Is it the end of the world for me?? [Archive]

ZzKingz

December 7th, 2011, 12:38 AM

I got a 3.8 and a 4.0 last year (fresh), taking all honors except for regular English and no foreign language. I had a few electives
Now I'm in Spanish 1 as a sophomore, AP US History, orchestra, AP Chemistry, health, honors English, and honors algebra 2. Unfortunately APUSH fucked up my GPA, whis is the opposit of what it was supposed to do. I have a weighted GPA of 3.06, and considering the way things are looking, it could go down to a 2.8. :eek:

I play piano pretty well and I also play the violin, which I'm not the greatest at, but I have been accepted into some pretty good orchestras for it. No sports and I dropped debate and chamber orchestra because of my schedule.

This isn't fair. I feel like I'm not a C student and that this is a terrible representation of my abilities. Am I screwed for college? Or at least the prestigious ones or Berkeley? I have no Ds but I have a few Cs and one of them is in my easiest class.

AnotherCityGuy

December 7th, 2011, 11:23 AM

To be honest, seeing as you're still a sophomore, you shouldn't be that worried about it. Colleges look at a lot more than just grades. They look at volunteer work, community service, and, sometimes, jobs/internships. Most colleges and universities, including the prestigious ones, want to accept students that are not only college-bound, but also students that are involved within their community.

I was in your same situation when I was a sophomore with C's in two classes (Honors Chemistry and Honors Algebra 2), one A and two B's. It only got a little better when I made it through junior year, and I struggled a bit in senior year.

Sure, everyone's goal is to make it into a prestigious school. Thus, the amount of competition that arises during the common app/UC app scramble every November in California. (I assume your from California, since you mentioned Berkeley.)

I have to admit, it's not something to stress yourself over. Let me explain what happened to me, and hopefully it'll reassure you. I submitted my applications with a 3.7 GPA, applied to almost every UC. I did a lot of volunteer work and i was even the president of a community service club at my high school. I did a volunteer-internship at Kaiser Permanente and continued to work there as a volunteer after the internship was over. I only got accepted to two. My dream was Irvine, but I didn't get in (I blame my personal statement, since I worked on it at the last minute, on the spot, due to heavy technical difficulties. I was at fault there). Anyway, out of the two I got accepted to (Merced and Riverside), I chose Riverside.

Ironically, Riverside is considered a reject school by many other pompous UC students. I don't let it bother me, though. There are so many incredibly intelligent students on campus, many of which deserve to go to UCLA, but chose Riverside. It all comes down to what you want to major in. Have you decided what you want to major in? I chose to major in Geophysics, and luckily, Riverside has a small, close-knit Geo-sciences department (they hold barbecues every Friday, where professors chill with Geo majors while eating hamburgers).

I mean, you don't want to end up in a school where you find out you wanted to do, say Electrical Engineering, but the school does not offer that major. That's the difference between colleges and universities. Universities are collections of colleges, whereas colleges are schools specializing in a specific major or field. Even in Riverside, the school's name is UCR, but I'm considered to be in the College for Natural and Agricultural Sciences.

So, to answer your question, no, you are not screwed. You just hit a bump in the road, and all you have to do is push through (and make sure you get nothing lower than a C on a final report card. But that's just me.) Remember the qualities colleges are looking for, as well as what college would be right for you.

Anyway, I hope you do well, nonetheless. Confidence helps.