<p>S1 ended up with a D+ in World lit for the year. He had been bumping along w a C for the first 3 quarters and then failed to hand a major paper in on time in 4q (despite handing draft in on time for full credit) and received a 0. </p>
<p>He & the teacher were oil and water all year. While I agree she was a bit harsh on some grading - he received fairly low grades for things he did hand in on time, it's his grade and he now owns it. </p>
<p>The rest of his grades this year were As/Bs, including AP Chem & Calc, with an academic weighted GPA of 3.3, following a 3.6 as a sophomore. His test scores are good - 29 on ACT (both sittings).</p>
<p>He's looking to major in Mechanical Engineering. How big of an impact will this be on his application? He will be a 4-year varsity athlete and captain next year and is an Eagle Scout, with a very deep Boy Scout resume. </p>
<p>His top 5 schools right now are Villanova, WPI, Va Tech, Northeastern and Maryland. </p>
<p>Agreed. A D+ is going to be noted by every college. A horrible lesson learned…assignments count…and so do deadlines. Any chance he can retake this course…like NOW, this summer?</p>
<p>Agree with the above to a large degree. In his favor the course has nothing to do with his intended major, so that might be a bit of mitigation. But to his detriment, to the extent anyone asks the reason he got the D+ and the 0 on the term paper comes out, it was clearly just his own fault, not the conflict with the teacher, although no doubt that curbed his motivation. What really makes it worse is that I think, based on that relatively small amount of information given, his chances at those schools are iffy anyway. Not saying they were bad before the D+, but they were anything but a slam dunk. That magnifies the effect of the grade, it would seem to me.</p>
<p>Maybe it would help if he sat with the guidance counselor, who is going to have to write something to the schools he applies to anyway. If the GC is any good, they should be able to help him strategize how to handle the issue. Maybe tackle it upfront with the schools and kind of get it off the table, helping them to focus on his math and science grades. It may not be enough to get him through in the end, but at least it is worth a try.</p>
<p>The other thing that would help would be to have a particularly outstanding first semester senior year.</p>
<p>He can’t take anything this summer, as he has 4 weeks of Boy Scout stuff. The teacher clearly cut him no slack, as he had a 69 based on her scoring rubric, so he got the D+. He even took the final in an attempt to raise his grade (it was optional on his part, as he scored high enough on the state standardize English test to be exempt) and he received an A-. Of course an A would have given him the 70 and a C-. </p>
<p>He knows the principal and when the D became a mathematical possibility in early June he spoke with her and she suggested several books for him to read this summer. I’m going to suggest strongly he writes a paper over the summer and see if the teacher would somehow raise the grade to C-. His guidance counselor is great and will be an asset in navigating this minefield. He knows he needs to come up with the explanation of how he will spin this. </p>
<p>I’ve have a hard time understanding how or why he does not hand assignments in on time. I would be too guilty. I hated literature classes in high school and college, but always handed something in, generally pulling all nighters (without the benefit of a computer!). </p>
<p>Agree with FC. A slip in a class not related to the major can sometimes be put in perspective. For a potential engineer, that’s especially when the math-sci classes and those activities are strong . </p>
<p>But this is really about more than just getting an admit. You need to be comfortable these are colleges where he can be ‘on his game’ re: expectations and any hurdles. One of mine had a D, the GC helped. Yours can note the A-. But there need to be safeties where you know he can thrive over the four years. That’s different than just the admit.</p>
<p>My concern would be him not handing in his work on time. That is not going to fly where ever he goes to college.
The other thing is he is probably going to have to take a least one English class in college and he will also probably have papers to write in other classes. I would concentrate on him understanding there are consequences to him not turning in his work. If you go about the route you are talking about to convince them to raise his grade he may think he can slide by this next year too…its better to get it handled now rather than once he is in college. </p>
<p>He got an A- in History this year, with the major 4q grade being a 10 page research paper, so writing papers is not the issue. (He’s electing to take AP Gov/Pol next year!) He needs to be engaged in the topic or else he doesn’t care. One advantage we heard w WPI is they require a 6 course Liberal Arts sequence, which doesn’t have to include English; given his interest in History/Government, that’s what he would choose.</p>
<p>That’s your signal: he needs to be engaged to follow through. Not all college courses, even in the major, are always engaging. It’s good you’re digging, but did you see this for WPI? </p>
<p>Average GPA 3.85
ACT range (middle 50%): 28–32 (ie, he’s in the 3rd quartile.) </p>
<p>"He needs to be engaged in the topic or else he doesn’t care. "</p>
<p>He needs to really work on that, and on being more responsible. Employers don’t really care whether or not employees are excited about their job, just that it is done. Deadlines for engineers can have huge impacts on projects.</p>
<p>Northeastern has gotten pretty competitive. That one sounds like a reach. </p>
<p>The other’s are no better than 50-50 IMHO. </p>
<p>A co-worker’s S who sounds similar has really turned himself around at Rochester Institute of Technology. You might consider that. </p>
<p>What’s the unweighted GPA? </p>
<p>Generally, I don’t think the D+ in English is a deal breaker. Most of these schools will take students who they believe can be successful in engineering, and one bad English grade may just be viewed as a sign of immaturity. </p>