<p>I'm currently a High School Junior, and third quarter is shaping up to be a disaster. For those of you that were (un)fortunate enough to experience what was known as "Snowmageddon" last month, you may have missed up to 2 weeks of school. As a result of that, along with procrastination, poor retention rates, and other tests, I now have a C/D in my AP US History class. Among A's for all other classes (AP) and A's for the previous two years, is this going to be a terrible black mark when I apply to colleges next school year?</p>
<p>Should I go talk to my teacher to see if there is any way to improve my GPA (if it was going to look like a D or worse...) or just let it go and improve next quarter. Or just let it go?</p>
<p>First off, what shows up on your transcript (ie: what will colleges see)? If quarter grades show up, you need to become your teacher’s bff. Details below. On the other hand, if only semester grades show up, find out what you’ll need this quarter in order to be able to get a B for the semester. Pursue that. If you can get a B for the semester, and semester grades are the only ones that matter, you don’t want to grub too much for something you didn’t earn.
If it’s a borderline D, definitely do anything within reason to get it up to a C. If it’s a C, talk to your teacher and see what you can do, but you don’t need to be as desperate. I don’t know what sorts of deals teachers give at your school, but my AP chem and AP physics teachers sometimes move quarter grades up a whole letter if they were borderline, the student really needs it, and the student shows marked improvement. See if you could ask for something like that.</p>
<p>D’s are killer. I’m currently desperately trying to avoid one in AP Physics C. But in my experience, C’s aren’t incredibly horrible, especially if it’s a quarter grade. I got a C for 2nd quarter in Calc BC as a junior and still got into HYPSMC level schools.</p>