4
2 years ago
Admissions Advice

Am I on track for good colleges? Will they understand?
Answered

I’m a junior, as of now, attending a pretty good public school. I initially attended this school during freshman year, however, I was placed into Kansas state custody right before the beginning of second semester (and add COVID on top of that). I had to move schools because of my new “legal guardian’s” placements for me and ended up going to a relatively worse school. And then I moved again … then again … then again, until finally I returned back to my initial public school for the start of junior year.

Alright, now that that story is over, my point is that I experienced significantly less rigor and got one C in regular freshman English and one B in APHuG because of all the stress that was occurring. I have not received anything less than an A since, I am involved in rather many extracurriculars now, I am taking 3 AP's and 2 Honors this year, and I hold offices across organizations.

Yet, I feel like I’m behind everyone else still, primarily because of the C and the B, the missed opportunity for AP European History, and missed opportunities for prerequisites to Honors Spanish 4.0. I kind of compare myself to other people too much sometimes lol.

TL;DR: Factors out of my control indirectly led to less course rigor, a C, and a B. Doing much better now, but fear good colleges will evaluate me negatively. Am I okay or nah?

courserigor
collegeadmissions
Honors
AP
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4 answers

6
Accepted Answer
2 years ago

You will be just fine. The common app, the application you will likely use to apply to universities, has a section for you to fill out additional information. There you can inform any potential universities you are interested in of the extenuating circumstances. And since you are showing an upward trend in grades, they will appreciate that too. Best of luck!

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3
2 years ago

You're just fine. I've had a few Cs and Bs over my time in High School and can tell you now that it's easy to bounce back from them and get a really solid GPA. You can also always make up for a weaker area with a strong ACT/SAT score and soldi extracurriculars. Also, it sounds like you have a good essay topic with the chaotic nature of moving around so much, and those life stories can be equally important to a college in the same way your course rigor is.

Overall, I would say you are looking good, and shouldn't worry too much!

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2 years ago

Hi, thank you for asking your question! It must be tough having to go through a lot of transitions while being a high school student trying to balance a difficult course load. I agree with @sdellota in that you can use the additional information section of the Common App to write about the obstacles you faced during your education. Additionally, it is important to note that despite having one or two low scores in classes, a higher standardized test score or stronger application elements (i.e. essays, letter of recommendations, extracurriculars) can increase the competitiveness of your application.

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2 years ago

Help me understand your grades better. Do you mind sharing what your GPA was in 9th and 10th? And you said you have a 4.0 GPA all As right now as a junior? Thanks

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Your chance of acceptance
Duke University
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UCLA
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Your chancing factors
Unweighted GPA: 3.7
1.0
4.0
SAT: 720 math
200
800
| 800 verbal
200
800

Extracurriculars

Low accuracy (4 of 18 factors)

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