<p>I'm a rising Junior at a pretty good public school in North Carolina. Freshman year, I got a B in Spanish II and Sophomore year I got a B in Honors English II. Of course, I wish to go to to an engineering school at MIT. Will the fact that I got two Bs in language classes hurt me less than if the Bs were in math or science classes? If I get no more Bs for the rest of high school, will they be likely to forgive this early high school laziness?</p>
<p>Also, as a side question, I'm planning on taking AP Stat and Calc AB / BC as well as AP Chem and APES. I'm not planning on taking any AP English or Social Studies classes, going to just stick with Honors (I don't know, I may take AP English IV if I get close to 100 in Honors English III). Will MIT see that I'm mostly interested in math and science and not penalize me for not taking the highest level english/history classes available to me? Should I take all of the AP classes I can (I can get all As if I put in enough effort) or will they see me as a try-hard showing off and boosting his GPA?</p>
<p>These are not really questions with absolute answers.</p>
<p>Will it kill your application to have two B’s in non-science classes? Definitely not (and it wouldn’t kill your application even if they were science classes). Would it be better, all things being equal, to have straight A’s? Yes. </p>
<p>Will you be rejected solely because you haven’t taken the most advanced courses available to you in English and History? No. Is it better, as a general rule, to take the most advanced courses available and to excel in them? Yes. </p>
<p>Ultimately, you won’t get into MIT or get rejected from MIT based only on whether you took AP English or not, so you should do what you feel is best for yourself, aside from any college admissions consequences. If you don’t get into MIT, would you regret having taken AP English, or would you regret not having taken it?</p>
<p>In general, you should be in the hardest track if applying to the top colleges. Don’t opt for honors if AP is available for your core classes. </p>
<p>I agree with Mollie–it won’t kill your application and won’t hurt as much as if they were math/science classes, but it would be better if you had straight A’s…</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for the answers! I’ll see how Honors English and Social Studies goes. If I get close to 100s in both classes, I’ll probably take all AP core classes Senior year.</p>
<p>I got Bs in Precalculus, Zoology, AP Physics C, AP English Language, and Spanish 4. I got into MIT and Caltech. You’re more than just your grades, so long as you can still demonstrate that you are awesome.</p>
<p>What did you do to distinguish yourself? Did you create an app with thousands of downloads? That’s what I’m going to try and do. I’m already about half way done with the app :D</p>
<p>I think I just missed the rise of apps. I’ve never made one in my life. I guess I will eventually have to.</p>
<p>I went to college full time a year early and did undergraduate research while I was there and had a blast. I’m guessing that’s what made me stand out, if I stood out at all. I’m not sure what I did right, except that it was wrong for all the other schools I applied to and I’m glad MIT saw something good in me. I also really liked standardized tests, in a way that no child should like standardized tests, so I took a lot of AP exams and wrecked my high school attendance record. My SAT scores were fantastic. I had a 2360 and three 800s on subject tests, all but one on the first try. Those were the days… :p</p>
<p>I also really like standardized tests! <rant> However, in my school district, they’re dumbing down the finals to hell. I studied for the civics and economics final, but they had introduced this new final called the MSL and it asked completely obscure questions having nothing to do with the curriculum. Anybody could have gotten a 100 on it without studying. To think that I could have spent my time studying for chemistry instead of memorizing court cases and the amendments! (though I guess these are good to know for general knowledge) </rant></p>
<p>I think I’ll have to get a perfect on the math SAT and a near perfect on the critical reading to stay competitive. Time to start practicing for the SAT and creating an Android app (I’m also going to have to start really studying as well)!</p>