I’ve been really worried about college lately so I just wanted to hear what people thought of where I might be able to go or should go.
I’m an African American female, SAT 2140 (taking it again soon), and I think I’m gonna be a national merit semifinalist (PSAT like 227?). My GPA at the end of this year is gonna be a bit above 3.8 unweighted I think but above a 4.5 weighted. I took 5 AP tests this year, I expect maybe 3 5’s and 2 4’s. I took 2 AP tests last year, got one 4 and one 5.
I’m in a math, science, and computer science magnet program and I’m doing a research internship this coming summer. I’m on my school newspaper (I’m gonna be an editor next year), I do theater, and I’ve been involved in some community organizing for activism.
I feel pretty good about how things are going academically and with extracurriculars, but I’m worried about how people say “downward trends” are bad. I got 2 B’s in freshman year, straight A’s in sophomore year, but then in the first semester of junior year I got 3 B’s, and this semester I think I might get 3 or 4 B’s.
I’m not quite sure what I want to go into with my career; probably either STEM (genetics or stat) or something in human rights I guess?
What do you guys think? Is the downward trend that big of a deal? I was doing a lot more work junior year and taking much harder classes, so I feel like to a certain extent it’ll be okay? Please let me know what sorts of schools might be a good fit. I really want to go to Columbia where my older brother goes. Definitely a medium or big school in a city.
To be honest with you, I have no sympathy for your situation, none whatsoever.
You will likely attend a school where 95% of kids can only dream of going to, whether or not it is Columbia.
Think of life and this process in those terms, and you will find your way very fast.
I think you have a pretty good handle on the situation - obviously, getting 3 or 4 B’s Junior year isn’t as great as getting a bunch of A’s but I don’t think you have done horrible damage to your chances at an elite school IF you are right about the speculative stuff you mentioned:
- Is your overall GPA really still going to be above 3.8 after this semester?
- Are you really going to score that well on your AP tests (all 4’s and 5’s)?
if that stuff really is true and not wishful thinking, you are largely correct that you are still in contention for a decent shot at elite schools like Columbia (which are reaches for everyone, as you probably know.)
My opinion, of course, no guarantees, obviously.
Without any idea of your financial situation, it is hard to make school suggestions. Have you worked out what you might need in terms of financial aid?
Wow batesparent that’s really unnecessarily mean. The poster was just asking for help, not sympathy…
Well I have a 3.89 now, so I’m confident it’ll be above a 3.8 by the end of this year, yeah.
I’ll definitely need a lot of financial aid so that’s a big factor in where I go to school; one good thing about the ivies is that they make sure you can afford stuff if you get in, which is a big reason why I’ve been shooting there.
I’m almost sure I got all 4’s and 5’s on my AP’s; probably a 5 on World, Lang, and Stat, and maybe a 4 on Calculus and Biology, but I could’ve done better on those two, not sure.
Fortunately as a National Merit Scholar you’ll have a number of financial safeties to choose from. The financial aid subforum has an entire board for NM Scholarships. Read through the stickies. Assuming you’re content with at least one of the potential near full ride options, you’re set as far as safeties are concerned.
Do you have any regional, size, or student life preferences? Your chances at Ivies are likely to be hindered by Bs. Fortunately for you there are a number of schools which both give great financial aid and have solid to excellent programs in the fields you might be interested in. Oxford College of Emory, Syracuse University, Wake Forest, and Occidental College may be good jumping off points. These are different institutions with different focuses and by researching them you may find that you have a semi strong preference for one type of school.
I’d like to live in a big city; I like NYC a lot but other cities would be cool too. I guess my favorite regions would be the northeast or the west, but that’s not really a big consideration for me.
There is a certain understanding where APs start that there may be a point where Bs slip in.
If you are well rounded, I would not stress out. You will have lots of choices, in your price range this fall/spring. And while a higher sat would be good, it’s not bad at all…
What about Georgetown?
You are in the upper range of the middle 50% for Boston College. That is a high probability application.
Allow yourself to feel a little … pride! You have an awesome opportunity ahead of you, and you seem ready to pursue a wonderful future. Life is a one trip salad bar, you’re doing great.
