Upward Trend Question

Colleges and Universities A-Z Barnard College
1

<p>Hi all, I am a Barnard 2017 hopeful! Barnard has been my dream for a long time. I am in a bit of a junior year funk. My freshman year I received mediocre grades in rigorous courses. Sophomore year I had As in all classes, including my first AP, and Bs in science and math. I was hoping to follow with a similarly strong junior year, but with the first quarter ending today, I find myself a bit discouraged. Junior year is the first grade in which students at my school are permitted to take more than one AP class—I am in three this year, and I plan on taking 4 next year.</p>

<p>I am ending the quarter with grades that I consider less than ideal. My AP Spanish grade dropped from an A to a low A- due to a failed quiz. My Algebra II grade is a C+. Not to mention the fact that this is college prep-level math; basically the least rigorous course I could be taking. My mother was just yelling at me, saying that this could limit my prospects for this summer (if I have to send a mid-year transcript to a summer program, that C+ will likely raise a major red flag). I understand that she is frustrated, as am I. We both know I can do better than this.</p>

<p>What do you recommend I do in order to pull myself out of this funk? I find myself so apathetic about math. I don’t care about the subject, just the grade, and that is not the case in any of my other classes. I just need someone to reassure me that I can pull my grade up to a B (my goal) by the end of the year, that Barnard is still attainable, etc. Of course, you don’t know any of my other credentials, but I’ll just say that I am a strong candidate otherwise. I’d appreciate some pragmatic advice regarding this situation.</p>

2

<p>Grades are very important at Barnard, and unfortunately yours are a bit too low. Work very hard to get better ones this year and your chances might be a little better.</p>

3

<p>I’m going to add more to the “work very hard”, since I understand that seems kinda vague. I think you might have more problems with motivation than anything else, so I would advise you to remind yourself of your goals into getting into Barnard/other great colleges, which might help you concentrate more on your schoolwork. For me, I put pictures up colleges that I wanted to go to on the desk I studied at home, so when I felt apathetic feeling about whatever I was doing (trust me, i felt that way for every other assignment junior year), I’d look up and be reminded of what the payoff will be.</p>