Will 5B's destroy chances to top colleges?

MWolf
Fri, 24 Jan 2020 07:39:42 +0000

The problem is that you are thinking in terms of Top Colleges. There is no such thing as objectively Top Colleges, whatever the Ivies or USNews wants you to think. There are only Top Colleges For YOU.

The issue is not, as other posters have written, that you will not be able to keep up with the classes - there are athletes who are accepted with worse academics to those colleges, and they succeed. The problem is that those colleges are set up to be comfortable places for students who actually enjoy being challenged.

Based on you performance, based on your admitted issues with time management and dedication, I do not think that you would actually enjoy yourself at NU or Johns Hopkins. While I am sure that you could keep up, you will not be thriving while you do do, and if you succeed, it will cost you.

Ask yourself “what do I want from a college?”. Don’t think about the prestige of the college, think about what you would enjoy doing in college. Think of what parts of high school you like, what do you think was lacking in high school which would have made it a better place for you, and choose a college which will provide you with those things.

Succeeding in college does not mean “being accepted to the most prestigious college which will accept me”. It means “finding a college at which I will thrive”. There are literally hundreds of excellent colleges out there. I am sure that there are dozens at which you will thrive and succeed.

It’s not the Bs that are the problem, really. You can easily have a GPA which will make you competitive for at least Case Western Reserve or WashU (though the downward trend in your GPA without a good reason may count against you ). It is the fact that, as others have pointed out, the more challenging the courses got, the more difficult it was for you to manage your time and find the dedication you needed.

In my experience, it is often the case that, when teen have difficulty with dedication and time management, it means that they are not really enjoying themselves. The point isn’t whether you are able to get all As in the fall semester of your Senior year. The point is whether you will actually enjoy yourself during any of them. If you won’t, why try to attend a college where, to fully thrive and succeed, you really need to enjoy most of your classes?