Grade 10 and school ends really soon and I feel like absolute sh**. I’ve received my marks and feel really discouraged to even try in school anymore because they are so bad in my opinion. I’m from Canada and here, they only look at grade 11 grades. My original plan was to apply to UCLA but now I feel like my chances are really slim so I’m really discouraged to try for a school in the US now. Currently, my marks are:
Math 11 Honours: 88%
Social Studies 10 Honours: 88% >>> (could change)
Social Studies 11 Honours: 90% >>> (could change)
English 10: 91%
Food Studies 10: 90%
French 10: 88%
Psychology 11: 96% >>> (could change)
Biology 11: 94%
Some of them aren’t that bad, but a lot of the one’s that are below 90% are grade 11 courses and I feel like they will really matter. My extracurriculars aren’t bad. I’ve been doing meaningful extracurriculars throughout my school year and been doing stuff over summers as well. A lot of people here in my school are really competitive and many of them have achieved higher than me and also want to apply to schools (like UCLA). I’m scared and discouraged.
[QUOTE=""]
I think my grades are this low this year because of my parent's divorce...but I don't know if this can be a legitimate reason for my grades to have been this bad. <<<<<
[/QUOTE]
P.S. I can re-take the course online and have it replace my mark, but if I re-took any honours class online, it wouldn’t show as honours on my transcript any more. Is it suggested to re-do my honours classes or should I just move on?
Should I just try harder in grade 11? Do good on AP tests and the SAT + subject tests? Can anyone give me some advice and maybe information? It’d mean a lot.
Your grades don’t look bad, especially since you are taking harder honors classes. Perhaps you are depressed about the divorce. You only go through the high school / college process once, so don’t give up. What would you think 5 years from now if you didn’t try hard? You would always wonder what might have happened. But if you give it your best, then no matter what happens, at least you will know you did your best. Good luck!
Are your parents ready, willing, and able to pay the full cost of UCLA? Before you let yourself get excited about any college or university, find out about your own family’s budget. Unfortunately, divorce often makes it even harder for parents to help pay for their Kid’s education.
You’re going to become an adult one day. Trying to support yourself with a degree from your second or third choice school will be much easier than trying to support yourself with a 10th grade education.
My advice would be to spend your energy on your grade 11 classes, rather than redoing grade 10.
Your grades are fine. B+'s are good grades. Especially if you are taking grade 11 courses while in grade 10. I’m assuming you will be taking some AP classes the next two years? There is a place on US college apps to explain why your grades might have dipped during high school. You might mention your parent’s divorce in that section. Work hard next year and prepare well for your entrance exams. One thing to remember is that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. There are lots of kids in the U.S. who would love to go to college in Canada! So don’t put all your hopes on UCLA. Like others have suggested, talk to your parents about how much they can afford to pay and work from there to start building your list of colleges to apply to. Good luck!
