My advice would be to concentrate on having a strong year- put all this thought about colleges aside- and then come back when the year’s over and see where you stand. Stressing about college right now is IMO too early- your grades need to come first and foremost.
I just feel like test scores and ec’s are meaningless if you have horrible grades. Most of my grades are already set in stone so there’s no way to bring them up to A’s. Calculus will probably be a b cause I probably got like a 70 on that test today. AP stats could’ve been an a had it not been for that f***** 26%. I could have even had an a in AP physics had I not underestimated the difficulty of the class. But yep b’s in stem classes. What a disaster.
I have really been focusing on leadership and hold pretty strong roles in the significant clubs I’m involved in.
Actually, AP stats might be an a since the lowest test will be dropped, so at least I have that out of the way. Calculus might be an a if I did well on this test, but will likely be a b. So a few b’s this semester aren’t a huge deal as long as I pull it up next semester.
But my huge problem at the moment is physics, which I have a c in at the moment (72). I can raise it to a 78 by doing well on everything for the rest of the semester. But there’s a chance I might screw up the final and end up with a c in the class. It’s a math/science class, so it would probably affect me big time as it’s worse than 20 b’s. I probably wouldn’t care much if I received straight c’s in Spanish if I got straight A’s in everything else, but one c in AP physics junior year will really hurt me. The teacher has been accused of extremely harsh and unfair grading methods and the counselors are aware of this, so that might or might not help.
don’t look at college or education as a end of the road experience. bad grades in the past can be replaced with better grades in the future, and in harder subjects, so I think you should focus more energy in how you can progress rather than why you struggled in the past.
IMO, finding your passion is the most important goal you can work towards in your life (other than relationships, etc), and the moment you find it, put everything you have into mastering it and you will succeed in life, whether that is getting into a prestigious college, making a change in the world or finding a good job.
the fact that you care and want to do better shows you have potential - but you need to keep focused and look forward always. learn from your past, don’t let it define you.
by the way, if you don’t get in this time, consider transferring - quite common. take online courses when you can, keep building your resume and learning. wish you the best and enjoy your holidays : )
So, has anyone here gotten in or knows someone who’s gotten into one of these prestigious schools without stellar grades (3.6-3.8 uw range) without any extraordinary credentials or hooks?
Also, how much can one C in a core class hurt if everything else is up to par and I get an a next semester. Would a C in AP physics completely destroy my chances? Would I still be able to get in without an extraordinary accomplishment if it did happen? My other high achieving friends and I believe that c’s are like death sentences and we honestly believe that a 3.5 with no c’s is better than a 3.8 with a c. The idea of receiving a c just doesn’t exist to us.
Also, is the fact that it’s one semester make my situation any better or worse. Also, will straight A’s next semester hugely mitigate this semester?
So it looks like I’m getting 4 b’s this semester and my uw will be a 3.77. I plan on taking a few cc classes to pull it up to a 3.8. Do you guys think that with this gpa and the trend in my grades, I have a realistic shot at the schools I listed? Of course I don’t expect to get into HYPSM automatically, but could I at least get into a low to mid-tier ivy or a top uc like Berkeley or la for engineering with my profile if I write outstanding essays? I can’t find anyone on naviance with my stats so I can’t say much from that. I just hope that slacking off for one semester hasn’t destroyed me.
I just found out that I received an 89.49 in calc as the final was just posted, no kidding. Pretty livid about this right now but what can you do? So it looks like I’m getting 4 b’s this semester. 
there’s a chance AP physics could become a c but luckily that’s still in my control at the moment. Also, my science fair project this year is nothing revolutionary, actually pretty horrible, so my chances of making it to the isef before getting college decisions are effectively zero. There’s still the jshs, sts, Siemens, and google science fair, but the isef seemed like such a big deal. Maybe I can do some revolutionary research this summer but my ec’s still seem so commonplace and not enough to make up for mediocre grades. If I do well next semester, will I still stand a solid chance at top uc’s, mid-tier ivies like Cornell and penn, and other highly rated schools like cmu?