I don’t think you need to stress out too much. Downward trends aren’t the end of the world–your GPA is still quite good, and your test scores are good–and if they go up, great! Your ECs sound solid to me, and if you do end up pursuing STEM, you’ll be a competitive applicant, as a woman applying.
Keep on plugging on, and make sure your essays are stellar–I think with stats like yours, a shiny essay could absolutely get you into an elite school even over a “perfect” applicant. When applying to the hyper competitive schools, I would really focus on fit to increase your odds of getting in. As other posters have suggested, look at financial safeties, especially if you’re a NMF. Good luck!
As said above your stats are still great, likely NMF status gives you plenty of choices with lots of guaranteed financial merit aid, and B’s, especially in AP courses, are what a lot of kids are very happy to achieve, so you are still doing great. Your thread title about being lost and the disparate set of possible majors you mentioned, STEM to Human Rights, make me wonder if you can parse through your grades and see if there is a pattern to the kind of courses you are acing, versus the ones that you are pulling B’s in? It might point to your academic strengths and not quite so strong areas, or identify areas that you struggle with from lack of interest/motivation coming from the subject matter of the course. It may not even be a clear cut STEM versus humanities thing, but I think that it is worth looking at as you go through your journey of deciding where you want to go and what you want to do to see what enlivens your imagination and motivates you, as well as what you excel most at.
The first poster mentioned your being able to get into schools 95% of kids can dream about, which is probably close to true, but you can take some solace that despite some of your classmates acting like they have their entire college career and even life mapped out in detail, you fit in perfectly with the 95% who also feel lost and clueless at this point in the process, and that includes many who think they know exactly what they will do, only to change majors three times in college.
Enjoy the freedom of not knowing, take your time to explore yourself and the possibilities out there, look at more than just your grades and investigate all of the avenues that will no doubt be available to you. You are no more lost than most of your classmates, you are simply at a place where the paths you can choose are still many and varied, which is a great thing to have even if you feel a little unsure at the moment.
By the way STEM and human rights can be a beautiful combination. Just ask the statisticians at the CDC, engineers working with Engineers Without Borders, or hydrologists implementing clean water strategies for disaster areas if they’re helping their fellow man.
Agreed, Engineers Without Borders is a wonderful program that just about every school my own D has looked at for engineering seems to promote and participate in. Those varied subjects can also make for an interesting career in the law with a STEM background and approach to advocating for or advancing human rights issues in the face of advancing and changing technological world. (-: Again, so many possibilities, and as @whenhen has pointed out, far from mutually exclusive ones.
This is not a downward trend. That would be more like A freshman, Bs soph and Cs jr year to exaggerate. There is no trend here. You are just a A/B borderline student. I don’t know how you gpa could be that high if you get as many B as you say. I also don’t know what you are confused about. You have identified some reaches, now you have to find more likely colleges, look at the list of meets full need colleges, there are over 60 of them.
@whenhen thanks so much for the school suggestions!! I actually looked into occidental more and I like it a lot; didn’t know about it before 
@BrownParent I think one of my problems is the super competitive environment in my program. It’s kinda hard to keep things in perspective sometimes when B’s are looked at as so bad by people around you
@proudterrier thanks! (-: yeah I’ve been trying to focus on fit; I feel like my “why columbia” essay would be good bc I genuinely love the vibe and diversity there, on top of the rigor, so I’m not just trying to think of prestige lol also I’d say I’m a pretty good writer so the essays will def help overall
@Skates76 I think you make a valid point but my grade drop was mostly due to having more activities/burnout/rough stuff at home. There’s not too much of a pattern when it comes to subject matter
I will be honest with you and tell you that I think your grades include too many consonants compared to vowels to give you a great shot at Columbia (where you posted this same plea) or other Ivies.
Then again, you have a solid hook as an URM.
If the activities/burnout/rough stuff at home has sorted itself out, and you can get yourself back on track, you will likely have a lot of great choices, many of which will include sufficient financial aid to make it work.
Elite colleges do want to see students challenging themselves, and doing well. You have a lot to be proud of, and keep up the hard work.
One thought crosses my mind - how is your class rank? Are you among the top of your peers? Getting mostly A’s and a few B’s at a school with hundreds of other exceptional kids can be looked on more favorably than getting straight A’s at a school where there is little to no competition.