How much do grades matter?

I am an A or A+ student other than a B- in my Algebra 2 Honors class. The highest grade that I will be able to get by the end of this quarter is a B. Will this singular B detract from my application at all? How much do grades really matter for applications?

It sounds like you are overall a strong student, so don’t lose sleep over this.

You should give some thought, though, to what is going on in math. Did you choose a class that’s too hard? How are you dealing with the challenge - getting help, identifying concepts you don’t understand, etc. One of the things schools care about is that you are involved in your own learning and can advocate for yourself - and this means knowing what you need!

You may have an opportunity to talk about this in an interview, so to the extent that you have learned something from this situation, that’s good. You should not make excuses, btw. Perhaps this was the first time you’ve met material you couldn’t grasp immediately. That’s likely to happen again, so be prepared to talk about what you are adding to your toolkit.

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