Hi,
I was lucky enough to get accepted to CMU’s college of engineering during this year’s RD cycle. However, due to some family issues plus a lot of senioritis, my grades have dipped significantly since first semester of senior year. Whereas I got two Bs (in AP Lit and AP Gov/Econ) first semester, I’m nearly confirmed getting three Cs (in AP Lit, AP CS, and AP Physics C) and three Bs (in AP Gov/Econ, AP Spanish, and Weight Training), with my only A being in peer tutoring. I’m extremely concerned about my chances of being rescinded with this severe of a drop in grades.
What actions should I take? I’ve already talked to some of my teachers (in AP Lit I have a 78), but all of them seem extremely reluctant to raise my grades at all. Panicking right now as I’ve already withdrawn my other acceptances and have no other option except community college if CMU does go ahead and decide to rescind me.
“Our offer of admission is based on the assumption that you will maintain the level of academic performance and community conduct that has resulted in your acceptance to Carnegie Mellon.” Before senior year I had straight As, so this is a pretty huge drop in grades, although I did have some good awards/competitions (AIME 4x, USNCO High Honors) that might have played a greater factor in my admission?
I doubt you will be rescinded, but do not be surprised if you get an unpleasant email from CMU asking about the multiple C’s. I’ve worked with a couple of students who are attending similar caliber colleges and had to explain grade drops. I suggest you talk to your GC, who may be able to intervene on your behalf.
If the GC advises you to let the chips fall where they may, and you get a letter in a few weeks once CMU has your final transcript, be prepared to give them an explanation. Frankly, the biggest red flag is that you appear to think Senioritis is something that happens to you, rather than being an imaginary and self-inflicted “condition.”
If you are asked for an explanation, take responsibility! Admit you messed up, and admit you can and will do better. Give them a reason to believe you, such as you plan to attend professor office hours, will meet with TA’s, will go to the tutoring center, and so forth.
Wait and see - and you don’t have your final transcript yet - and you’ll find out but you might be left without a home. Not saying you will - but maybe.
Reach out and let them know the likely and ask for guidance. If they give it and you have grave concerns, there are other fine schools still taking applications.
Everyone has family issues. Everyone has some kind of struggle at some point in their education.
I know you aren’t failing, but you are going into a tough major. Once you are in college, using family issues to explain failing grades will not cut the mustard, barring truly traumatic family situations. You are expected to succeed in college and your grades reassured them when they accepted you that you probably can succeed. But their goal is to keep bottoms in seats. They would rather not have to deal with putting students on academic probation and so forth.
Once you get to college, there are many resources to help you succeed, so don’t be proud. Take advantage of it all. And if you think maybe things are too tough at the moment, maybe consider a gap year and give yourself time to mature.
They have wait lists for a reason. So again, talk to your GC because given their statement, it might be better to act soon, rather than waiting for the axe to fall.
Edit: @amnesiac2004 I just saw your post. Why should you get to do extra things to improve your grade? Do others get that opportunity? You had chances to improve your grades during the school year. Your teachers can’t just do something for you and not for others.
You should not be afforded extra projects was the point. It’s not fair to the other students.
I doubt you’ll get rescinded, but I would fully expect you to receive a nasty letter asking for an explanation. Be upfront and honest in your response.
What is also important is that any past issues get resolved before Fall, since it does not get easier in college
The bad grades were more of an issue with HW not being turned in than actual course difficulty. To give more context, my grandfather’s cancer worsened significantly this semester and so my family and I were constantly in and out of the hospital visiting him, making it pretty difficult for me to focus/do my HW properly.
And yeah, I guess it’s not fair to other students. I didn’t expect this of them anyways, it was sort of a long shot. I was just desperate for any method of raising some of my high Cs.
I’ll explain all of this to them, as well as my GC, and hope for the best.
Just remember that you are going to face many challenges in life. In hindsight, it might have been best for you to explain the situation to your GC and teachers when you first had to start visiting hospital frequently. Maybe an arrangement could have been made, or they could have helped you manage your time more effectively.
Building on the excellent advice @Lindagaf has given you, you could actually proactively contact your AO now and explain the grades/report card coming their way.
It might be a very good idea to explain how homework got away from you due to the family situation and in retrospect you now realize you should have contacted your teachers and GC to explain the situation before it had such an impact on your grades. Furthermore, you will be taking this experience as a life lesson on how to deal with situations like this going forward and will definitely be more proactive in college with such a clear experience showing you how not to handle it.
edited to add: I wouldn’t try to blame this on senioritis. Saying you just chose not to complete the work isn’t the explanation anyone wants to hear when seeing a subpar report card.
Unless you get Ds and Fs, you will not get rescinded. You will get a nasty email or two reminding you to shape up. Truth be told, it is well into June. The last thing a college will want to do now is go back to their wait list and find another candidate to replace you.
I got one of the Bs to an A, but it’s looking increasingly unlikely that the Cs turn into Bs (maybe CS?). Good news is that with the A, I have now dropped less than a full point from first semester–6/7ths of a point to be exact. I talked to my mom and she seemed okay with me sending an email to CMU. How should I structure/what should I include in the email?
2 As (in easy classes), 2 Bs and 3 Cs. I can probably get one of the Bs (in Spanish) to an A as it’s very high and I have a lot of late work in that class. FWIW my counselor said I wouldn’t get rescinded but I wanted to send an email just in case + people here seemed to think it was necessary.
They basically said “our offer of admission may be revoked if you fail to maintain the academic performance that got you in” but since I dropped less than a full point, they shouldn’t be too mad at me, right?