Got two Cs sophomore year

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Recently I have become insanely stressed with my grades because within the past year I’ve gone from a (practically) straight A student to two Cs. I think this might be because I moved schools (to a different state) for 10th grade. In 9th grade I was at the top 5% of my class and never had any problems with my studies, plus I took two honors and and one AP course. But as sophomore year came around, I started off okay and ended badly, I have no clue why. During 10th grade I took one AP and two honors as well.

My freshman year grades consisted of:

AP Human GeographyB

Drawing And PaintingA+

English 9HA

GeometryA

Health & PE 9A

Health & PE ElectiveA+

Photography SemA
Research Biology HA-
Social Std ElectiveA

Spanish 1A

My sophomore year grades consisted of:

Alg 2/Trigonometry HC-

AP World Hist/GeographyB+

ChemistryC+

English 10HB+

Health & PE 10A

JournalismA

Spanish 2___A-

Throughout high school so far (in terms of clubs and extracurriculars) I’ve done speech and debate for two years consecutively (and plan on continuing it for the following years) and philosophy club, along with being a published writer in magazines, sophomore year. Also, I started volunteering the summer before junior year.

For junior year, I am planning to take three AP courses and continue how I was doing freshman year because I did remarkably well, I will raise my GPA because it has sunk to a point of desperation. I will also be part of my newspaper staff for junior and senior year, along with the Art&Lit mag staff. I will also be a part of speech and debate, philosophy club, NHS, (possibly) MHS, and some other clubs in school. And of course, I will be continuing my volunteer hours.

My main problem is, I really want to get into schools such as NYU, UVA, Penn State, UPENN, and so forth; but with the downfall I had during sophomore year I am worried that my chances have now become even more slim. Although I know that I won’t be attending any Ivy Leagues whatsoever (besides my hope of attending UPENN possibly), I still find it that NYU is my dream school. How are my chances, in your opinion. And what should I do to make them greater? If NYU is a long shot, then what schools seem to be good for me (if I am able to complete my goal of getting straight As junior year and continue my clubs, etc.)?

2

While it may be difficult for you to get into Ivy League schools now, colleges do like to see an upward trend so it will benefit you immensely to get straight A’s in junior year. Your involvement in extracurriculars seems good, but I would encourage you to prioritize your studying over your clubs.
To increase your chances of admission, definitely begin trying to form good relationships with teachers who will want to write you letters of recommendation, and begin studying for standardized tests.

3

@yonceonhismouth Do you think that with my upward trend in junior and senior year (along with my continuation with clubs) I would be a possible candidate for NYU?

4

NYU is definitely a selective school, and on the common data set it states that they rank academic record/GPA over extracurricular activities in terms of importance. I think from where you stand right now, it is a reach school. Definitely possible, but not incredibly likely.