AP Calc BC - B grade - what are the chances for Ivy and MIT

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Child in TJ - current Junior and may end with B grade in AP Calc BC. I have heard all grades should be A being Asian to get into Ivy/MIT/Stanford. What are the chances for those schools for a Bio major with a B grade in AP Calc BC and remaining As or A- in Junior year. Overall GPA end of Junior will be close to 4.3; SAT 1570+; Good ECs

Hire a college counselor. They’ll evaluate transcript and ECs. Might be able to pivot to another major, add some summer stuff to support it and overall strengthen chances.

Bio is still tough - especially for Asian females. If the goal is medical field, there are many other major options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is sad is that the entire class of TJ is brilliant but because everyone is brilliant it makes it harder. I would consider going back to regular school and child will get in everywhere. Also after the NMS nonsense I would not trust how applications are handled. Please tell your child they are great and that you will get them through this. Hate kids being stressed out over things they cannot control.

This. This admissions season someone posted a podcast with transcript where admissions officers reviewed the applications from 3 high schools. One was a TJ student. That student was held to a ridiculous standard by the admissions officers. The student wanted to be an economics major but had not done "original research in economics" (the student had only taken 2 years of math beyond calculus, micro and macro econ and was president of the math team and worked in a STEM internship but the admissions team said it didn't support the major and just wasn't impressive enough). It was insanity. Meanwhile the other students from regular high schools (not in the DMV) had 1/4 of the resume and were reviewed better.

That admissions officer is an a$$hat. I highly doubt that's the standard they hold TJ students to. They don't have time to review applications like that anyway. It's- grades, SATs, anything impressive

That’s not true at all. If you have gone through the T20 admissions process, you will know that they look at you in comparison to your high school. That is the first cut. After that once you’ve made that cut, then they look at you in detail. You can bet the regional admissions officer knows your high school well knows it down to the hard teachers and the easy teachers. The know whether a B is common in that class or not.

Listen to the Dartmouth and Yale podcasts. And this one.

This is idiotic because the AOs don't know who had which teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BC Calc is child’s play for most MIT kids and math/sciencey kids at HYP. Most finished it in 9th or 10th grade.

If you can’t ace BC Calc, no Ivy for you!

Moron.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MIT? No chance whatsoever
Harvard? Sure why not, if you’re loaded or “started a nonprofit”. Same as any other student

For m, it’s ok if you are a recruit and a B in Calculus won’t kill you.

My kid was told explicitly by MIT that there is no such thing as coach support for admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends on HS. And major.

If humanities major, no problem.

OP provided that information. High School is TJ, major is Biology.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
This. This admissions season someone posted a podcast with transcript where admissions officers reviewed the applications from 3 high schools. One was a TJ student. That student was held to a ridiculous standard by the admissions officers. The student wanted to be an economics major but had not done "original research in economics" (the student had only taken 2 years of math beyond calculus, micro and macro econ and was president of the math team and worked in a STEM internship but the admissions team said it didn't support the major and just wasn't impressive enough). It was insanity. Meanwhile the other students from regular high schools (not in the DMV) had 1/4 of the resume and were reviewed better.

The problem is that the student was geared towards a STEM major; he came across as someone trying to backdoor into MIT as a STEM Major. Look at his background:

1. TJ = STEM
2. Math Team = STEM
3. Adv Math = STEM
4. STEM Internship = STEM

Who knows if the kid is trying to backdoor or honestly wants to study Econ? Looks like a backdoor to me. He maybe more capable student in Econ but the backdoor is not good.

What?
Econ at MIT is a STEM major - it's a mathematical science.

In case you just came out from under a rock for the first time today, schools provide much more math and science opportunities, for many more years, than econ opportunities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is sad is that the entire class of TJ is brilliant but because everyone is brilliant it makes it harder. I would consider going back to regular school and child will get in everywhere. Also after the NMS nonsense I would not trust how applications are handled. Please tell your child they are great and that you will get them through this. Hate kids being stressed out over things they cannot control.

This. This admissions season someone posted a podcast with transcript where admissions officers reviewed the applications from 3 high schools. One was a TJ student. That student was held to a ridiculous standard by the admissions officers. The student wanted to be an economics major but had not done "original research in economics" (the student had only taken 2 years of math beyond calculus, micro and macro econ and was president of the math team and worked in a STEM internship but the admissions team said it didn't support the major and just wasn't impressive enough). It was insanity. Meanwhile the other students from regular high schools (not in the DMV) had 1/4 of the resume and were reviewed better.

