Course Rigor v. Grades

Applying to College
1

<p>Having amazing grades in really challenging courses is obviously the best scenario, but which one is more important (assuming you’re passing all of your classes)? </p>

<p>I’m just asking because my course rigor has increased significantly since my freshman year, but my grades have taken a downward-ish trend since the beginning of junior year (especially math…)</p>

<p>Fwiw, my class rank is ~8/254, and I think I am solidly in the top 10.</p>

<p>Frosh year:
Art (B+, 88)
Microsoft Applications (A+, 98)
H English 9 (A, 94)
H Spanish 2 (A-, 93)
CP Geometry (B, 86)
CP Chorus (A+, 98)
H Earth Science (A+, 96)
Gym (A-, 92)</p>

<p>Sophomore Year:</p>

<p>H English 10 (A+, 97)
H Spanish 3 (A, 95)
CP Alg. II (A, 94)
H Chorus (A+, 98)
H Biology (A, 95)
H Chemistry (A+, 96)
Health 9 (A+, 96)
Health 10 (A+, 97)
CP World History (A+, 96)
Civics (A, 95)</p>

<p>Junior Year:
Microsoft Applications II (A+, 97)
AP Lang. & Comp. (A-, 91)
H Precalc I (A-, 90)
H Precalc II (B+, 89)
Computer Repair - Hardware (A+, 99)
Computer Repair - Software (A+, 99)
H Chorus (A+, 98)
AP Chemistry (A, 94)
APUSH (A-, 91)</p>

<p>Senior Year (Projections based on Q1 & Q2)
DE Spanish V: A or A+
DE Physics: A or A+
AP Calculus AB: B-
Psychology: A+
DE Academic Writing: A+
AP Music Theory: A or A+
H Band/Choir: A+
DE European History: A-</p>

<p>I’ve taken all of the APs that my school has to offer, sans art, and students are only allowed to take DE starting junior year. Most of my CP classes are due to scheduling conflicts. I’m looking at the very top schools; I know that my grades are great for almost every school in the nation, but I’m not sure if they’re good enough for Brown, for example.</p>

2

<p>Your grades are good enough for Brown. The question is whether the rest of your application will be good enough for Brown.</p>

<p>No one is expected to be perfect forever, so there is no real downward trend here. The only possible hole seems to be AP Calc AB - that B- sticks out a bit, but it’s not a killer unless you plan on doing engineering or physics, in which case it would raise a flag. If you could manage to get that up to a B, you’d have no worries at all. But everyone is allowed a wart or two, this may be yours.</p>

3

<p>The rest of my application is fairly solid- recommendations (I read one of them and it was absolutely glowing, and the other teacher told me that she always brags about how much she loves me, haha), essays, SAT (770/650/720 w/ 8E math is weak but I’m re-taking and hoping for a 0/50/50 increase), and I’m a walking hook (3 tribes of Native American, African American, 1st gen, lowish-income, did a summer program that a Brown rep. told me will definitely make my application stand out, et cetera).</p>

<p>Also, that’s the odd part… I’ve wanted to go into computer science since I was a toddler, and physics is my favorite subject, but I just can’t wrap my head around math when it doesn’t involve science. Part of it is that I have a really weak algebra background- I took alg. I in 8th grade and didn’t learn anything because I thought school was pointless (I wanted to pursue my own interests and my classes were monotonous), and the regular level classes in my school are sub-par. Part of it is that I’m not a sequential, linear learner who can just memorize steps; I need to understand how and why the details fit together into the big picture… but this isn’t how any of my math classes have been taught so, until recently, I was under the impression that I just couldn’t do math.</p>

<p>I’m finally beginning to figure out how to approach my math work in a way that I can understand it (completely opposite to how my teacher and my textbook teach it), but I’m still not completely there yet. </p>

<p>If I somehow manage to get a 90 on my next test, my average for this quarter will go up to an 86 or higher, bringing my semester grade to an 84, at worst.</p>

4

<p>Since that’s the way you look at math/science, you should also look into Olin.
But I’d say you have better odds than most at Brown indeed. :)</p>

5

<p>If that’s the way you learn math, then go with it. Calculus is intimately tied to Physics and the Laws of Motion - get yourself an AP Physics textbook and study it along with Calc. It should make sense if you do that. </p>

<p>Is your DE Physics class Calculus based? If it isn’t, that explains it, if it is, I’m not sure what’s wrong.</p>

6

<p>[Calculate</a> your high school gpa for college | PossibilityU](<a href=“http://www.possibilityu.com/how-calculate-your-“real”-high-school-gpa]Calculate”>http://www.possibilityu.com/how-calculate-your-“real”-high-school-gpa)</p>

<p>As per the above article, your courses in: Art, Microsoft Applications, Chorus, Gym, Health, Civics, Computer Repair, Music Theory, and Band/Choir will not be included in your recalculated GPA that colleges use for the purposes of Admissions.</p>