Will getting a couple of B's in your junior year greatly hurt my chances?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Currently Junior at one of top public high schools in Georgia: Alan C. Pope High
Korean America male
(English is my 2nd language; lived in U.S. since for 6 yrs.)</p>

<p>GPA: 4.17 W, 3.8 UW Rank: 35/491</p>

<p>-My main concern is if my chances of admission at top colleges will decrease dramatically, since I ended up with 3 B's (two 88's and one 87) the 1st semester of my junior year?
(I'm on a block schedule with 4 classes, but I am technically taking 5 because 1 is APUSH/Lit bundle)
- And do I even stand a chance at ivies like UPenn???</p>

<p>SAT: 1350(730/620)1st time (not good), I know; 2nd time goal: at least 2100(650 V/750 M/700 W)
(I got 2070(640V/740M/690W) on practice New SAT, if it helps any…)
- Will take SAT IIs in Math IC / IIC, US History, Spanish
So far I have taken Honors everything and 3 APs this year...</p>

<p>Senior courses (6 APs):
AP Literature, AP Gov and AP Econ, Spanish 7, Health/Fitness
AP Gov and AP Econ, AP Physics, AP Spanish, AP Statistics</p>

<p>ECs:
Habitat for Humanity 3 yrs- elected Vice President
National Honor Society 2 yrs- elected Treasurer
SGA 2 yrs – Homeroom Rep.
Key Club 2 yrs
Mu Alpha Theta (Math Honor Society) 2 yrs
Math Team 3 yrs
Track (JV) 1 yr
Spanish Club 3 yrs
Spanish Honor Society 1 yr
Concert Band 2 yrs</p>

<p>summer computer camp @ Georgia Tech
Summer Peru Mission Trip with church
ID Tech Summer Camp @ Emory
Student Conservation Association (month-long volunteer program involving conservation projects in various national parks across the country)
Praise leader at my church (piano and guitar)
Vacation Bible School Teacher</p>

<p>Student of the Month (responsibility)
Honor Band (trumpet)
academic awards in World Geography, Spanish, Math</p>

<p>Schools I am considering (please suggest any other selective schools if possible):
Columbia(even bother???)
UPenn
Brown
Northwestern
Emory
Tufts
NYU
Boston U
GA Tech
American U</p>

2

<p>you're fine for GA Tech, Boston U, Penn, Tufts, American (you could walk in there) and Emory.
My suggestion to you would be to apply ED to a school to greatly increase your chances and I'm sure any of those schools would take you if you apply early, especially Tufts, Penn, or Emory.</p>

3

<p>Bs won't really hurt your chances, as long as you bring up that SAT score. with a better score i think you'd have a good shot at columbia and upenn</p>

4

<p>got_rice is right...ur GPA is awesome..but a few B's isnt a killer..if u get straight B's..then u have a problem. SAt score should be over 2200 and you have a great shot at all schools</p>

5

<p>thank you for your comments...so do i have at least a little chance at ivies?</p>

6

<p>Class rank is more important. Emory should be a strong bet for you. Ivies are probably reaches with your current SAT, Cornell is the best bet.</p>

7

<p>I got into Columbia ED with a 3.83 UW GPA. So I think you have a shot. Bring up that SAT score a little bit and write some really unique essays. Best of luck!</p>

8

<p>not sure about penn being fine, it's up there... it's actually quite a bit ahead of columbia...</p>

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<p>wow really? i looked at the acceptance rates...and penn was 21% while columbia was dazzling 11%</p>

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<p>and yea my sat needs dramatic improvement...wut will be the average NEW sat of ivies like penn and columbia...??? any ideas...i know the avg old sat is somewhere around 1410ish...</p>

11

<p>penn was ranked 4th in usnews... and keep in mind more people apply to columbia*</p>

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<p>Actually, cujoe, more people apply to Penn. Penn is the largest Ivy league school and Columbia College is the smallest. Yes, Penn is ranked 4th in US News, but every other major ranking system places Columbia ahead of Penn. The reason why Penn is ranked so high in US News is because the editor in chief is a Wharton grad.</p>

<p>Columbia, of all major national universities, was tied for third in difficulty to get in last year (behind Harvard and Princeton and tied with Yale).</p>

13

<p>Penn is perhaps the easiest Ivy to get into outside of Cornell, Columbia is harder without a doubt.</p>

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<p>so any other suggestions on boosting my chances at those schools besides raising my SAT score???</p>

15

<p>slipper1234... u forgettin' bout brown and dartmouth here...</p>

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<p>This has really nothing to do with your post, but I had to mention this:</p>

<p>Currently Junior at one of top public high schools in Georgia:
Alan C. Pope High</p>

<p>Where are you getting this information from?? Perhaps you should try tranferring to Walton, since everybody knows that Walton is a much better academic school than Pope. (And I'm serious... somebody asked this at an Emory visit) Since Walton was ranked in the top 2% of public schools in the country and all...</p>

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<p>well, i hadn't thought of that, but pope is also considered a tough school behind walton...
if i transferred to walton my rank would go down even more from my crappy 35/499...
i hav 4.17 gpa and im 35th, which suggests that ppl, especially in my class of 2006, are either crazy hard-workers or naturally smart...</p>

<p>and ppl from my school DO get into ivies and other top selective universities...its just that som smart ppl go2 UGA...which i dun understand...</p>

<p>so im getting the information from mainly my thoughts and ppl from walton that i know, who have been accepted into top universities or are planning on applying to top schools...
so i think top schools should most likely have gotten many applications from my high school before...probably not as many as ones from walton of course...</p>

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<p>i just said it's tough bcuz it's tough to be ranked within top 5% range...especially my class for some odd reason...like this one guy from graduating class of 2005 has a gpa around 4.2ish...but is ranked 15th out of 500ish...so in a way its not fair for me bcuz im competing against so many other smart classmates...but luckily most of them are either nerds or naturally smart ppl with little ECs and leadership...so im striving to be a diverse ASIAN away from the typical asian students...</p>

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<p>I don't know, I hate to be the pessimist, but I think your class rank (7%-ile) and SAT (just going by the scores you have so far) make Columbia, Brown, Penn and Northwestern significant reaches for you. Those schools are filled with kids in the top 1 or 2% of their classes and a lot of them go to super competitive high schools. I also think Tufts and Emory are reach/match, NYU can be tough but I think you're in there, the last 3 look good. Of course a higher SAT next time could make a difference.</p>

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<p>yea i know...that i only have chances at those schools if i significantly raise my SAT...</p>

<p>thanks for the comment...sometimes its beneficial to hear "pessimistic" comments...</p>