Tough Freshman Year

optimism129
Tue, 20 Jan 2015 23:44:01 +0000

My first half of Freshman year just ended. It’s been a rough year so far to say the least. I entered high school convincing myself that these next four years are dedicated to achieving and getting good grades to be accepted into my dream college (which is currently Georgetown University, I stopped dreaming about Harvard long ago).
For the first term, I had three B+'s (in Spanish, Biology, and History). My confidence shattered for a while. But then I convinced myself I was going to try harder in the next term. And that term just ended. The plan worked for a while; I got better grades, studied a lot harder. However, I had so many setbacks. For the first half of Freshman year, I am supposed to have a substitute for a biology teacher, then our ‘real’ bio teacher comes. Honestly, I can barely understand what my bio teacher’s saying in class because English is not her native language. Plus, her teaching methods are not efficient. I’m aware of the fact that I should be self motivated (and I am!), but it’s always impossible for me to do well on her tests (that she makes). Another major setback is how I’m taking Journalism for one semester of my Freshman year. When I was choosing my courses, it seemed like a good idea at the time. But I’ve come quick to realize that this course is extremely hard for Freshman (it’s combined with sophomores, juniors, and seniors!). I spend all of my time and energy writing papers, and articles for this course so that I don’t put as much time in my other homework and studying. The sad thing is, college admissions officers have NO sympathy for these kinds of things.
I have pretty awful term two grades as well: two B+'s. One in History, and one in Biology. Currently, I feel so done. I’m trying to keep myself together and I’m not ready to give up. Next term, I won’t be taking journalism as it is a semester long course so I’ll have more time to study for other subjects. Other than those two awful B+'s, I believe I have all A’s.
So, graduates or seniors applying to colleges, what advice do you have for me? And I know I probably sound annoying with all this venting, but I would really appreciate it if someone could step into my shoes.