<p>Just a quick question. I work about 30 hrs/wk and my long work hours have had a slight affect on my grades. I have a C in AP Calc this year and will be earning a 3.8 weighted at the end of my senior year's first semester. Last year I earned a 4.5. I got a 30 ACT and have a ton of extra-curriculars and community service. Does the C ruin my chances?</p>
<p>It doesn’t ruin your chances but it hurts them. Which college are you applying to?</p>
<p>Damn, okay. I’m applying to tepper and h & ss. My parents are finally letting me quit my job to focus on school, but its pretty much the end of the semester and i dont think i can get it up. They wanted me to get a job so I would learn time-management skills, which I have, but I have also been working 5-9 pm shifts with a ten-hour Saturday, so I’m pretty disappointed to throw my chances away like this. I live in California and I would’ve applied early but they wanted me to see if I got into UCLA and Berkeley first. Thanks for the help and I had a feeling that this C might trip me up.</p>
<p>I think my essays are very well-written and my recs, I’m assuming are very good as well if that means anything at this point.</p>
<p>I’d say you’d already learned “time management” through your EC’s and community service. The important thing you probably learned here was about your limits. I was in a very similar situation MANY years ago, and I know it impacted my college selections and resulted in a HS and college GPA a full point lower than if I was only going to school. It also took me 6 and a half years to graduate. However I had lots of work experience in my field and have done quite well since. My son’s job is school. I’m glad you and your parents have seen the light, and I don’t think one C will kill your app. However, do everything you can to try and get that up to a B- and if that doesn’t work, write a letter to explain about the job and what you’ve done to improve things (don’t blame your parents). Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback. It’s really disappointing for me to think about my lessened chances for admission at my top schools. Hopefully, I get in. But I totally agree with you AVHS Dad, I wouldn’t advise an almost full-time job on any high school kid, especially one with a difficult class schedule. Thanks for the help and honest truth.</p>
<p>Another thing that can help, try to get a letter of recommendation from the Calc teacher. My son had a couple of B’s on his transcript and I got some feedback from a college he applied to (not CMU) and the admissions persons constructive feedback was that if you have a grade that does not reflect the students true abilities, they would like to see a letter of Rec coming from that subject to eliminate their concerns. That with a letter of explanation from you should help.</p>
<p>Okay, that’s definitely something to consider. It’s just really disappointing to think that I’ll probably end up at a state school rather than one of my dream schools. In retrospect, it was utterly stupid to take on an outside commitment like this. My parents have always been the ‘School comes first’ kind of parents, but they thought that it would be good for me to step into the American workforce at an early age. My job has been a great experience and I have learned a lot, but obviously in this case, the detriments outweigh the benefits. I’m just praying at this point that I’ll even get into one of my top five schools.</p>
<p>Drew, with your GPA, job and extra-curriculars, I don’t think a C in AP calculus is going to hurt your chances for (particularly) H&SS or possibly even Tepper. Much more of a concern if you were going for ECE or SCS, but I wouldn’t be panicking about it now. Sure, it would be great if you still had a chance to move it up a bit, but if not, don’t beat yourself up about it. Kids with far lower GPA’s, and yes, C’s, have gotten into those schools. And I’d imagine it wouldn’t hurt to fax them a letter updating things and explaining your job-like the 2 dads said.</p>
<p>Thank you for the help busdriver. I guess I shouldn’t be beating myself up about it like you said - I can’t really change the past. If I don’t get in I guess I could go to Pitt for a year (if I can get in lol) and then transfer. Thanks again :)</p>
<p>A C in calc will not hurt you for H&SS. Most H&SS kids never even see a calc class unless they’re in Psych, Econ or Statistics, or a derivative of one of those. For Tepper it might, but-- Tepper’s all about the work ethic, about preparing you for the work force, etc, etc. The fact that you’ve already entered the work force is meaningful, I’d think; it’s not like you got the C because you were off smoking weed or something. Holding down a 30-hr/wk job is no small feat when in high school.</p>
<p>Good luck, drewhjr. I have seen several places where colleges claim to take job committment into considerations. Just make sure the colleges know about it through essays, interviews, recommendations or other means. </p>
<p>(Note - to future parent readers… based on school and college meetings etc, in general there seems to be not enough consideration of jobs based on school info meetings etc. So if on the fence, encourage your child if possible to find a jobs with minimal hours or summer work. Not fair, but true.)</p>