@“Prestigious Nerd” I’d seriously stop worrying about what grade you need to get, or ECs you need to do to “stand out.” Do your thing- several Bs is not the end of the world, nor is not making ISEF. Get off CC, focus on getting your grades up, try to enjoy yourself at least a bit during junior year.
@hope469 yea I guess I’m stressing out too much. I just come from an environment where everyone jokes about going to cc which is starting to seem like reality to me. And lol crazy Asian mothers
@“Prestigious Nerd” I feel you. Two things: 1. cc isn’t as bad as people say, and 2. having a couple of Bs is not the end of the world! There are plenty of good schools out there. Stop worrying about college and again, try to enjoy high school, and deal with the college thing when you have plenty of time next summer.
Although I feel you with crazy Asian mothers.
@hope469 I don’t think a couple of b’s (5 to be exact) is bad in anyway. I think it’s quite solid. My bigger concern is getting a c in AP physics. I feel like a c can destroy me.
I also feel that the lack of major awards or spectacular research is a weakness. No olympiads, no science fairs, other big awards, or university level research until this upcoming summer. It seems like every other person on cc who is not a urm, legacy, athlete, or daughter of a president who gets admitted to these schools has done major research for two years, wins some awards for it, and has some Olympiad qualification. Standing out as an average Asian applicant is going to be very difficult, even to get into berkeley or la for engineering. I just hope that cc isn’t representative of the average admits at these colleges.
I really want to enjoy myself junior year and actually want to cut down on a few of the ec’s. I absolutely hate pulling these all-nighters to work on a personal project.
@“Prestigious Nerd” My philosophy is do what makes you happy- if the ECs are disrupting your grades/sanity, I’d absolutely cut them down.
And remember: not everyone can have a major award (only a very small set of people can win those!) or huge research. Very few people are urm, legacy, athlete, celebrity, whatever. And keep in mind that CC is not a representative sample size- as you mentioned! Another sample for you to consider: there are people in my school who’ve gotten into Dartmouth, Yale, UPenn. None of them had any of those “big” awards- a few small regional things (MUN best delegate, made AIME, the like- my school doesn’t even offer Olympiads!). Some had Bs, B+s. Plenty of the “ordinary” (compared to the people you mentioned) can go to those schools! And even if you don’t, there are many other good schools you can get into!
And I know it sounds trite, but always a good reminder: you are not defined by grades and ECs. Don’t do ECs because of college- Olympiads absolutely aren’t a requirement to get into those schools. I feel for you. If you hate the all-nighters, don’t like the personal projects, then I’d find some way to stop them. Since it’s break right now, I’d honestly take a day to do something fun and different, unwind, clear your mind a bit. And try to enjoy second semester.
Best of luck.
I just calculated that if you remove Spanish entirely from my GPA, it goes up from 3.8 to 3.86 unweighted. Somehow, that feels very relieving as I don’t think Spanish will really matter since it’s not a core class. I hope what I’m thinking is correct.
Foreign language is considered a “core class”.
Most competitive colleges will want you to finish up to level 4 of a foreign language class so you can’t dismiss it as a ‘non-core’ class. And a foreign language is part of the UC a-g requirements.
OP, this may sound harsh, but you should chill out and relax at this point. Whatever has been done academically is already there and you have gotten enough answers from other posters. So stay off CC and let the chips fall where they may to use a cliche.
Okay, I am so hopeless at this point. I did not get a B in physics … I got a C!!! A 74!! I studied pretty hard for that final and did pretty well, 88, but my notebook grade hurt me. I got a 30/100 on my notebook with his subjective grading system and the awful stamp system which favors some people over others. I asked him for a possible extra credit opportunity and he laughed at me. There’s enough evidence of his bias towards me and some others and the counselors are dealing with it, but it still doesn’t change the c.
My gpa this semester is so awful and I’d rather not say, but I will say that I got a 4.0 … weighted. My unweighted is laughable. I had the increase in rigor and the ec commitments, with admittedly a little slacking, but also some of my best friends and mentors who I had such great times with left for college and the teacher had hosted science team retired. They’ve been hugely influential so I’ve been a bit of an emotional reck, but I’ve gotten back up and should breeze through this semester with straight A’s. I might use the essays to explain my situation a bit. I’m also starting research with a professor at ucsd and this could turn out really good.
