QUESTION: I'm a senior in high school. I'm applying to a lot of competitive universities and have worked really hard throughout my freshman, sophomore and junior years. Cornell sent me a letter encouraging me to apply there, but I’m not so sure I have a chance of getting in anymore. I took a really difficult and heavy load of AP classes this year and got "C's" and "D's" in my honors physics and pre-calculus classes. I have good grades in my AP classes though. I know I'm going to have to send mid-year reports to Cornell with my senior grades. Will I be rejected on the spot because of those classes? What chance do I have? Signed, AP Overload

Dear AP Overload: A lot of students fall prey to senioritis, losing focus during their senior year of high school. It sounds like you may have been affected by this in addition to taking a lot of challenging classes that may have been too much. Unfortunately, this will affect your chances of getting accepted since colleges look carefully at your senior year grades. The worst-case scenario is that a college will withdraw its offer of admission. Every year colleges withdraw their offers from a few students who perform poorly during the second semester of their senior years.

To prevent this from happening to you, think about why you performed poorly in the two classes. Did all of the students perform poorly? Was your courseload too much to handle? Then ask how you can demonstrate to the colleges that this lackluster performance was out of the ordinary. Can you take an SAT Subject Test or AP test in those areas to demonstrate to the colleges that you know the material? Do you have teachers who can vouch for your performance in previous science and math classes?

It is true that low grades diminish your academic record, but try to focus on how you can show colleges that you will succeed academically on their campus.

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