you do and your level of leadership and accomplishment. It will leak thru in your essays (although hopefully you are smart enough to have a responsible person proofread your essays, someone that will stop you from trying to “explain” grades by whining about bad teachers). It will come across in your recs.
Top-15 colleges offer incredible opportunities, peers, teaching. But they know success also depends on intangibles such as drive, persistence, accountability. Maybe even more so than what they directly teach in class! So they try to figure out which applicants shine in these categories. Harvard didn’t tell Zuckerberg to create Facebook, nor did they guide him along the way. When you talk about a “bad teacher” you might as well write “when I see a roadblock, I’m stuck unless someone else helps me out.” Not what the top-15 want, IMHO.