If you’re low income, look at Questbridge and run the NPC (net price calculator) on ALL the colleges on their list (these are the most elite colleges in the US). Dig into each of them and find 20 you like.
Then, look into your state flagship(s). Find programs you like and see if they offer scholarships. See the criteria fo the scholarships (IB will meet any program’s requirements) and decide to meet them.
Once you’re thus reassured, forget about college till you’re in the Spring of Sophomore year.
The way top colleges evaluate students isn’t “who has the highest GPA” or “who stacked up the most rigorous courses” or “wow, impressive, s/he took 10 college courses vs. this one who took 1!”
They want to see a variety of factors, some of which form a sort of “background check before cut off”, then, once they’ve culled everyone who doesn’t meet that basic standard, there’s another round. So, first “can they do the work at our college?”
Roughly speaking, round 1=
Did the student take
- 4 years of English (IB: MYP English + SL or HL Group 1)
- Math through precalculus or calculus (IB: Math AA SL, Math AI HL or AA HL if you want to study a STEM subject - BTW AI SL is fine if you’re not thinking STEM, it even includes a bit of calculus, but it’s not appropriate for Engineering.)
- 4 years of Social Science/History (IB: MYP Individuals&Society + SL or HL group 3)
- Bio, Chem, Physics (usually through MYP) plus 1 science (HL if you want to study STEM - Physics HL for Engineering, probably.)
- Foreign Language through level 4 or 5 (group 2 SL meets that target)
- Art = met through CAS
- classes you’re personally interested in, demonstrating intellectual curiosity - your 6th IBD choice
CAS, EE, and TOK are all opportunities for you to demonstrate intellectual curiosity, creativity, ability to pursue a subject in-depth, etc.
The IBD automatically meets any college’s requirements for rigor.
You DO NOT need anything else.
For the classes above, you’d need mostly A’s, especially 10-12th grades.
If you meet these criteria, you can do the work at any college, academically. You pass round 1.
So, round 2:
What do you bring the college? Do you meet an institutional need? Do you offer something unique? Are you nationally or internationally known for sth (Olympics -athletic or scientific -, national/intl Science competition, chess master, soloist oboist, founded sth significant nationally, top 25 in esports…)
Ideally you have won awards in something competitive and you also do sth non competitive to relax.
the 2nd cut isn’t about your classes&grades - all people in that round can do the work. So, now, you need to be uniquely YOU. Growing that “you” is also your job as a teenager. It can’t be “what colleges want to see” but rather “if I were my best self, amplified, made the greatest ever, who would I be and what would I do to get there?” How can you become the greatest 15-year old YOU that you can be?
As you can see, that C in a DE course is inconsequential for colleges.
It should, however, be a good lesson: challenge yourself - but be reasonable in doing so and don’t do it just to impress colleges.
A HS freshman isn’t a college freshman.
What you CAN do to show it was a blip on the radar is look carefully at the college catalog and see whether another psychology class is offered. Perhaps take it summer after sophomore year, when you won’t be distracted by something else. Show you’ve understood how college works and, this time, get all the support you can (visiting the professor every week, attending review sessions when they’re offered even if you feel you study better on your own because hints may well be dropped during that session, and of course scheduling then meeting with a tutor*). And that time, get an A.
But don’t do that right away. Take time to reflect about what you’d do differently if you’d known then what you know now. Write it down. Add the resolutions to help steer you towards what needs to be done on a piece of paper.
But show you’ve learned and matured, and wait till after Sophomore year.
(* tutors in college are there to avoid what happened to you. They’re not just “remedial”, they’re most often the difference between a B+ and an A.)