I’m currently a junior at a public school taking 3 APs while the rest are honors. After doing some calculations, I’m pretty sure that I’ll be ending the year with a B+, a B, and/or a B- in my AP’s. These are my first b’s I’ve gotten in highschool and I want to know if my chances to brown are shot.
My EC’s are good/nothing to worry about, and I also swim for a competitive club team and have for 7 years (captained at both club and HS). If I’m able to get 4/5 on my AP exams and a 2200+ SAT score, will it somewhat make up for those B’s?
Having a few Bs in your junior year hurts a bit, but absolutely doesn’t ruin your chances. Keep your grades up, but don’t forget to focus on the other parts of your application
As an aside, your SAT score is hugely more important that your AP scores, for college admissions purposes.
“Getting a B won’t keep you out of Brown and getting an A won’t get you in.”
But three Bs in the first suite of rigorous courses certainly doesn’t help. You better hope to take a killer schedule next semester and have As in all your rigorous courses. Otherwise, you’ll be far back in the pack – and with the nos. of applicants at schools like Brown, that’s a very bad thing.
I don’t know your other metrics (culm GPA, ACT/SAT) but one of the BEST reasons to eschew ED/EA is to await a great 7th semester – the trick is getting that great semester.
It’s just you’re not leaving your Jr year on a high note, but instead a downward trend when you’re hitting your tough courses. It makes one pause for concern w/o knowing the rest of your transcript and test scores
Maybe a little off topic, but someone recently asked me a similar question – their son just doesn’t do all that well in math. So I wondered about someone who is is an intended humanities major, who does outstanding in all humanities courses but who shows a weakness in math, for example. How do you think the math weakness would affect admission? There are lots of admitted students who never take a math class (I was one) or will ever need math in their careers. My math scores were pretty good, back in the day, but I still wonder if the ‘most rigorous’ courses criteria leave room for someone who is, say, mathematically challenged.
^^ I attended an information session at Brown this past winter where the admissions officer said not having a calculus class on the transcript was the “kiss of death”. I imagine that kiss of death is not always fatal, but it was clear that the absence of calculus was not a positive.
I was also at an info session where this was brought up in a way. Someone asked “Is it better to get all A’s in regular classes or some B’s in AP classes?” They responded “all A’s in AP classes.”