I am a 10 grade student at a top pre school ex. Choate, Deerfield, SPS, Andover, Groton. I am first gen, high income, hispanic. I have very strong ECs, with national awards in what I want to study. I also have around a 40% chance of playing either of my two sports at a division one level. My SAT is a 1520. The one issue is my GPA is a 3.3 with average course rigor compared to my classmates. The even bigger issue is I just got a C in AP biology my fall term. I thought this would be my best term yet with As in all my other classes. What should I do? Dartmouth is my dream university, but know I am questioning if that will every be a reality.
One advantage of a high priced boarding school is their dedicated college counseling office that does a great job guiding students to appropriate universities.
Neither the counseling office, nor us, can advise on specific schools when you’re in 10th grade. That’s a conversation that needs to wait until next year, and only after you have SAT scores.
In the interim, your goal needs to be to improve the grade, as your year end average in the course is more important than individual term grades. Seek extra help / tutoring and avail yourself of the many online AP Bio resources out there.
7 Likes
There are no dream schools and every school like Dartmouth has kids wondering. Be your best, apply, and you’ll find out and you’ll have back ups too. All schools have issues, Dartmouth included - and you’d be happy at many, not just one.
Not sure if sports plays in - how does one define 40%.
Lots of places to tho to college, Dartmouth or otherwise.
Good luck.
2 Likes
OP seems to have that already:
Missed that. Thanks.
You took the SATs in tenth grade? Early in tenth grade? Seems like there’s room to run, but 1520’s pretty good. No need to take them again.
What are your sports and how good is Dartmouth in the Ivies at them? Implications for recruiting.
1 Like
You are correct to question if you will get into Dartmouth as even those with perfect grades don’t always get in. Be true to who you are and accept your weaknesses and highlight your strengths. As always, look for some schools that could provide you with an excellent education with a 50% acceptance rate or more. Shoot for the stars but be safe too.
3 Likes
This. And by the time you are actually applying to college, you might not favor Dartmouth so much…especially if you start researching and seeing other colleges in the interim.
1 Like
Your SAT is great, and you have time to improve your grades. Focus on that like the other posters have said. With average rigor, it’s going to be super important. And it might seem like you have a dream school right now, but there are lots of great schools. My child is an athlete who didn’t get a spot at their initial “dream” school due to grades (also had a high test score) but it worked out way better in the end. You’re gonna be ok. Get a bio tutor and use your academic study center to help you break up the content and study in smaller parts and more frequently. You should also ask your teacher for class notes and see if that support is available.
2 Likes
Oh jeez. I missed 10th grade. There’s another year. Focus on learning the subject.
And if you are an athlete - you said 40% odds, it can change it all anyway.
Way too much pressure on yourself. Be a kid first and foremost.
1 Like
You mentioned that you have very strong EC’s and are accomplished in two sports. That takes a lot of time. Now that you see the potential impact on your classes and GPA, you may want to reassess your focus and priorities. If you are not going for recruiting, do you need spend so much time on two sports? What will it take to improve your grade and GPA and be prepared for 11th grade, which is the most critical year? These are the questions you may want to think about. You will hopefully do more campus visits as well and realize that there are a number of comparable schools that you may also consider.
1 Like
I play ice hockey and row. All the ivies are pretty strong in the two sports except for UPenn and Columbia which don’t have hockey. Thank you for your help
1 Like
I was also thinking about Reclassing and going to another boarding school so that I could “wash away” sophomore year grades and have significantly higher chances to be recruited athletically.
1 Like
Those grades don’t “wash away.” Your transcripts for college admissions will include an extra year
4 Likes
Would Reclassing help then?
It doesn’t matter what you do, that C grade will be there. @skieurope
ETA…one C grade isn’t going to keep you out of college. If you don’t get accepted to an elite school, you will never know why. At this point, you need to discuss a varied list of colleges with varying degrees of competitive admission rates. That is important. Identify one or two sure things for admission that you would like to attend…maybe starting in the middle of your last semester of junior year. Of course, you can research colleges now, but so much can change between now and when you actually apply.
1 Like
It may help from a recruiting perspective as you have another year to develop physically. It may help academically as a PG year.
But really, your counselor is your best resource
2 Likes
I don’t want to a Debbie Downer here, but the OP has a GPA of 3.3. his last term is all A’s except one C, so the term GPA is about 3.6. Even at a top boarding school with grade deflation, this is well in the bottom half of the class. Absent a hockey hook (rowing won’t do it — those recruits are used to bring up the average GPA), a serious GPA improvement needs to happen before elites are considered.
4 Likes
And hockey recruiting is likely to not happen until OP spends several years in juniors post BS. Even from boarding schools like choate and its peers, it’s uncommon to go directly to college hockey…to any level. (I’m assuming OP is male based on their handle, recruiting for women’s hockey is different.)Of course OP’s coaches would know the best path forward for hockey recruiting.
2 Likes
Why do you have “average course rigor” compared to your classmates?
The key to college acceptances is to find colleges that fit the academic profile you have…not wish that it was different. So…start looking for colleges that align with who you are.
Your private school counselor will surely be able to help. These folks want to see their school grads placed at the best colleges they can get accepted to. So…when the time comes…work with your school counselor to find colleges with very similar characteristics to Dartmouth…that might be more reasonably attainable.
2 Likes