@Twoin18 I’ve always admired Harvard (I was born and raised there while my parents were in grad school/law school/getting PhD, so I literally owe my life to it for introducing my parents.) I’m almost certain they calculate financial aid separately and then add it up. I will do my best to shoot for Harvard, but regardless of the result, I will be left with good options since I’m near or at Ivy-caliber. You’re right, though. When I make my list, I’ll definitely check NPC’s. I don’t want to start thinking about that until I can get some of these silly B’s under control, however.
What’s wrong with geography and herpetology? Why is math more worthy than those two subjects? Short answer, it isn’t.
You are clearly a well-qualified student, but my advice is to eat a slice of humble pie. It will hopefully leave a good taste of humility in your mouth.
Depending on where it ends up on the less than $200K but you could get significant aid at Princeton. Generally Harvard and Princeton are very similar in aid offered but specific things can make them differ significantly but is more likely Princeton will have better aid as they consider fewer variables. One also might argue that Princeton’s math dept is better than Harvard’s but that would be splitting hairs.
@Lindagaf There is nothing wrong with those subjects. If you had read what I wrote, you’d notice that I said I’m interested in them (and that I mentioned geology, not geography.) I’m not a complete “math guy”, which is why I spend a good deal of my free time in nature discovering more about them or working on my primary occupation (which, incidentally, is not math.) Actually, I have nothing but respect for nearly all sciences and academic pursuits. It is simply the case that in America, more people apply themselves competition-wise to areas like math, physics, chemistry, general biology, and computer science, which makes an accomplishment in such an area more notable. Kapeesh? :)>-
Humble pie, indeed. Here’s your problem: “The problem is that I hate busywork and I drag my feet doing anything where I don’t feel like my efforts are productive and I randomly had a bad third quarter. I also take glee in “clutching” grades…”
Let some elite get wind of that and how do you expect them to react? And in some kids, it comes across as immature. You know what these colleges look for, right? It’s not moments of glory. It’s the longer race you run.
@lookingforward Thanks for pointing this out. I plan on taking a gap year to cool down and mature before college and life in general because you’re right: I’m relatively “immature”. Luckily, my poor attitude toward some of my classes won’t carry over to college because then I’ll feel “productive”. (This last statement could turn into a huge argument, so please take my word.) It’s something I’ll need to struggle with on my own. Also, although I can tell you’re visualizing a snotty white kid who’s obsessed with how great he is, I am not that. The language I’ve been using to address this problem is vastly exaggerated to get across the basic idea. My motivation issue is much more subtle than what I stated. But I appreciate the insight!
If you are taking a lot of AP Courses I could see how you’d feel about a bunch of busy work. AP classes generally focus on convergent thinking in order to pick the right answer from a multiple choice test. In college once you’ve gotten pass the intro classes of many subjects you’ll be required to think more divergent in order to solve the problems asked.
You are worrying too much about some B+'s. Get back on track, and get some SAT and/or ACT testing under your belt and you will be fine. UVA, FWIW, will not just look at the transcript and move on. They truly do a holistic review. If you are interested in a gap year, do some research by all means. Just know that just because you are not ready now for college, doesn’t mean you won’t be ready by the end of your senior year. A lot of maturing occurs over senior year, and you will discover more about yourself as you go through this process. Best of luck.
No kapeesh. It’s actually capisce.
“Nearly all…” All sciences and academics are worthy of pursuit (barring Cyrptozoology), but not all sciences and academics, or creative pursuits, are of interest to everyone. What you think is notable is not necessarily of interest to someone else. Winning a national championship in math, or whatever it is, is not necessarily more impressive than someone else winning a local story-writing competition. The kid who wrote the story perhaps has zero interest in math. Capisce? Humble pie, my friend…
@Lindagaf I love the argument you’re making (although it’s off-topic.) I would side with you in any other circumstance, but please notice that this is the college admissions forum. Certain idealistic principles are thrown out the window when trying to quantify qualitative data.
