I have ADHD and was diagnosed late during sophomore year so i had bad/okay grades that year, but when I found out that brought my grades up and I took even harder classes junior year all ap/honor classes. and got all A’s and a few A- on them. 3 out of 7 were A- and senior year I filled my schedule will all All AP all DE but I live in a boarding school and made new rules for study time turned off the Wi-Fi at night when they didn’t before that messed me up so bad. I applied BioChem and for all my other ap/de I had A but English with a b+, AP chem with B and AP calc with b- (but i skipped pre-calc) the rest was A out of 7 classes. but My Gpa still increased from 4.11 to 4.19. for my early schools that were reaches with 19% acceptance I got accepted with huge merit scholarships from each but they don’t have my true major undergrad only 6 schools have it properly developed, (Stanford, Brown, UPenn, USC, UChicago, Carnegie mellon) I didn’t apply early for these and now its stressing me out so much because I can’t explain the new rules thing that significantly impacted study time I also can’t explain how my sister had surgery where I had to leave the country early and do 4 finals in one day when max is 2 a day and my counselor wont explain even if the school is the one that insisted I get my finals all in one day and I also don’t think I can email an explanation to my colleges because I already made one for my sophomore year grades and I don’t want it to seem like I’m making excuses. I feel like my life is over because my application is now not at its best and for my reaches, I probably have no chance now.
—fyi my extracurriculars and awards are strong with national/ state awards especially for track and swim (I intend to walk into most of my reaches track teams), research, internships etc.—
i also feel like i tried so hard battling against my own brain and one semester grades the mid years ruined it all how bad does all this impact if I don’t say anything to explain. I’ve tried so hard all of high school and this one semester has killed all hope. I know the acceptance rates are low already my point is if my application was at its best I would care if I got rejected now that it’s not i feel like I’ll never let go of those B’s.
I’m not sure I follow your narrative- punctuation would help.
BUT- if I’m understanding you correctly- you have huge merit acceptances (Yay!) but you aren’t excited about those schools, correct?
I can’t imagine that there’s something so specific about your major that there are only 6 schools in the entire country that have it-- that seems quite farfetched to me. What is the major, and can the folks here help you figure out the right course sequence at the schools that have accepted you so you can study what you want?
The major doesn’t need to have the exact name btw. So kids who want “Neuroscience” are often shocked to discover that a plain vanilla bio degree with a hefty dose of psych, chem and applied math can replicate-- exactly, except for the nomenclature-- a neuro degree from somewhere else.
Where have you been accepted and what do you want to study? We can help you.
I’m sorry; I was going through it an hour ago, so grammar was the last thing on my mind. Yeah, your understanding is basically correct, and I’m also just worried about how much those 3 B’s will affect my chances.
Yeah, it’s more than 6 schools; from my research, 14 have a well-developed and credible computational biology program for undergraduates specifically. I know hundreds have it for grad school, but the 6, actually 7 (I forgot Duke), I am able to continue my current research that I did with a Duke professor as my mentor and expand on it during my undergrad years. It’s more about understanding cellular architecture and motility with molecular simulations to help develop nanomedicines for cancer treatment. UChicago has had a recent breakthrough on that for colon cancer metastasis. For me it’s more about research opportunities at the undergrad level, and the fact that I can potentially run for their track teams D1, as I’ve met their walk-on standards. Ivy Leagues standards are not that high, and a few of the Californias.
I got into UMiami and UMich for BioChem; I applied to this major as my activities aren’t very strong on the computer science/statistics side, most aligning with BioChem. but I feel like because of the b’s these options even if I’m not exited, is what I’m stuck with.
A. which colleges have accepted you, and which replies are you still waiting for?
B. What grades are you talking about, your first semester grades or your mid-semester grades of this second semester?
You are already in at U Mich with enough aid so that you can attend? You’re fine, even if you don’t get into any of the ones you’re waiting to hear from.
Calm down. Just focus on doing well in your current classes, so that you don’t wind up with a grade you’d have to explain so as not to be rescinded. You will hear soon enough. No use stressing now.
Any U which has a program for grad school is going to offer MORE opportunities than you can possibly take advantage of as an undergrad. You are going to need the core foundational courses regardless of where you go. And your Duke professor is likely to have colleagues at 30+ institutions, any of whom will have research grants and labs and ongoing projects for you to participate in.
Relax, you’ve got this. Let the results come in. But if you already have been accepted to a U which is affordable, the rest is gravy. You do NOT need to major in computational biology-- it is way too narrow a field for a HS kid to decide “this is my ride or die”. Most of the current faculty and researchers in the field did not major in it, right? And they are still doing groundbreaking work. How is that you suppose? They majored in plain old vanilla bio; they took as much CS and applied math as they could handle; they worked as hard as they could to get into solid grad programs where they could collaborate with colleagues in genetics and chemistry.
