Hey! I’m a senior in high school. so i’ve had pretty good grades throughout high school --all A’s a few B’s but very rarely, but this semester I had started to receive a lot of national recognition for a big service project I had done/ a nonprofit I had started a few years ago. This resulted in speaking throughout the country, the united nations, and a ted talk. In return, my first semester senior year grades suffered-- but i got B’s in all my academic classes (they ended up being like 89’s and the teachers weren’t sympathetic 
how bad is this situation for schools like stanford, dartmouth, penn ucla, etc. and should i send information on why my grades were lower this semester?
B’s shouldn’t kill you. Clearly you have been a well achieving student as you have now had some great opportunities. That being said, speaking throughout the country was a choice you made, and it happened to make your grades suffer a little. It is not a big deal, and I wouldn’t worry about it.
I think your accomplishments as a speaker, in this case, might easily offset lower grades. I would definitely email the admissions reps at your colleges to explain what has been going on because it is impressive.
Thank you! Should I email them myself or have a counselor or principal email?
I think you should do that. I think emails from the school would make the school look bad and, perhaps, make you look bad too. It would also command too much attention. You might want to explain but don’t want it to be viewed as a big deal.
Sounds good. thanks a lot everyone. Would it make more sense if I sent it to my regional officer for the colleges or the actual admissions office?
Also, my talk came out after the deadline to apply, should I also email the link to the TED talk? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxFHv1UqVUU to the admissions office or would it be deemed as annoying/bothersome?
No, this is something they should,know,about. Email your rep, you can make,your subject header something like My TED talk link. Explain briefly what you just said above, that it wasn’t available before. Ask them to please watch the video and use it in considering your application. good luck!
Just got college results back. Although admit to UC Berkeley EECs, unfortunately waitlist/reject at most ivy’s and waitlist at Stanford. I think mid year grades actually were super important I guess this year for private schools? and not so much extracurriculars? I know this is a confidential place hopefully don’t give my identitiy away… I’ve been featured on Dr. Phil, CBS, ABC, CNN, etc. for the work I do with ending violence against women. I’ve both spoken at the UN recognized by the UNICEF and Under Secretary General of the United Nations, and gave a TED talk on self defense for mental empowerment, and my self defense and empowerment curriculum have been implemented to end sex trafficking in developing countries such as India and Darfur. I’ve won international and national service awards for my nonprofit. Not to have any unreasonable expectations, but I’ve heard since my freshman year that I could get into schools this selective because of my work. I’m just wondering what happened?
ACT score/GPA/Subject tests are alright (33, 3.8ish, 780/750) and 10 APs. does anyone have an idea to what might be lacking? I always thought these sort of things attracted colleges. Obviously, I am not stopping here haha I never did any of my service for college–gender equality and safety for women is a lifelong goal and dream. But going to schools like Stanford would truly help me with gaining more projects/meeting people/continuing this movement. Does anyone have any ideas or recommendations for waitlist schools, or even appealing?
Not sure how to advise you about getting off a waitlist or appealing. Just want to say congratulations on your admission to UC Berkeley, that is not a school to scoff at and I suspect that given your current high profile success with your projects that it can continue at Berkeley where you will get help "gaining more projects/meeting people/continuing this movement. The Ivy’s and Stanford are not the only institutions in the US where things are happening.
There is no appealing of admissions decisions, unless something has drastically gone wrong (materials not sent/received).
For Waitlists I would start investigating/loving the college you DID get into, and then indicating to the college who is your favorite on the waitlist (or who accepts the most waitlist people) that you would attend if accepted.
If a college is going to accept you off the waitlist, they want to know you will attend. So choose one and tell them that.
This forum is the exact opposite of confidential if you give away too much identifying info. 
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