What grades do I need

Depends on what schools you are going to target.

You're screwed. Hope you enjoy a life of manual labor.

depends on the school and test scores. with your gpa and ap's, get above a 28 on act or 1800 on sat (which should be v easy for you) you'll be able to get in anywhere that has a good running program except stanford and ivies.

Do AP scores help I will have taken 7 and so far have 3 5s and plan on getting good scores in the future?

APs only let you get credits once in college. They don't affect admissions. With your qualifications, try to make 31+ on ACT or SAT equivalent. With a 9:14 also, you won't have much trouble getting into a good school. With a 30 on the ACT you can usually get into an honors college at a decent state school.

APs definitely can help with admissions. They will look at both your AP test score and your grade. 5's can't hurt.

alabama runner wrote:

APs only let you get credits once in college. They don't affect admissions. With your qualifications, try to make 31+ on ACT or SAT equivalent. With a 9:14 also, you won't have much trouble getting into a good school. With a 30 on the ACT you can usually get into an honors college at a decent state school.

This just isn't true. The difficulty of your schedule matters very much in college admissions. Colleges want to see people who did well in hard classes and who took the opportunities to challenge themselves.

As for the OPs question, as others have said it depends on the schools you are interested in. It will be very difficult to get into the top schools with those grades. Running will help, but make sure to do well on the standardized tests.

Assuming (always a big assumption) that this is not a troll:

1) There's a *lot* of the spring semester left. Get serious about your classes *right now* and you can demonstrate how you "made a competitive response to a tough situation so I could achieve my academic ambitions" yadda. Same for the first semester of your senior year. Show in your college application essays how you've overcome your brief slump--"met the challenge" yadda.

2) You "can run 9:14." Does that mean you *have* run it, or that your workouts indicate it? If, as a junior (and before any significant outdoor action), you've *already* run 9:14...then you should already be hearing from tons of schools (including some Ivies).

3) With your current academics, a 9:14 as a junior (and no felonies, say), and a reasonably good ACT/SAT, you should be accepted for admission at the flagship campus of nearly every state university in the country. No worries, really. Now whether you'd be accepted for the *team* is a separate question, but having the academics for admission should be no problem.

4) To maximize your opportunities and choices, take the SAT and/or ACT seriously and *prep* for it/them. There are a bunch of good prep books: Kaplan (full disclosure: I used to teach/edit for them) and others do a good job. Get off the Internet or the TV every night half an hour earlier than you're used to, and do some test prep. Good test scores (and your improved grades) could very well entitle you to some *academic* scholarship aid. This can be important to you because so few boys get more than partial *athletic* scholarships nowadays, and the academic $$$ can be key.

5) If you show improvement (getting back toward your usual standard) in your spring/fall grades, and get a solid (doesn't have to be phenomenal) ACT or SAT score--which I think you can do, given your success in the APs--then thinking Ivy is actually not far-fetched. A school/team like Cornell, say, could be a good match. No athletic scholarships in the Ivies, but their need-based aid is fantastic: as long as your family isn't truly wealthy, you'll get to attend college for little or no expense.

Anyway, good luck. Keep us posted on developments, please. And a final tip: don't spend more than an hour a week on LRC. Use the time you save to study for your courses! All best--

lease