<p>i posted this in the JHU forum, but im curious if any of the parents here have experience with stuff like this (ED, finding out wed):</p>
<p>Heres the story. My GPA is bad, i have a B+ avg from a nationally ranked public high school in NY. My test scores are high, solid. My recs are “best in career” really strong, as is my counsellor rec. My essays are very solid. Ive taken the hardest courseload of any student in my school and my GC made that clear. ive spent five years doing research, ongoing in 3 labs. Published, Westinghouse Semi, a real boat load of experience, member of several highly regarded professional groups,the whole 9 yards. Outside rec is from my professor who is an alumn. I need no financial aid. Is there any possibility that I can overcome my B+ avg, considering the rest of my application, or have I doomed myself?</p>
<p>Do your grades show an upward trend? (lower in 9th and upwards from there) Or was there one bad year? (extenuating circumstances) Are the lower grades clustered in one subject area, perhaps not your strength? </p>
<p>You have many strong points to your application.</p>
<p>grades are better 9th and 11th grade, 10th was really(almost all Bs), so i have a cos curve lol they arent really clustered, (with the exception that french was bad for me, my teacher HATED me)…no extensuating circumstances that i listed on my application (anxiety disorder/issues but im not going to blame my grades on that), anyway, im praying!</p>
<p>I just got accepted into Upenn. And I had awful grades. However, like you, I had good standardized tests. In fact, my grades had a downward trend. Let me show you</p>
<p>Freshman year: 3 as 3 b’s (800 bio SAT II)
soph year: 5 a’s 1 b (2 5’s, 1 4 on aps, 770 chem, 800 world history)
Junior year: 4 bs(81,84,89,86), 1 a (90) (3 4’s 2 5’s 770 writing 790 math 770 us hist)
Senior year: 4 as 1 b (89, 4 aps this year)</p>
<p>I think you can overcome poor grades with high test scores. Also, the fact that you’re a seimens semi bodes well.</p>
<p>Okay, so there is a “blip” on your report card, but you are showing an upward trend or “recovery” from that point on. What is important now is that you continue the upward trend. It also helps that your teacher recs are outstanding and that you are taking the hardest courseload available. Senior slide is what seems to turn the schools off the most.</p>
<p>ya my mid-year report wont slide, itll be about on par with 11th grade (mix of a’s and b’s, hopefully leaning mostly a’s)…the main problem is the french teacher game me a C+ in 11th, and i dont know if my research can compensate that drastically even ED…damn im worried</p>
<p>I’m sorry, but if a research school like JHU won’t overlook a C in a foreign language for a science kid with your ECs and awards, they don’t deserve you! Momof2 in CA</p>
<p>thanks momof2, i appreciate the support…im definately very nervous nonetheles, but i geuss theres nothing i can do but wait, i appreciate the support from everyone and if there’s anyone else who might have additional insight into my situation, by all means, all comments are appreciated! Thanks again!</p>
<p>My experience has strongly shown that the transcript, grades and rigor of courses, is the most important part of a student’s profile. I say this because I have seen URMs with lower test scores and high grades in tough courses get into top schools whereas the opposite situation does not lend itself to admissions. The only group I have seen get into the highly selective schools with lower grades are the athletes. </p>
<p>I have heard anecdotal situations where kids have gotten in with a mixed batch of grades but other than athletes and some very unusual situations where the student had a tremendous talent backed by some in the college who wanted that student, I have not seen kids who are not top students get into top schools. Not to say that there are not any. I just have not seen them. And when it comes to anecdotes, I hear everything. I don’t tend to believe unless I see the numbers with my own eyes, either from a college book that highschool counseling offices may maintain, or kids whose numbers I have verified. </p>
<p>The best way to find out where you stand is by asking your highschool counselor where kids with your grades, course rigor and test scores generally get into college, and if they have seen kids with your stats get into this calibre of schools. That specific information would be more pertinant than episodal and general info.</p>
<p>jamimom, thanks for your response. I have had contact with the pertinent dept there, and believe my CV to be quite strong. My GC is very supportive of the application and believes my chances to be pretty good (had he not, he would have told me to apply somewhere else, as he often does with students who he feels dont have a legitimate shot). In your estimation, was my ED application a bad move? Do I have to lower my standards in RD if im D or R? From your comments, it seems to me you feel i should expect bad news on wednesday for sure, and i know you have a lot of experience…what should i do? is there anything i can do?</p>