Alas, I’m not sure why you’re attacking a 16-year-old over the internet over their spelling of a borrowed slang word while said teen is earnestly looking for insight into his upcoming admission process. I won’t bring up my background in competitive spelling (although, according to you, it could be equally as impressive as winning a Nobel prize), but it’s strong enough that I would have noticed my error had I not been typing under my desk in English class. Besides, you’re insisting I embrace my inherent imperfection while you simultaneously hold me to a standard of perfection! It seems like you’re more interested in being antagonistic than helpful. 
LOL, @eat sleep math, I like your style as well. You are going to do just fine in college admissions. I actually speak slang Italian and I would never think of calling you out on your conjugation of capire - in fact, my grandmother who could speak paesan’ better than any of us on here, having spent her early formative years in Napoli - would never have even recognized the spelling error (especially as she never got past the third grade).
Don’t let some of the parents on here get you down. Math just as important as herpetology? There is a certain irony as discrete math (queuing theory) played such a large role in fiber optic communication… and the internet…
Noli iniurias arrogantium pati, or in pig Latin, Illegitimi non carborundum. Good luck in your competition, and if you haven’t read Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron,” do. Now that is a short story worthy of comparison with Euler’s Identity (well, not quite, but almost).
@SatchelSF Haha, thank you! And yes, that short story was somewhat impactful on me. My mom uses it as an example in her class (she’s a professor.) My dad speaks Italian so I’ll use that expression on him when I get a chance. I like it. 
It’s Latin, not Italian.
And we are not the illegitimi. Loads of irony in claiming the issue is other adult posters. Admission to a top college is not hit or miss. It’s not “Omg, he got a big award!!!”
Over confidence is risky, no matter how many strangers on a forum are impressed by an unnamed award.
Knuckle down. Learn what your targets want.
And yes, speaking from experience, for fiercely competitive colleges, those B grades will be noticed.
@lookingforward Thank you for at least being helpful. I really just want to understand more about the admissions process, I guess. Do colleges sort people by intended major? By the “type” of student? Region? If they rank people for each major that they want to fill, I think I stand a good shot UNLESS they’re ballsy enough to reject someone like me because grades matter that much to them. These are the kinds of nuances I want to gain insight on. I understand the selection is a crapshoot, etc. and I’ll be fine going to William and Mary or UVA if nothing pans out. I just wanna some peace of mind, ya know? Even if it’s bad news (which I strongly suspect it is.) Thanks!
You need to educate yourself to how this works. Not from random strangers on a forum, blogs, or some pretty iffy books. Learn from what the colleges say and show. If you were proceeding along these lines, already a junior, you’d know UVA is holistic, Harvard legacy is undergrad…and that the attitude a candidate shows in the app/supp and an interview can make or break.
Let me say it straight: I know you worded things here on an offhand way. But if the attitude shows, adcoms at a highly or most selective college can roll their eyes and move on, despite a big award. If your teachers express frustration with the foot dragging and last minute saves (or this causes less enthusiastic LoRs,) oops.
It’s not a crapshoot. You’ll either learn what matters and rise to it or find less “hard” colleges.
Get my drift?
@lookingforward This is what I expected and I will certainly do a lot more research in the future. I appreciate guidance from people like you.
Thankfully, I have two great teachers and a coach who I’ve never had a problem with. Certainly my application and interview will also reflect a vastly different attitude as well. I will probably update this thread on how everything goes next year!
P.S. I didn’t miss any of those jabs. :))
@eatsleepmath you are going to do just fine. As long as you are placed in top 10% of a competitive school class such as Fairfax county schools. You have nothing to be concerned about. Look at your Naviance data . If you see your GPA in green zone for UCB or UCLA that would be a good indicator that your GPA will not be an issue.
Update: 1560 SAT no-study! Also, I managed to pull 4 B’s to A’s in the last week of school (which involved getting 100 and 101 on two of the exams, haha). That means I ended the year with a single B in APUSH, which I’m totally happy with! Wish me luck in the fall/winter.
Good luck!
Awesome @eat sleep math on the SAT (no surprise - high AIME scorers don’t need much prep, if any), and, more importantly, for pulling out your grades this semester. After blowing off most homework in most classes, my own 9th grader (also a math kid) had to run the table on exams too… I couldn’t imagine being in high school today with all the mindless and meaningless busy work… Good luck next year in the admissions cycle!