I’m currently a sophomore in highschool and the previous semester I got 5 B’s, 1 A, and 1 C. But in my previous year, I git all As. So if I get like mostly As and a small amount of Bs the rest of my highschool career, will I be okay to get into the T10 schools??
Definitely try to get as many As as you can and show how you can improve a C to an A. Check to see how your school reports grades to schools. If they do it by year, you could get your yearly average up to As and be fine. T10 schools are very competitive and even perfect GPAs can’t guarantee you a spot.
Thank you so much!!
There are literally hundreds of great colleges and universities in the US. You have your eye on a tiny selection. Why? Why do you reject such a large percent of schools in favor of a few that reject nearly all the applicants?
Getting into the most competitive schools in the country (schools like Harvard) is really not about how many A’s and B’s you have. Harvard’s incoming class could be duplicated a 100 times over by students if the only criteria were all A’s on the transcript. There are all kinds of factors that are relevant for admissions, many of which are not under the student’s control at all. But for those that are, it’s really not just about getting A’s. Those top schools are looking for the people who will reflect well on (or contribute a lot to or both) the school 10 and 20 years after they graduate. They are also looking for the students who will enhance the campus while they attend the school. They are not looking for students whose contribution would be only to study and grind out A’s.
Given that, and the fact that most of the variables are not easily controlled by you, your best bet is to do as well as you can academically while being involved in meaningful activities to the level possible while still maintaining your grades. Select courses that you think will provide you with a strong academic foundation prior to college. Don’t make high school into a 4 year prep for applications. That would be a huge mistake. These are important years for you. Make the most of them-for you.
Over at Yale, the tour guides like to brag that George W. Bush was a ‘C’ student in high school and in college. So, in his honor, Admissions likes to hold one spot open each year for a ‘C’ student who might have the potential of becoming the next POTUS!
That said, the competition at T10 schools is fierce. Admissions has their choice of thousands of “Polly Perfect” students who have straight A’s. so your chances will be lower, and almost non-existent at HYPSM, with 5 B’s and a C (sorry for being blunt).
That’s because Admissions will not want to set you up for failure. Just as course rigor varies among high schools, there are also varying levels of course rigor at different colleges. Harvard (and the rest of the ivies) – rightly, or wrongly – believe they are teaching to the gifted and talented students of this world, so to challenge those “best of the best” students, professors are encouraged to pour on the work.
For example, some courses normally taught over an entire year at another college are taught during one semester at Harvard. Let’s take LS2 (Evolutionary Human Physiology and Anatomy), which is the Bio course recommended for students interested in pursing medical school. The course is jammed packed with things you wouldn’t be asked to do at another college, like identifying every bone in the human body by week two in the course, something most students don’t have to do until medical school. Yes, it’s a fabulous experience for some students, but because ivy league professors have higher expectations of their student’s, a student with a B average in high school is going to struggle to be a C or D student if they take a course like LS2. So, chances are that Admissions will pass on a student who they feel cannot become an ‘A’ student at their college. Here’s the syllabus. You can judge for yourself how well you might do just by looking at the expectations of the professors for this course: https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/adamfrange/files/life_sciences_2_evolutionary_human_physiology_and_anatomy_syllabus_2012.pdf
Not to despair though. I’ve written about this before, but here it is again:
So, study hard and do your best in school. You can succeed graduating at the top of your class from any college! Best of luck to you in the upcoming years!
The important question is why are you getting B’s? Are the courses too difficult? Are you not spending enough time studying? Are you simply a B student? In other words are there factors that can be changed or factors that need to be accepted.
Your life will not be ruined if you are not a top student. You can get a good education and a successful life outside of a T10 school.
I agree with @kkmama. You need to figure out why you are getting B’s, and do better. This might mean taking easier courses. This might mean working harder. This might mean staying ahead in your homework and seeking out help.
Do as well as you can for the rest of this year and next year. Then think about which universities make sense for you.
Remember that the highest ranked universities don’t have any monopoly on strong professors or smart students. If there is any academic difference at all in a top 10 university it is that the professors can assume that every student is in the top 1% and thus they can make the courses, the homework, and the tests more difficult.
Also, try to write grammatically correct sentences, even when you are just posting a question on college confidential.
I agree with @lostaccount.
To answer your question directly, however, unless you’ve got a strong hook, you need to keep your UW GPA above a 3.8 (out of 4.0), keeping in mind that’s just one factor of the application.
^^ To reinforce @Groundwork2022’s comment above, see: https://www.gocrimson.com/sports/mgolf/faq
If a college like Harvard is looking for golf prospects to have an unweighted GPA of 3.8 on a 4.0 scale and ACT scores of 33 (or the SAT equivalent), you can be pretty sure they want the same thing from non-athletes. Yes, grades and GPA are just one factor, but at a T10 school, academic applicants need to have – at a minimum – the same (or better) stats than recruited athletes (who are often thought to have lesser stats than the overall student body).If you don’t have those credentials, then you should be applying to other colleges where your unweighted GPA and test scores falls into the middle 50% or higher.
“Over at Yale, the tour guides like to brag that George W. Bush was a ‘C’ student in high school and in college. So, in his honor, Admissions likes to hold one spot open each year for a ‘C’ student who might have the potential of becoming the next POTUS!”
Anyone who has been reading the data coming out of the Harvard discrimination lawsuit will know this is only true if you’re a well-connected legacy, URM or top level athlete.