You do not need to specialize right now. And if you got into U Michigan- what a fantastic result. You are off to the races!
Read this please with genuine good vibes: you got some B’s, it’s okay, you’re human. You have amazing offers, some of the other schools may accept your application, some may reject, but their reasons might have less to do with you than you think. This is a marathon, keep yourself calm and your spirits up, and just keep moving forward. Let us know where you land.
I Am Talking about First semester Mid-year grades and how Much it would impact my chances at my reaches below like should I just forget about it?
Was accepted to UMich and UMiami early with merit scholarships. Rejected from UMD. Waiting for 3 Ivies Brown, UPenn, Harvard. The UC’s but first semester Mid-year doesn’t matter for those. then Duke, UNC Chapel Hill, Stanford, USC and UChicago being the remaining reaches.
Just offering ((( hugs )))
You’re fine! Grades of B in senior year when you’re filling out all these applications is understandable. The truth is, in the current record-setting admissions cycle, many colleges don’t have the manpower to look at or examine mid-year grades. They are burried in a mountain of applications. Some will, but some won’t.
You’re into two amazing schools with merit! Do you know how many millions of people globally would love to be in your shoes?
Be gentle with yourself. Give yourself grace.
This made me feel a little bit better. I think my thought process was that I’ve battled in high school so much, done everything I could, just for all my chances to drop at the last minute and not entirely my fault. I guess I wanted to get the computational biology opportunities earlier to build up my portfolio, so I could avoid working like I currently am right now in high school to get into a good comp-bio grad school.
With UMich, I have to push myself to the edge with BioChem (I actually don’t like chem much, but it’s the most common path to comp-bio aside from biophysics) to get to a good position for graduate school by senior year than I would with a school that has the major, (its three times harder from what I’ve searched). I’m like I already battle with ADHD every day; I just wanted the easier path for once instead of fighting to prove I’m just as smart, even if my brain doesn’t work right, and it seems like that’s not happening, so thus the spiraling and my forum.
Your Also very right it’s a Narrow field and it’s a lot to invest everything to. But I’m usually sure of very few things, at this point the only thing that could change it is if I figure down the line that I hate it.
Also, quick question as your answers is very very helpful if I get into University of Pittsburgh which has the major undergrad (their program it’s okay I guess not too good not to bad pretty solid) do u think I should go over UMich from what u know.
Thank you soo much for the encouragement I definitely need it I’m going to try give myself grace especially when last semesters circumstances were out of control, I just get obsessive and, in my head, sometimes and it’s hard to pull out. I just really Hope despite everything at least one will give me a chance.
Now, you’ve been accepted to UMich, and you can afford it. You have already been accepted to one of the top universities in the world. Even if you are not accepted to any other college, you are in a great place. UMich
Don’t worry if the college where you do your undergrad doesn’t have the research that interests you now. Not only will there be other opportunities, and the possibility to explore other directions, you can always do internships and personal research with faculty in other universities. My kid just finished her undergrad at Middlebury college, and she did an internship in a Neuroscience lab at U Chicago for the summers of her Sophomore and Junior years. No matter where you do your undergrad, you will be able to continue the work that you started in Duke.
Those three B’s in the mid semester grades will probably have little effect on the admissions decisions for your reaches.
In any case, Blue and Maize are awesome colors, and Wolverines are bada$$.
Here’s my 2 cents. You have healthier things you could be doing than to torture yourself in trying to get into these schools. You seriously don’t need them to have a solid prosperous career. Smart talented people go far because they’re smart and talented, not because of a school brand name. Stressing over schools with a 95% rejection rate is a mental breakdown waiting to happen. I have ADHD too. The most important thing you can do for yourself, especially with ADHD, is to find mental balance. Otherwise you’re going to get burned out…BAD. Stressing over an A- over these high reject schools is NOT mentally balanced.
Let me put it in perspective. My wife, years back, graduated valedictorian and she was accepted into Yale. When she did her graduation speech, she weighed 78 lbs.
My advice, stay balanced…and for goodness sake, ENJOY being a teenager! Choose a school that makes you happy. If you have B’s…who @#$%^ cares?
So, even your “worst case scenario” is pretty great. I know this is a stressful time. But wherever you don’t get in (I’ll go out on the limb that you’d have been bound to get at least one rejection from your remaining schools, even with straight A’s!), you will never know whether a better fall semester this year would have made any difference. The grades are in the books, the applications are in, and all you can do is wait and see. (I understand that this is exactly the problem!)
High school will be over before you know it. Try to enjoy these last few months, make memories with your friends, and trust that you have a bright future ahead of you no matter how the remaining decisions turn out.