I’ve got a question about boarding school admissions. I’m currently in the hardest math class that freshmen can take in my school, and the first quarter isn’t looking too good right now. I’m thinking I might get anything from an F to a B, which is quite a huge difference from my usual A+ in math (Last year and the years before I’ve always managed to get an A +, my lowest math grade was in 7th where I got an A).
So, here’s the question: Can being in the top 1% in the Nation who took the AMC 8 last year (75k) potentially make up for the bad math grades? I’ve always been an A student and sometimes a B+ in Foreign Language, but it seems like this might be my first time falling below an A. I’d love to hear your thoughts on how admissions committees might view this situation. I also am taking the AMC 10 this year and hopefully going to qualify for AIME since I’ve been doing great on the practice tests.
I’m also competing in the USABO (United States of America Biology Olympiad), and I’m wondering just how much weight this might carry in my boarding school application. In my school, only a select few get the opportunity to compete in each grade, and I’ve been fortunate enough to be chosen. (I think I’ll do fine for at least the first 2 rounds since I memorized a lot of the stuff that is needed and I would like to think I’m at least proficient in the questions, I’ve also studied AP Bio for this competition)
Your insights and advice on these matters would be truly helpful! Thanks in advance for your input.
Remember there are tons of students with impressive EC results and rankings. I think you need to dig deep and figure out what is going on in your math class. Why are you struggling? Is it the right class level? Can you drop down a level? What are you doing to turn this grade around? I think you need a better handle on your grade as a B and F are vastly different and require different explanations. How do you plan on explaining this grade to the AOs and what you are doing to rectify it? What are you learning through the process?These are the deeper questions you will need to address. I think this will matter more than just showing you are strong at math through ECs.
I think a C-F might raise questions for AO. You should re-assess why you aren’t doing well. Something like a B will be okay. But schools want to see you are engaging in class and an F suggests that may not be the case.
Well I think IMO my grades are like this are because of the tests. They make the notes and HW really easy than proceed to make the tests insanely hard even for students who qualified for AIME in my class (The class average for the last test was a 57, and the highest grade someone got was a 79 and he was a AIME qualifier)
My school is currently trying to get rid of honors classes and had some success with that (Honors English, History, and Language is gone). So from what I’ve been hearing from the upperclassman they are trying to make the kids in the remaining Honors Classes to drop out (3/7 Honors Math Classes are gone because these 3 class students dropped out, and even 7 kids from my class dropped out). They were trying to get rid of Honors Math and Science last year but failed. But who knows this class might be actually be hard and I might be struggling and need to drop out and move on, But I don’t think so since the Soph people says the class isn’t really supposed to be as hard. I even took outside classes in the class work I’m taking right now for 3 months last year and I’ve gotten a 90+ on every assignment so I think the school is making it hard on purpose.
I’ll try to raise my grade up by asking for extra credit and more assignments and studying hard but I am not quite sure if I can do that by the end of the quarter.
Ik it sounds like I’m making excuses for my grade but I truly think this is happening to my school. So do most of the parents and other students.
You haven’t mentioned what class you are taking but I think that might have some bearing on how the grade is viewed. Competition math is a very different skill and speaks to a different area of growth. A low grade in a challenging classroom math class can be seen differently than a low grade in an intermediate class. I do not think schools like to see a disconnect between grades and test scores so try and keep everything lined up.
Our AMC8 1% top scorer at our middle school was not admitted to any of his high school picks. Smart smart kid. Likes competition math. Lazy. B in math (barely, saved by the fact that school does not report minus) but even though he was the star of the team he was awful in class and had a really poor recommendation from his math teacher where he was taking Algebra II 23/25
Maybe the high AMC score and low math grade are something to discuss in your essays/interviews? and maybe that could be your big pitch as to why BS would be good for you. Since you can’t change your past math grade, maybe turn a negative into a positive in your application. Just a thought…
PS- you might want to reach out to your math teacher to feel them out about the kind of rec they might give you. BS apps require CURRENT math and English teacher recs… not last year. So, buckle down this year, get your grade up, go to office hours and change the narrative. You don’t have to apply until Jan 15 so you have time to turnn things around. (you can have an interview before you turn in your application). You can do it!
My math grade isn’t looking so promising anymore to be honest. Our class average is a F and our whole grade average is a F too. I currently have a D right now and theres nothing I can do about it. We have a project left that’ll bring my grade up to like a C or B, and maybe a few more big assignments or tests. I’m not quite sure why I’m struggling since I always know all the stuff on the notes, HW, and the assignments we are given and always get them all right. I even go to extra help to the teacher for help. I even took outside classes are AOPS and got a good grade at the end of it. I am really worried it since I think it’ll ruin my chances to get into any school. In my other year grades I always had 98s or 99s so this grade doesn’t really reflect on the person I am in math.
Since we have like 2nd quarter left and in it theres a few more tests and midterms in it, should I wait to submit my grades than? I’m not sure if I’ll do good in them so its a risky shot. The tests are insanely hard in my opinion.
What should I do? Should I just give up on my private high school dreams or just hope they’ll look over the fact I did bad on the first quarter on math. My other grades for like Physics, World History, Latin, etc are all all As or A+s. I have a perfect 100 in World History and my lowest grade in the academics is a 91.
If you can be successful with AOPS level math then it is clear you can you “do” math. I think everybody has experience with arbitrary policy and teachers. It happens. People also hit hiccups along the road. You might investigate if there is a step down option to a non-honors level for this year.