I also emailed my guidance counselor to find out my rank and she estimated top 13-15% for grades 10-11 and that seems really bad, even though our school doesn’t officially rank, so I’ll never know. However, I found out that 90% of the students at the schools I’m eyeing on we’re in the top 10% of their classes. I assume the other 10% is for athletes, legacies, etc. Might they ninja me in and let me be in that 10% if everything else is stellar and I have compelling essays and recs? Or is it a lost cause because I’ll lower the percentage of people in the top 10% of their classes at these schools and ruin their prestige? Good thing is I’ll never know my rank for sure. My school also has lots of grade inflation (we have over 40 weighted classes) and hands out A’s in easy AP classe, so maybe that will help. But if this never happened, I’d probably be in the top 5% of my class (not absolute top because I had to take Spanish which isn’t weighted because I didn’t have the opportunity to take it in middle school).
Thing is with a great second semester will they overlook the first?
Honestly, stop worrying about college admissions at this point. I doubt calc and physics will get any easier just because you have a fresh start. Put your nose to the grindstone and don’t let up until you’ve forged a solid foundation in your second semester classes. This is the time to double down on academics. You have all summer to do personal projects and volunteering. But rest assured that tons of colleges in the United States would be delighted to accept a student in the top 13-15% of their class.
@Studious99 Calc and physics actually aren’t necessarily getting harder, actually I’ve been improving in them. It’s those initial tests that brought my down and my test scores have been going up. But one of my physics tests was a 37/100 and another was a 56/100 and those brought me down greatly. Ever since then, they’ve been in the 80s so content is not a problem. The bigger problem is with the teacher. Also, I’m definitely understanding calc and have actually gotten ahead with the material on my own and learning some advanced material. My test grades are pretty good. Absolute lowest was like a 75 and I didn’t study for that one. 89s happen. It was because we had a lot of memory quizzes, purely memorizing the formulas, the first semester and that’s not really my thing as I get like 2/10’s on them, but luckily there are none second semester.
All in all, I can still reasonably study and do homework for 6 hours per night, work another 5 hours on projects, and sleep for 5 hours. 6 hours should definitely be enough to ace every test as I’ve only been putting in like 2 hours each night this semester, which is apparently not enough.
The thing I hate is when people on this forum try to tell the ambitious on here that there are plenty of colleges that will accept them. I saw a forum where an Asian mother got bashed for asking if her son’s life was ruined because of a few bad grades and people were telling her that it wasn’t ruined in the long term future. I’m pretty sure she just wanted to know if her son could get into an elite college and everyone was trying to tell her that he doesn’t need to. I’m pretty sure they were implying he has no chance. Are you implying that my chances are ruined because of this semster? Oh I’m sure there are thousands of colleges that would take me, but honestly I’ve worked very hard and have gone above and beyond in my academics and ec’s to ensure I could get into a prestigious university. I need to go to either one of the top tier privates or a top UC for engineering. I put my list on this forum, which is on the first page. I have the mid-tier uc’s as safeties, but I could have gotten into those with much worse stats and ec’s than I have. Is this little fall down going to put top tiers out of reach even if everything else is perfect? It’s really important and non-negotiable that I get into one of these schools. It’s important to the Asian community and most of the desire to go to an elite college is coming from myself and the fact that I know how rewarding it is. My parents will not drop a dime on college for me if it’s not a good one and this is the one thing I actually agree with them on. Why should my family have trekked halfway across the world for me to go someplace average? Why should all my hard work land me at someplace like Arizona State University? I do not want to be the top at ASU, but rather an equal part of a community at someplace elite.
Wow. Listen, maybe read over what you just posted? Just because you worked hard and did well in school does not entitle you admission to a prestigious university. Working hard is good because it prepares you for the future in any school you go to, you shouldn’t be rewarded for trying. There is nothing you can do about your grades this semester at this point, so maybe instead of bashing “average” schools, think about realistic options and accept you may just have to settle for “average”.
If you can’t handle HS physics easily, regardless how rigorous it is at your HS, you won’t succeed at Caltech, and possibly at MIT. You’d be miserable even if you somehow manage to get in. Focus on your other schools.