Current 2028 at a top 15/20 prep school in the US. Had a bad GPA freshman year(B+ average or 3.3/4.0) and will have a slightly better but also bad GPA this first semester(3.4-3.5/4.0). Wondering if I should sacrifice some course rigor to save my GPA. Current breakdown is A,A-,A-,A-,B, and B- in my math class, which is my “ honors class”. The reason I’m thinking of dropping is that if I attend the regular class, I can hopefully earn an A or A- in the class and bring my GPA to a 3.6- 3.7 by the end of semester 2 and the fact that on my current trajectory I would end up taking calc as a senior anyways even if i stayed in my “honors” class which is the regular track for students at my school. The “Honors” class is also not weighted, and it appears as a regular B- on my transcript. I really want to attend a NESCAC school, and the commits at my school (8-16/30 something) who are going to NESCAC(Williams has like 4/5 commits this year alone from my school), many are on the regular track from my knowledge. Don’t get counselors until the second semester after the break, but I was just wondering what you would do in my situation.
reply to keep open
I am not sure that I have completely understood what class you want to step back in. I am guessing that it may be math.
First of all, in math it is more important to understand each class very well rather than to jump ahead. You want to understand the concepts well and specifically do not limit your understanding to just manipulating formulae. For some students getting a tutor can be helpful. If you get to calculus AB by senior year this is plenty (and more than is really needed – colleges and universities can teach calculus very well). If you get ahead too far and struggle in math this can in some cases get more difficult going into future classes.
If you are looking for smaller schools such as a liberal arts college, there are a lot of very good LACs. Williams and Bowdoin and Amherst College are well ranked and very good, but you do not need to attend a school on this level to get a very good education and do well in life.
One possible issue with prep high schools is that they are full of students who are quite ambitious. This might make a student feel like a failure if they attend a mere “very good” college rather than a prestigious college. However, there are a lot of very good colleges and a lot of very good universities. The strongest students, and the students who will some day go on to be very successful, will attend any of a very wide range of colleges and universities for their bachelor’s degrees.
With all of this, the primary question is not “What will get you into a highly ranked LAC?”. Instead, the primary question should be: “What is the right path for you?”. Specifically in this case, what class will be going at a pace that is right for you?
It’s not about rigor and GPA. It’s about ensuring you understand the material…because math and others (science) are foundational - so if you struggle at an entry level, continuing to progress will just cause you issues later.
Make sure you are stretching yourself but not to the point you don’t understand. It’s not about your current GPA. Get to college and you might bomb if you’re not ready - NESAC or NE Missouri.
So your school should recommend the classes you should take. Go with that guidance.
Good luck
Agree with all the advice above. Are you on a trajectory so that it looks like you will achieve recruitable times? What does your coach say? That’s the first threshold. Only once you have recruitable times are grades/rigor considered. (I realize you may know all this already).
Keep in mind that the NESCACs are great liberal arts schools, but so are a TON others! Schools like Union, Hobart, Rhodes, Skidmore, Bard, St. Lawrence, Franklin & Marshall, Gettysburg, Dickinson, St. Olaf, etc etc etc
You need to be aware that the academic bar for athletes at the NESCAC schools is often considered to be higher than the one at the Ivy League schools. It has been oft repeated that Ivy Leavue athletes are good students/great athletes while NESCAC athletes are great students/good athletes. I don’t think sacrificing rigor is going to help your case there.
But if your school has a history of sending athletes to NESCAC schools, you should have this discussion with your counselor to understand the rigor situation better.
There are several NESCAC athletic recruiting threads on this forum. You should read through some.
Such a school will have counselors who should be able to answer your questions, including what colleges are realistic for you and what they are looking for both academically and athletically, based on the school’s history of admissions to various colleges.
If you believe you are on track to be recruited as an athlete, please speak to someone in your CC office. While they may not be handling your class yet as a whole, most have a counselor or two who are devoted to athletic recruits, who have a different timeline and a different process from the rest of your classmates. They could almost certainly point you in the right direction in your class selection.
I will add that while it’s smart to be aware of your goals, you should probably only make decisions about this sort of thing “around the margins” – where it doesn’t make a huge difference to you or your high school experience. Don’t let these decisions drive the bus – you’ll be cheating yourself and in the worst case (injury, not recruitable), trading your best high school experience for a pipe dream