<p>Will a D- in a non-academic class(fashion) hurt me in admissions? </p>
<p>Yes, because it indicates you were not successful in the course. Obviously, different schools have different admission criteria and decision-making processes, but in general, a D sends an alarm even if in a non-academic course. </p>
<p>What if I retook it and earned an A and had an explanation for the D-?</p>
<p>That’s a question you should discuss with your GC and must consider in light of the expectations of the adcoms of the schools you’re targeting. Not enough info here to make an informed suggestion. What do. YOU WANT to do with Fashion? </p>
<p>@dyiu13 I feel like my GC is not very well-informed about the college admissions process, especially because he advised me that colleges don’t like to see a lot of AP classes taken. That’s why I’m asking on here instead.</p>
<p>I hope to attend a top LAC like Swarthmore, Reed, St Olaf, or a top small university like Tufts.</p>
<p>I don’t plan on doing anything with fashion. When I transferred schools it was the only available elective so I had no choice but to take it.</p>
<p>Your explanation had better be a good one. A D- <em>in an elective, of all things!</em> suggests a complete lack of effort and perhaps worse.</p>
<p>@marvin100 I retook it and got an A…doesn’t that show that it wasn’t for lack of effort?</p>
<p>Has the semester for your school ended already? If not, try to get it up to at least a B. Its bad but at least its not an academic course. </p>
<p>Oh, so you already retook it?! Ah. Then the story your transcript tells is that a mistake was made (by you), but you took responsibility and rectified it. Of course, you have to be otherwise fully competitive for your targeted selective schools. </p>
<p>Oh I thought you were taking it right now my bad. Colleges will still see the D- though. Did you get a D- for both semesters or just one? </p>
<p>That was sophomore year, I’m a senior now. So it’s definitely too late.</p>
<p>The reason for the D- was that I transferred in around mid-April. I was expected to do basically everything that the class had worked on all year in one month, but I had never used a sewing machine and the teacher was too busy helping other students. Despite that, I worked hard and got most of it done. However, I was then expected to complete the final project, which was a full outfit, in less than 2 weeks. The class had been working on it the entire semester. I didn’t have enough time or money since fabric is expensive, so I failed the first part of the final. The second part was helping at the fashion show production, but I had to attend a mandatory family therapy session(former foster youth) on the same day so I failed the second part as well, bringing my grade from an A to a D-.</p>
<p>Pretty long explanation, I know. I really don’t mean to make excuses, but I really did put my best effort. Will this make it a little less bad?</p>
<p>@UC6792 I only took it Spring semester</p>
<p>Oh, man. That’s a good, solid excuse. MAKE SURE your GC explains it in her report for your apps. Good luck.</p>
<p>Most colleges do not care about elective classes and do not include those grades in your GPA. However, just explain what happened in the “anything you want to explain box”. I wouldn’t fret too much.</p>