Downward Trend Junior Year: I Joined the IB Program and it is tanking my grades

fledgling
Wed, 27 Jan 2010 23:04:20 +0000

Unfortunately, a poor junior year is going to put you out of the running at all Ivies and most of the top 20 USNWR schools, especially if you have a C and even a D. If you’d only had A’s and B’s, then it probably wouldn’t have a HUGE negative impact, especially if the B’s were high enough for you to raise them to A’s for the final year grade (that is, if your school calculates a final year grade for each year-long course like mine).

All I can advise at this point is for you to keep working hard second semester. If you can show great improvement from one semester to the next, you’ll still have a chance at the more selective schools, even if they’re not Ivies. Don’t lose faith in yourself; I was in a similar situation when I received my first semester report card and found that I had 4 B’s and only 2 A’s (though all my classes were academic, with four AP’s, one beyond AP, and an honors course). Try to do the best you can second semester! Believe me, you still have plenty of college options, even if they don’t include Harvard, Yale, or Princeton. :)