<p>Hey, I just got in to Princeton, and I’m not even in the top 10% of my class. Only 45 other students were outside the top 10% last year, and I presume most were athletes/URMs. But it is NOT a dead end. If you are dedicated to ECs and write great essays, anything can happen.</p>
<p>Abrandel05, I think that applying ED to Hopkins gave you a better chance in that JHU does give a nice bonus to EDers. And if the grade point is the only thing giving them a pause, they may defer you to see what your midterm grades are. I have seen this happen to many kids who are strong candidates but are inconsistent or a bit weak on the grade front. Your grades are viewed within the framework of your highschool. There are kids in some schools that would not have a very high class rank, nor is their gpa very high, but the school profile is so overwhelmingly strong that 25% of each graduating class or more end up at the most elite schools. So that is a very important factor that none of us can assess, but your counselor can. It seems to me that your GC is one who is on the ball and gives great advice unlike some who are stuck with counselors that will either just give a blanket stamp of approval to whatever a student wants or not support anything other than a group of schools where most of the kids from that school end up going. So, no I do not think it was a bad move to go ED, as you will get more info early by applying the way you did. I was just stating my observation which is pretty much what any adcom will confirm.</p>
<p>certainly my school is very strong (approx 35/~100 go to top univs, or top 10 lacs) and my GC is quite good (unforunately for my school, this is his last full class). We’ve sent a bunch of kids there in the past, althought not many apply from our school (or our county, Westchester, NY) as you’d think considering the prowess of JHU. (the same is true for MIT and CalTech, very few applicants from our neighborhood). For me, a deferral would be as bad as a rejection… (and since its likely, i know im going to be pretty upset about it) because of my situation, im aware that ED is my best shot anywhere, and as it was my first choice school and they like research and ED etc, i felt that it was the best move.</p>
<p>You are one of my favorite posters. You are right. I am around 40% for my school and look at where I am! I’m so happy! And I asked around (friends,different schools, etc), it seems like I’m the only one from my city who has gotten in Penn. 1/8 (I’ve been asking around) Abrandel, I have no doubt you’re in!</p>
<p>Is there any possibility that I can overcome my B+ avg, considering the rest of my application, or have I doomed myself?</p>
<p>Yes to question 1, No to question 2.</p>
<p>abrandel05, Colleges, even selective ones, take a multi-faceted approach to admissions and a weakness in one area CAN compensate if other areas are exceptionally strong. A C (or even two) in a weak subject won’t kill the deal nor will a fair sprinkling of B’s as long as the sciences that you plan to pursue are solid A’s. </p>
<p>At this point your JHU application is out of your hands. What would be most productive for you to do between now and Wednesday is to work on those other applications, including a reasonable safety. In other words hope for the best, plan for the worst.</p>
<p>“My teacher HATED me.” If I were an admissions counselor; you are out. Nothing worse than a person who avoids responsibility. The future: My prof hated me. My boss hated me and so on. You are quick to take full credit were credit is due; then don’t blame others when you come up short.</p>
<p>lol dont take this the wrong way, but you dont know me or the situation. My GC and the administration agreed that the grade was wrong and not based on my work, and my GC made that clear on the transcript. I dont see how working everyday after school four hours, and all day in the summer in a laboratory is indicitive of “avoiding responsibility”. did i say they all hated me? no. Did i own up to my own shortcomings? yes. If others are responsible, im going to let it be known. I am by no means a stellar french student but coming off an a- the year before and an a this year, dont you think it might stick out? I dont appreciate being criticized of “avoiding responsibility” particularly since your basing it on one comment. The teacher was removed from the middle school because of innapproriate behavior, and as i said, the administration is fully aware of her bs. Such unfounded criticisms were not the purpose of my post, especially when they are inferred from nothing. this makes me furious. I always have owned up to my grades and acknowledged i could have done better, this is the exception. Sorry about the rant, but this gets to me</p>
<p>im apologize if that last post came across either incoherent or agitated (or both), i just felt that of all the possible criticisms that was an unfair one for someone who doesn’t know me at all and has never spoken with me. It seems like everyone’s got a different opinion about my prospects, but i geuss that is the nature of the game. Ill just have to sweat it out until wednesday i geuss… :(!!!</p>