That admissions officer is an a$$hat. I highly doubt that's the standard they hold TJ students to. They don't have time to review applications like that anyway. It's- grades, SATs, anything impressive

That’s not true at all. If you have gone through the T20 admissions process, you will know that they look at you in comparison to your high school. That is the first cut. After that once you’ve made that cut, then they look at you in detail. You can bet the regional admissions officer knows your high school well knows it down to the hard teachers and the easy teachers. The know whether a B is common in that class or not.

Listen to the Dartmouth and Yale podcasts. And this one.

This is idiotic because the AOs don't know who had which teacher.

Our CCO indicates this kind of stuff in their letters. As your private HS CCO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is from the counselor:

Students who want to stand out academically need to take the most rigorous course load, especially in their subject of interest. For STEM students, that includes top math and science courses, going above Calc BC, and high-level science courses. Students need to balance grades with rigor; minimal variation in both GPA and course load are ideal. Students taking and excelling in Calc BC as sophomores will be competitive for top tier STEM schools such as MIT whereas students taking Calc BC junior year will be more competitive at second-tier STEM schools such as Georgia Tech. Top students should be taking post-AP level course-work senior year and maxing out class options in their desired field. It’s essential for students to maintain a rigorous course load senior year, including taking a math class.
https://ingeniusprep.com/blog/applying-to-college-from-a-competitive-high-school/

This is BS from a "counselor" trying to create fear to drum up sales.
Colleges know that high school math classes are terrible, because they see their students having to retake these classes in college, and they know thet different schools have different arbitrary policies. The level of school math is irrelevant to your demonstrated mat ability. They look for extracurricular math to demonstrate math ability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is sad is that the entire class of TJ is brilliant but because everyone is brilliant it makes it harder. I would consider going back to regular school and child will get in everywhere. Also after the NMS nonsense I would not trust how applications are handled. Please tell your child they are great and that you will get them through this. Hate kids being stressed out over things they cannot control.

This. This admissions season someone posted a podcast with transcript where admissions officers reviewed the applications from 3 high schools. One was a TJ student. That student was held to a ridiculous standard by the admissions officers. The student wanted to be an economics major but had not done "original research in economics" (the student had only taken 2 years of math beyond calculus, micro and macro econ and was president of the math team and worked in a STEM internship but the admissions team said it didn't support the major and just wasn't impressive enough). It was insanity. Meanwhile the other students from regular high schools (not in the DMV) had 1/4 of the resume and were reviewed better.

That admissions officer is an a$$hat. I highly doubt that's the standard they hold TJ students to. They don't have time to review applications like that anyway. It's- grades, SATs, anything impressive

That’s not true at all. If you have gone through the T20 admissions process, you will know that they look at you in comparison to your high school. That is the first cut. After that once you’ve made that cut, then they look at you in detail. You can bet the regional admissions officer knows your high school well knows it down to the hard teachers and the easy teachers. The know whether a B is common in that class or not.

Listen to the Dartmouth and Yale podcasts. And this one.

This is idiotic because the AOs don't know who had which teacher.

Our CCO indicates this kind of stuff in their letters. As your private HS CCO.

Right, so the AOs don't need to know who the hard teachers are, they just need a recommendation letter that puts the student in context/rank relative to their school peers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is from the counselor:

Students who want to stand out academically need to take the most rigorous course load, especially in their subject of interest. For STEM students, that includes top math and science courses, going above Calc BC, and high-level science courses. Students need to balance grades with rigor; minimal variation in both GPA and course load are ideal. Students taking and excelling in Calc BC as sophomores will be competitive for top tier STEM schools such as MIT whereas students taking Calc BC junior year will be more competitive at second-tier STEM schools such as Georgia Tech. Top students should be taking post-AP level course-work senior year and maxing out class options in their desired field. It’s essential for students to maintain a rigorous course load senior year, including taking a math class.
https://ingeniusprep.com/blog/applying-to-college-from-a-competitive-high-school/

This is BS from a "counselor" trying to create fear to drum up sales.
Colleges know that high school math classes are terrible, because they see their students having to retake these classes in college, and they know thet different schools have different arbitrary policies. The level of school math is irrelevant to your demonstrated mat ability. They look for extracurricular math to demonstrate math ability.

