What should I do at this point? Can I still get into a top school?

Applying to College
1

Freshman year, I took seven classes per semester, and got Bs in bio and lit both semesters. I had one honors class. I didn’t really focus that year.

Sophomore year I took six classes, two were AP and two were honors. I got straight As. I took 3 AP exams (cs, chinese, physics 1) and got 5s on all of them.

Junior year first semester finals are coming up, I’m taking 5 classes, two APs (I regret taking such easy classes). I had a ton of personal problems this semester, including lots of girl stuff and family deaths. I put my time and effort into someone that didn’t care about me. Now that someone left me, and I think I have finally woken up. The problem is, two of my grades (calc and physics) depend on if I do really well on the finals. Two of my other grades are borderline (91-92%) and I’m really worried that I will get 3 Bs this semester.

Finals start tomorrow for me. I am really not sure what I’m going to do. I am willing to do basically anything. The problem is, I can’t study for finals late into the night because I need sleep for the next day’s tests.

I was aiming for colleges like Berkeley, UCLA, and even MIT for computer science related majors. Are those even possible? I calculated that I would have around a 3.85 u/w GPA if I got 3 Bs this semester and straight As the rest of high school, however it would be pretty low (maybe 3.80) on my application, which I will submit before any of my senior year grades come out I think.

I am planning on taking 15 more AP exams, for a total of 18 AP exams. I am also planning on taking 5 courses next year, all AP, even AP lit and AP gov/econ. I have always been in regular lit and history.

I am planning on taking ACT, but have not yet.

As for extracurriculars, I’m doing USA Computer Olympiad, which I plan on getting into at least Gold Division, which I’m not sure is good for anything. I qualified for AIME last year, and plan on qualifying again this year. I passed advanced level CM piano last year, but that’s not too great. I’m doing physics olympiad this year, and maybe I can qualify for something. I also have an internship at a startup company that is building an ios app. They think it will get thousands, or even millions of users, but it is still under development. I am going to play a varsity sport for junior/senior year, and I was captain of JV sophomore year (again not sure if these things even matter).

Do I still have any chance at a really good college? I have really high expectations of myself, but I really messed up this semester. I still can’t believe I did the things I did for her…

What else can I do to boost my app? Time is not an issue for me. During sophomore year, I took the most challenging classes I could and got straight As while having lots of time for gaming (which I quit), hanging out with friends, TV etc.

What do colleges want to see from a person in my situation?

Sorry for the long post, I am pretty desperate right now. I am also going to talk with my school counselor about this tomorrow, but I doubt they will be of much help because they don’t understand high standards. He will probably try to convince me that my current grades are good. I know they are decent, but I expect more from myself. I want to do more. I’m not getting pressured by others, I like driving myself to do more.

I don’t believe I’m stressed, I am just really disappointed.

2

If anyone is wondering, I am Chinese.

This is our school’s GPA ranking info:

  1. 4.00 - 3.97
  2. 3.96 - 3.86
  3. 3.85 - 3.76
  4. 3.75 - 3.70
  5. 3.69 - 3.53
  6. 3.52 - 3.38
  7. 3.37 - 3.22
  8. 3.21 - 3.03
  9. 3.02 - 2.68
  10. 2.64 - below
3

There are plenty of very good universities that will admit you. I would not be too concerned about that. Sure it is possible that you will not get into the most selective schools but depending on what your plans are for when you finish your degree, there will be a program that can give you the opportunities that you seek and will challenge you. You can start with your state flagship.

4

In my high school, people always joke about going to the community college. I honestly don’t think my grades are bad to the point that I have to go to a community college.

Does anyone know what I can do at this point? Do I still have a chance at good schools right after high school?

5

xraymancs already answered you. There are plenty of good Us that will admit you. Climb off the ledge. What is your home state?

6

Perhaps I should rephrase my question.

Before this year, I was looking at private schools like MIT, Carnegie Mellon, and Caltech.

I am from California.

I thought UC Berkeley and UCLA would be easy for me.

