I really messed up my freshman and sophomore years, including a few c’s, a D in my AP class, and even an F (side note: the semester I got an F was also the semester one of my close friends committed suicide; Should I include that in my applications, or is that a big red flag?)
Now I’m a junior and things are going much better. I expect mostly or entirely A’s on my report card, so clearly there’s a trend of improvement. My courseload has been reasonably difficult, but my school doesn’t offer many honors classes and AP’s are very hard here. I mean, I know they’re difficult everywhere, but even the other school in my district is no match for the work load at my school.
I know my ACT scores will be well above the average at any school I apply to. My most selective schools are Texas, Georgia, SMU, and Tulane (none of which I’m seriously expecting to get into), so they’re not as elite as most of the schools PR people tend to talk about.
I guess my question is this: If I have good ec’s, great recs, a great essay, and very good test scores, will my transcript still totally kill me when I apply?