<p>Not sure if this is the right forum to post this in, but I was hopeing someone could help me.</p>
<p>As a freshmen, I got pretty good grades taking the hardest classes offered at my school for freshmen grades. Honors are the highest level that you can take at my school as freshmen, so I took honors alg 2/trig, honors english 1, and honors physical science. Then I took world history (couldn't take honors/ap as a freshmen), Latin 1, French 3, and then some elective classes. I got straight a's in all of them except my science class, where I got a B.</p>
<p>However, this year (sophomore year), the pressure's gotten to me, especially with my parents making me take harder classes than I can handle. I'm taking Honors english 2 (b/b+), honors us history 1 (b-), ap biology (b-/b), introduction to analysis (c+/b-), french 4 (a), and that's it for academic classes. i'm just wondering will it hurt me badly if i can at least keep them in the b range and then do decently in my junior year?</p>
<p>Next year, I'm planning to do AP English, AP Calc AB, AP Chem, French 5, and regular US History 2 (for my academic classes). If I can pull off a's and b's, will I be ok? Hope someone can help, thanks!</p>
<p>don't screw around with any year that counts towards your grand high school GPA. colleges claim not to take rank and decile into account but that is a lie.</p>
<p>Oh, akalboy, we are in the boat ! My sophomore year isn't good but there has been a significant improvement in the junior year ! I'm still wondering whether or not admission officiers will be dazzled ! So guys, do bad grades in one year still hurt your application even though there are improvements ?</p>
<p>yes they will hurt...
All values used a purely fictional:
I mean assuming u have a 2.5 in Soph. and a 3.5 in Junior. if another persohas a 3.5 in both, then it will definitely hurt you. But if you can really pick up that junior year to say a 3.8 which is very high and show that it was an anamoly( substantiated by a good Freshman and Senior year too) then you should be okay</p>
<p>Hum, it is not that bad. Like akalboy, I deem it mediocre ! And I forgot to mention that I come from a country with completely different education system ! So, is there anything I can do, besides improving my GPA, to make up for that ?</p>
<p>well, do the rest of ur app well. let them do the understanding of ur transcript. I had only marks from a dif. system thAt I srnt and got accepted in nice places</p>
<p>yeah, that's the thing, i wanted to go to a top 25 school. but suppose i can get all of those grades to the higher ones of the 2 i posted (still have last quarter), and then in my junior year i'm able to get mainly a/a-'s, with maybe 1 b or something, would that be ok? because i'm just kind of wondering, how will colleges weigh taking harder classes and getting lower grades as opposed to doing easier classes and doing better. because i'm taking the hardest classes available to sophomores at my school, but i know other people in my school who take all regular classes and do better. so yeah, just wondering, will colleges at least weigh that in to a certain point?</p>
<p>well, its the former. If u do some dumb classes and get all A's they know whats wrong. they want you to take the hardest courseload and then do your best</p>
<p>some B's with hardest is better than all A's on a slackworthy courseload</p>
<p>well, the cash wont hurt your admission, but will kill your Aid
and asian will hurt you according to many people. I cant say as I dont know (Im asian and got accepted good places tho..) but people say that asian is worse to be as they expect a lot more from you</p>
<p>ok, yeah, wasn't really looking for aid, just that i've heard from a few people that these days places like the ivy's are trying to get people from not so good backgrounds so they can be like "we help people too" and that type of attitude</p>
<p>and thanks so much for the help antarius :)</p>
<p>Gosh you sound just like me. I totally screwed up sophomore year...taking journalism was a bad idea. 1st semester wasnt so bad, mostly As...but second semester I got a C in precalc and a C in journalism (unfairly, but its a long story). I found out I was moving to CO after living in the same house all my life, and I think that affected me in getting good grades. </p>
<p>but I've adjusted pretty well. I got straight A's last semester and I plan on getting straight As when the school year is over. I'm taking 3 APs. </p>
<p>bad grades in any year is bad for your GPA...but try to get straight As your junior year and you should be OK</p>
<p>It's a cliche, but what top colleges say over and over is that they want the hardest classes with top grades. And that is what they get primarily. A bunch of Bs isn't going to go over well at the top schools for an Asian unhooked candidate. Do your best and transfer.</p>
<p>yeah, i've heard from a lot of people that it might be better for me to look at decent colleges (not HYPSM type colleges, but like USC and Carnegie Mellon), although even at those colleges i'm not sure if i'd get in, lol</p>
<p>oh, and not sure if this will help or not, but i go to a public school that's consistantly ranked in the top 10 in nj, i believe we were in the top 5 this year. my school doesn't give out ranks, but out of a class of approx 250 students, i think i'm in the top 15% (weighted of course)</p>
<p>Your junior grades will be the most important - so do your best this quarter, and try for a rigorous but not insane schedule next year. When you are looking for matches, you will want to look at schools where your SAT put you in the upper 1/3 (at least) of matriculated students, that accept a reasonable number of applicants (say, over 35-40%), and that do not seem to be too focused on grades (most websites show the breakdown of students by class rank - you can to see a reasonable number of 2nd decile kids being admitted). </p>
<p>The fact that you are not applying for aid will help. Good SAT II scores will also help - they will show that you have mastered the material in your classes even if you received a b instead of an a.</p>
<p>Have you taken a practice SAT yet? I can suggest a couple of school to look at if you have a guess as to what your score will be.</p>
<p>i haven't taken an sat yet, but on the psat i got a 194 this year. i'm assuming i'll do better on the sat's just because i'll be prepped for it, but yeah, i got a 194 on the psat if that helps</p>