I have 2 B+s in my second sem of junior year. I’ve never had a B before, and I am wondering if the Bs will affect my chances of getting into top schools (T20s) for computer science. The B+s are in AP Calculus BC and AP Macroeconomics. I am planning on applying RD, so I am hoping I can make up for it by doing very well in the first semester of my junior year. Would my 2 B+s affect my chances significantly (would they turn a potential acceptance into a rejection)? I am especially worried because it’s the second semester of junior year.
There are thousands of applicants with perfect GPAs rejected at these schools, and also many with less than perfect GPAs accepted. Holistic admissions will look at your total package, so a B+ or two in tough classes will not kill your chances. Put together a strong application and give it your best shot.
As I’m sure you know T20 for computer science have acceptance rates in the ~10% range, if not lower. It’s a lottery in many ways so be sure to have several safeties. Find 1-2 schools with 75% acceptance range in an area you like and don’t choose by ranking, choose by geography, size, cost, and fit.
Furthermore, it isn’t clear if you mean you will pull of an A- for year (with B+s for second semester) in which case I want to reassure you they care more about your end of year grade…and also double check if 11th grade semester-level grades are even on your final transcript sent (they aren’t in either of my kids’s schools…) Note, I wouldn’t worry about B+s anyway, but really don’t stress about B+s for a semester…
If you don’t get accepted to T 20 colleges, you will never know why. Kids with perfect 4.0 GPAs get rejected from these highly rejective colleges.
So I have three suggestions:
Do your personal best and get the best grades you can get.
Don’t worry about two B+ grades. There will still be plenty of colleges where you will be a welcome student.
You need to broaden your college ideas beyond the T20 because those are reaches for everyone so start looking now for a variety of colleges with varying levels of selectivitity.
My school only does semester based grades, but if they were to average it, I would have an A- for the year. However, they don’t put yearly grades on the transcript, so I don’t think that would matter in my case. Thank you for replying!
I have a few achievements (USACO Plat, AIME Qualifier, President of CS Club, Top 3% rank, national merit scholar (likely bc 1520 PSAT)), so I think I have a decent shot at getting into at least one T20 (obviously nowhere near guaranteed). I’m just wondering if those 2 B’s are enough to kill my chances.
interesting, I have never heard of not having a year-end average! though one of my kids school has no GPA calcuated;)
FWIW admissions offices frequently recalculate GPAs for their own purposes, not sure what they do with an “only semester” transcripts, but they may just average semesters…
Since you are applying for CS, the B in Macoreconomics should not matter much. For AP Calc BC you can try to submit a AP score of 5 to counteract the B.
could be! Learn something new everyday! Makes my other advice a little off for semester based systems, I guess. Regardless AOs are recalculating GPAs somehow to compare semester grades vs. annual grades. Not sure how that works! maybe someone else does…Also now suspect UCs are different…
I got the B because of a group test, in which I took a test with a randomly assigned group and one of the tests was graded. Unfortunately, I got a bad group and the worst test was graded. I will certainly get a 5 on the AP test, as I almost got a perfect score on the practice test. Will that be enough to show that I’m not bad at calculus? I don’t think it’s fair that I was graded based on the performance of another person.
You can make a brief note in common app that the class grade was partially based on group projects. Say your AP test grade better reflects your individual comprehension. Don’t sound whiny, just matter of fact ( assuming you do well)
Questions framed this way are impossible to answer in a meaningful way. Colleges will have access to your whole transcript, so of course any grade on the transcript can potentially “affect” their decision.
But any individual grade is only one small piece of information among many, many other pieces of information, so whether that one piece of information being a B+ instead of an A- or whatever is going to actually make the difference in their final decision is impossible to know. Of course it is unlikely if it is just one grade like that, still unlikely but maybe a little less unlikely if it is two, and so on, but none of that is really actionable information anyway.
If it helps, though, there is no college I know of which literally requires all its admits to have perfect grades. On the other hand, the most selective colleges reject many people with perfect grades.
So as others are suggesting, you should make sure to apply to some colleges where people with your grades and other qualifications are often admitted, and also some where they are pretty much always admitted barring special circumstances. And even for “Reaches”, unless you have some positive special circumstances, I would stick to colleges where your GPA is within at least their normal middle-50% (to the extent you can ascertain a comparable GPA range for your type of applicant, major if they admit by major, and so on).
To the extent these grades affect your GPA and therefore affect that analysis, OK. But I would not give them any more (or less) consideration than that.
2 B on a transcript “probably” won’t get you rejected. Feeling the need to explain (but doing it poorly as most people end up doing) or harping on the two B grades “definitely” will get you rejected.
IMO: colleges do not expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to face challenges, deal with adversity, come out a better version of yourself and move on.
What do other kids from your school tend to get in those classes? Where do you likely fall in the context of your class, meaning is an A and a B+ typical/above average/below average? Do many apply to the schools where you want to apply?
Life isn’t always fair - and group projects (with lesser participation kids) will continue. You adapt - don’t make excuses.
Two Bs is not the death knell you are making it out to be and you took Calc BC as a Jurnior. You are way ahead of yourself - and that will look good.
You have zero to worry about - but let this be a lesson about group projects and how to adapt - because it’s not the last, it’ll come up on interviews (tell me about a time you were in a group where others weren’t carrying their weight) and can even make a great college essay topic on handling adversity.
PS - don’t excuse the B (I was in a bad group). You got a B - but why and how are you going to learn from it to improve the situation the next time).
Guess what - you’re a human being, not a robot. And that you got a B is why life is interesting vs. boring.