I think the problem is the high school. You are compared to your peers.
This kid is going to be screwed applying to MIT compared to their peers. That’s it - very simple. Don’t overcomplicate it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is sad is that the entire class of TJ is brilliant but because everyone is brilliant it makes it harder. I would consider going back to regular school and child will get in everywhere. Also after the NMS nonsense I would not trust how applications are handled. Please tell your child they are great and that you will get them through this. Hate kids being stressed out over things they cannot control.

This. This admissions season someone posted a podcast with transcript where admissions officers reviewed the applications from 3 high schools. One was a TJ student. That student was held to a ridiculous standard by the admissions officers. The student wanted to be an economics major but had not done "original research in economics" (the student had only taken 2 years of math beyond calculus, micro and macro econ and was president of the math team and worked in a STEM internship but the admissions team said it didn't support the major and just wasn't impressive enough). It was insanity. Meanwhile the other students from regular high schools (not in the DMV) had 1/4 of the resume and were reviewed better.

That admissions officer is an a$$hat. I highly doubt that's the standard they hold TJ students to. They don't have time to review applications like that anyway. It's- grades, SATs, anything impressive

That’s not true at all. If you have gone through the T20 admissions process, you will know that they look at you in comparison to your high school. That is the first cut. After that once you’ve made that cut, then they look at you in detail. You can bet the regional admissions officer knows your high school well knows it down to the hard teachers and the easy teachers. The know whether a B is common in that class or not.

Listen to the Dartmouth and Yale podcasts. And this one.

This is idiotic because the AOs don't know who had which teacher.

Our CCO indicates this kind of stuff in their letters. As your private HS CCO.

If the school admin knows that their teachers aren't assigning grades fairly, why don't they tell the crappy teachers to shape up or get fired?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My only B in school was a B+ in Geometry. I had a 800 math score on the SATs and got into MIT. I'm not Asian though.

You are also old, and geometry is an early lower level class so it's less interesting than later upper level course grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Child in TJ - current Junior and may end with B grade in AP Calc BC. I have heard all grades should be A being Asian to get into Ivy/MIT/Stanford. What are the chances for those schools for a Bio major with a B grade in AP Calc BC and remaining As or A- in Junior year. Overall GPA end of Junior will be close to 4.3; SAT 1570+; Good ECs

Hire a college counselor. They’ll evaluate transcript and ECs. Might be able to pivot to another major, add some summer stuff to support it and overall strengthen chances.

Bio is still tough - especially for Asian females. If the goal is medical field, there are many other major options.

Has the OP come back?
Agree with this.
I’d apply to SLACs - ED1 and ED2:

https://www.shemmassianconsulting.com/blog/best-liberal-arts-colleges-for-medical-school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Child in TJ - current Junior and may end with B grade in AP Calc BC. I have heard all grades should be A being Asian to get into Ivy/MIT/Stanford. What are the chances for those schools for a Bio major with a B grade in AP Calc BC and remaining As or A- in Junior year. Overall GPA end of Junior will be close to 4.3; SAT 1570+; Good ECs

<1%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Child in TJ - current Junior and may end with B grade in AP Calc BC. I have heard all grades should be A being Asian to get into Ivy/MIT/Stanford. What are the chances for those schools for a Bio major with a B grade in AP Calc BC and remaining As or A- in Junior year. Overall GPA end of Junior will be close to 4.3; SAT 1570+; Good ECs

Hire a college counselor. They’ll evaluate transcript and ECs. Might be able to pivot to another major, add some summer stuff to support it and overall strengthen chances.

Bio is still tough - especially for Asian females. If the goal is medical field, there are many other major options.

Yes. But so much depends on ECs. Without that , the rest of this discussion is pointless.

With the right ECs, this kid would have a lot more options - skip MIT and reframe the goals.

Apply to Cornell for global & public health:
https://www.human.cornell.edu/dns/academics/undergraduate/majors/gphs

Public Health at Brown:
https://www.brown.edu/undergraduate-programs/public-health-ab

Global health at Yale
https://jackson.yale.edu/academics/global-health-studies/

Global health @ Princeton:
https://globalhealth.princeton.edu/about