Now, I’m not sure where I’m at.

7

MIT and Caltech, which rely REALLY heavily on numbers, indeed might be reaches. However, we can’t accurately chance you without test scores, which are really important to both schools. So don’t give up just yet–focus on prepping for your ACT, and for MIT you’ll need to take several SAT IIs and do well on them.

What’s your UC GPA? Note that it doesn’t include freshman year. Once you have that + test scores, we could chance you for UCLA and UCB. You need really good stats to have a shot at either. BUT you are more than on track, even without your test scores yet, for all the other UCs.

Otherwise, your GPA is more than good for a wide variety of private schools. Again, you really need test scores to get an accurate picture of where you should apply, but generally I’d advise you to start getting comfortable with additional schools. Start thinking about schools outside of the top 30 on the US News list–there are a LOT of really good ones. Depending on whether you need financial aid or merit aid, those schools may end up being your best bet for either. You can still apply to MIT, Carnegie Mellon and Caltech, but if you’re open to additional privates, you’ll have a healthier application cycle. Don’t worry too much! 3.8 is a great GPA.

8

Why in the world would you count UCB and UCLA as being easy? Did you apply to any other UCs?

9

California has lots of good UCs and CSUs to choose from.

Make sure that you talk to your parents about what they will contribute, and run the net price calculator on each college’s web site.

Take the SAT and ACT this year. Then you have the scores by summer and can retry the initially-better one (or both) in the fall if you want. If you are aiming for highly selective schools or some specific majors at UCs, take the recommended SAT subject tests (usually late this year corresponding to courses you are completing).

10

The elite schools (not including, perhaps, the UC’s) find that one way to differentiate students is to try to find independence and curiosity-driven activity. Working for the startup seems to be a great example, and in a year (when it matters to your applications), the start-up will be that much further along. Follow your passions, and show HOW you approach/attack opportunities. If you thoroughly plumb a problem; if you engage others in a collaboration; if you leverage existing infrastructure (programs, people, hardware, etc.) to accelerate your progress, you will find a much warmer reception at elite schools than if you are an officer in each of your school’s clubs. Theses are far more important than gpa (beyond a certain threshold, which will likely vary by school).

If you compete in USAMO, but also you have a club that brings students who never scored very well on AMC to the point where they are getting close to qualifying for AIME (as an example), if you somehow attempt to cause positive change in the larger world outside of yourself, you will be a success no matter where you go to college. That is the kind of student an elite university wants. Focus on following your passion and your curiosity. Someone who has been emotionally vulnerable; who FEELS; and who has tried to impact the world will do just fine with a 3.8 UW GPA, great test scores, and those tons of APs.

If you only try to perform in order to please others, you could have a 4.0 UW, and a 36 ACT and 18 '5’s and bitterly complain about how schools do not appreciate your gifts. Message- applied gifts and involvement in the world (including “girl trouble”) are GOOD things. Non-applied demonstration of proficiency; less so.

Read mission statements of schools and mottos and purposes. You will see this is so.

I leave you with a direct quote from MIT President Rafael Reif from a recent missive: “it is inspiring to see the potential our alumni hold to extend MIT’s power to do good for the world.”

Chill!

11

@proudterrier My UC GPA is 4.66, because junior year first semester grades are not posted yet. After this semester, I’m most likely getting Bs in 2/5 of my classes, AP Calc BC and AP Physics C. This really bothers me because calculus is my easiest class, but because of issues with my now ex-gf, I got a 27% and a 20% on the last two exams. Assuming I get Bs in those classes this semester, my UC GPA will become a 4.47, which is still extremely good, but my regular unweighted GPA will be 3.79.

@“Erin’s Dad” I said I used to count them as easy. That was because I had a UC GPA of 4.66 last year. I am a junior right now, so I’m not doing applications yet.

@ItsJustSchool
Thank you so much for that post. This makes me feel a lot better. I guess I’ll try to do something extraordinary then. Maybe taking 18 AP exams isn’t such a great idea!