Am I taking grades to hard?Answered
Hi I'm Ian and I'm going to be a Senior in high school next year.
My Asian parents have recently been stressing me out tons because I received 2 b+ in 8th grade grades and they show up on the transcript. They want me to go to the best schools in the US such as Harvard, MIT, Princeton but as looking on google it appears that it said that not having a perfect GPA will affect my chances at Ivies and top schools. Will those schools take into consideration my 2 B+'s that count into my GPA. Which is a 3.96 as I got straight As in high school.
Ian
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3 answers
Hey, don’t take it too hard. I can tell you I had the same mindset. I got a B- in one of my classes and thought it would ruin my admissions chances to some of my choices, but I can reassure you it is definitely not the end all be all.
The top schools are always difficult to pinpoint admissions chances. Although the schools do look for grades, there are other things within the applications that hold weight. People have gotten into Ivy leagues having gotten B’s or C’s in a couple of high school classes before and have made up for what is a not as competitive in GPA with competitive test scores or extracurriculars.
The problem with grades is that when applying to an Ivy League, everyone has good grades at that point, so a GPA isn’t going to exactly set you apart (even though it is heavily considered). Top schools like to see student passions and impressive sets of extracurriculars in a student’s application as well. They like seeing loads of dedication, leadership, commitment, etc. So if you can make that clear in your list of extracurriculars what you a unique passion for, you would have a higher chance of getting in.
The college essay is also extremely important in setting your application apart. So even if your GPA is not perfect per say, if you are able to clearly present how you stand out in a way that these top universities will find you to be teachable and have leadership potentials, you give yourself a competitive chance even with a 3.96 GPA.
Don't worry too much about your middle school grades. Even though they appear on your transcript, prestigious colleges primarily focus on your 9th-12th grade performance. They believe that a student's academic potential is best demonstrated during these years in school.
Hi,
You're totally gonna be fine, most people have at least one or two B+'s and still get into good schools. If you're still worried about it, I would ask your counselor if you're able to take those grades off your transcript because they're from middle school, I was able to do that with some of the B's I got in middle school and it helped my GPA
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Wow! Thank you so much