<p>I got a D this semester in an English course at a community college. It's a complete anomaly on my transcript - my grades for this year will be A, A, A, A, A, D (all AP classes or community college classes). In general, I'm not a bad student. In that class, all my work got A's or B's. However, the last week of class, very extreme personal problems resulted in the turning in of the final paper a week late. I know that doesn't change the grade, but it's not like I was constantly turning in D-level work. I'm going to discuss it with the teacher, since I don't feel it reflects the work I did, but I'm not sure if the grade will change at all. How much will the D hurt me in admissions?</p>
<p>It's not a course I need for graduation - it was my sixth English course at the community college so basically it equals my seventh year of English classes (five others at the community college that each count for one year for high school, and then a one year regular high school course). I took it because I love English and I was doing really well in it...until the final paper. </p>
<p>I know it will have an effect, but will it completely take me out of the running for a pretty good school? Like if I have high test scores and good grades in everything else (also AP Scholar with Distinction)? Right now my plan is to take six AP classes senior year and get A's to send on the mid-year report, just to show colleges that I can take hard classes and get good grades. It was just the week of the final paper that everything became disastrous due to outside circumstances. All my other work in the class received good grades.</p>
<p>Please reply - I'd like as many opinions as possible. Thanks!</p>
<p>I had similar problems. I got a D on my english class in high school while getting As on other classes.
Most of the college applications have spaces for you to talk about “stuffs”, so make sure you mentioned it. Also, you can ask the teacher for that class to write you an recommendation. This is “risky”, make sure your teacher knows your ability.</p>
<p>Oh I’m sorry, the way I phrased that was kind of confusing. The D is the final class grade - but it is only that because I don’t think I got any credit for the last paper (like I said, I’m going to discuss it with the teacher and see what exactly happened). </p>
<p>Well…prior to this disaster, I was definitely looking at some of the best schools. My top choices were Swarthmore, Brown, Yale, and Dartmouth (before this I had all A’s this year…) but I was interested in Lafayette, Wheaton (MA), Boston College, Dickinson, NYU, and safeties with admit rates above 50 percent. Should I give up on the better schools because of that one grade? I know it’s an absolutely terrible grade.</p>
<p>What effect will it have if everything else is really, really good? Like if the weakspot is just the D (and yes, I know it’s a big one). Should I ask the teacher to explain what happened to colleges? I’ve taken five other English courses at the college all with A’s so it’s not like this is the norm for me at all.</p>
<p>I won’t worry too much about it, and will not give up on applying to the top schools. In fact, you mentioned the D was a result of a personal issue, if you can turn this personal issue into your admission essay. It would help you in a long way. Of course, you have to be comfortable to talk about it</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice. =) What if the situation can’t really be explained? I think it might do more harm than good to explain it. =/ Would getting a really good rec from an English teacher help? English was my strong point until this and all my other English teachers really like me. I was planning for an English major for the longest time (though that did switch recently)…</p>
<p>I can understand if this is personal issue. I won’t want to write an essay to admission on this if it is about a break up between me and my ex who I happened to spend the last 5 yrs together.</p>
<p>Ray 192 - I’ve been taking community college classes every semester (including summer) since I was a freshman. =) It…sucks. Haha. Actually it’s not that bad. English classes are my favorite part, I love them. My parents force me to do the rest. ;)</p>
<p>And aspasp…it was something several members on here have mentioned is more detrimental than beneficial to mention, even as a reason for poor grades (something along the lines of an almost-suicide/mental health thing). But I realize the way I said it did make it sound very sketchy. I’m sorry!</p>
<p>I don’t really understand why you are taking so many community college classes, but it seems that you should take this as a signal that you are overloading.</p>
<p>A D in regular high school would be extremely detrimental. I don’t honestly know about a D in a CC, especially after so much successful classwork.</p>
<p>You will certainly need to explain it. Maybe not with an essay, just under the ‘additional information’ notes. Address it as an anomoly. If it was due to a mental health condition, don’t mention it. Just say it was due to family problems and was an isolated incident.</p>