I received a C in an enriched math class during my junior year(past year). I have received 1 other C sophomore year and 3 Bs (in honors classes) and all As in High School besides those. My GPA is a 3.86 unweighted and a 4.13 weighted. I have already retook a high school math class I took in 8th grade already as well. The reason I got the C was because my teacher was very unrealistic in terms of teaching, homework, and was not very understanding either. Also I have pretty much raised my autistic little brother since my Dad is gone a lot because of his job and my Mom has been severally Ill for the past 6 years. It has mainly been like this for the entirety of my time in high school. At the same time I have been involved in two sports, 4 clubs(State VP and chapter president of one, and VP of another club), and a nonprofit I co-founded as well which has gained wide recognition in my state. Is it worth the retake considering my application or do I stick to the grades I currently have?
My advice is to not worry about Ivy League admission, which is a long shot even with perfect grades. Focus on finding match and safety schools and then throw out a couple of apps to reach schools.
Be sure your guidance counselor is aware of your home situation so they can write about it in their LOR.
Maybe that’s how you feel…but please don’t ever share that as part of your college applications.
In terms of your family situation, your school guidance person should address this in their counselor letter, assuming they know these circumstances.
I think you need to cast a much broader net than just the Ivy League and similarly competitive schools. These schools have admissions that are 10% or less…meaning 90% of applicants are not accepted.
Build your college list from the bottom up. Find a school you like that is affordable, and where you stand an excellent chance of acceptance. Find that school…or two first. Then start looking at those reach schools.
ETA…I would not suggest you retake the same HS course again because you got a C grade.
Repeating a course looks like either you did poorly the first time, or you are grade-grubbing. Neither looks good, although repeating a course where you earned a D or F the first time is understandable (repeating a C or higher not so much).
You don’t want to go into more advanced math classes with a weak foundation. Retaking may be what’s best for your academic advancement, or not. Don’t do or not do things because of Ivy admissions.
I would only do that if you truly didn’t think you understood enough of the math to be able to do the math in your course next year. In the study of math, there is a place for this sometimes, but in general, I would 99.9% of the time so, ‘no’, I would not repeat a math class. what I would do is study over the summer to fill in the gaps that made you get a c if there are any. Khan academy and other sites have good videos you can watch. Math all builds on itself and a lot of high school math is fundamental to math that comes in college, so understanding it is important.
you got good advice above and I agree with the build the list from the bottom up. You have a lot going for you and I think will get into schools you like. I don’t know about ivys. That’s a long shot for anyone. but there are tons of great schools out there.
You are involved in a lot of ECs on top of heavy family responsibilities. Your time management and priority-setting skills are almost certainly better than the average, but still might need some tweaking. Perhaps you should have cut back on one of your ECs so as to be better able to meet your math teacher’s expectations. Keep that in mind when your schedule starts to get overloaded in the future.
Looking ahead, you need to think about possible gaps in your math skills. If there is material that you do need to master, and you have been successful at studying math on your own without live instruction, two good websites to start with are:
Wishing you all the best!
No you should not retake a course that you have credit for. I am shocked that your GC is even programming you for a course that you already have credit it (taking that seat from a student who may need that credit). It makes you look like you are grade grubbing. Please do not think that college admissions officers are not going to be able to see through what you are doing . It will hurt you more that it will help you.
In our county you can only retake classes for which you have a D or an F.
But on applications many times you have to put both grades- and what if you get a lower grade the second time?! That would definitely not look good. At all.