D's and F's senior year!!!!!!!

Applying to College
1

<p>Okay so I'm taking all APs senior year and I've been accepted ED to Rice University.
my first marking period grades are horrible:
English 4 AP: B
World History AP: B+
Calculus AB: F
Biology AP: D
Studio Art AP: A-</p>

<p>I actually wasn't supposed to be in Calculus or Biology because I didn't take the prerequisite classes but there's some kind of waiver that i signed that said that i could enroll in these classes but if i wanted to withdraw, it would be a withdraw-fail on my transcript. so i just ended up getting these retardedly bad grades. and now im scared that they'll rescind my acceptance letter.</p>

<p>Would they rescind it right after they get the midyear report? or will they wait to see my final grades. (my school is on a quarter system so the mid year report includes the first 2 marking period grades)</p>

2

<p>Probably no one here knows for sure. Call Rice and ask them.</p>

<p>My strong suggestion is to also do whatever you can to raise those grades to a "B" level. I can't think of any reason for someone smart enough to get into Rice ED to end up with Fs and Ds in any subject. I'd think that if you were in academic trouble, you could have gotten tutoring or used some other method to get at least passing grades. Your overall grades look like a bad case of senioritis, and colleges do not want to enroll students who were on a downslide senior year. Such students are prime candidates for flunkout no matter how smart they are.</p>

<p>You also need to know now whether Rice will rescind your acceptance so that you can apply elsewhere if needed.</p>

3

<p>now... consider me not a fool
But WHAT is senioritis????</p>

4

<p>From Wikipedia:</p>

<p>Senioritis is a controversial syndrome attributed to students nearing the end of high school and college in the United States and Canada. Its symptoms can include laziness, procrastination, apathy toward schoolwork and truancy.</p>

<p>Senioritis does not affect all people in the same way. While some show apathy, others show mania. In this way, the syndrome can prevent students from performing routine tasks because of the heightened stress associated with preparing for graduation. When taking excessive course loads to fulfill scholastic requirements, many seniors show an inability to find work, control emotional swings, consummate relationships, maintain personal hygiene, etc.</p>

<p>While senioritis is generally viewed as an imaginary disease, its effects are well known to most experienced educators. This imagined affliction is a symptom of students' complacency once they have all but guaranteed their place in college. After college admission letters arrive in early spring, high school seniors feel even less pressure to push themselves academically. </p>

<p>In an effort to combat senioritis, many colleges require that an updated transcript be sent from the high school after the end of the school year, and will revoke admission if a student's grades drop dramatically.</p>

5

<p>hmm.... two of my subject grades dropped from 80s to upper 60's while 2 stayed the same and one went up... Will that hurt me?? (in marks)</p>

6

<p>
[quote]
two of my subject grades dropped from 80s to upper 60's

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Yes, this will hurt you because you have dropped from doing "B" range work to doing "D" range work</p>

7

<p>On a tangent about Wikipedia, there's some debate about its reliability. (Does CC have an article there? <em>intrigued</em>) </p>

<p><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10478207/?GT1=7516%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10478207/?GT1=7516&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>
[quote]

Science journal finds Wikipedia pretty accurate
Nature compares Website to Encyclopedia Britannica</p>

<p>Updated: 8:47 a.m. ET Dec. 15, 2005
SAN FRANCISCO - Wikipedia, the encyclopedia that relies on volunteers to pen nearly 4 million articles, is about as accurate in covering scientific topics as Encyclopedia Britannica, the journal Nature wrote in an online article published Wednesday.</p>

<p>The finding, based on a side-by-side comparison of articles covering a broad swath of the scientific spectrum, comes as Wikipedia faces criticism over the accuracy of some of its entries.</p>

<p>Two weeks ago prominent journalist John Seigenthaler Sr. revealed that a Wikipedia entry that ran for four months had incorrectly named him as a longtime suspect in the assassinations of president John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert.
Such errors appear to be the exception rather than the rule, Nature said in Wednesday's article, which the scientific journal said was the first to use peer review to compare Wikipedia to Britannica. Based on 42 articles reviewed by experts, the average scientific entry in Wikipedia contained four errors or omissions, while Britannica had three.</p>

<p>Of eight "serious errors" the reviewers found — including misinterpretations of important concepts — four came from each source, the journal reported.</p>

<p>"We're very pleased with the results and we're hoping it will focus people's attention on the overall level of our work, which is pretty good," said Jimmy Wales, who founded St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Wikipedia in 2001.</p>

<p>Wales said the accuracy of his project varies by topic, with strong suits including pop culture and contemporary technology. That's because Wikipedia's stable of dedicated volunteers tend to have more collective expertise in such areas, he said.</p>

<p>The site tends to lag when it comes to topics touching on the humanities, such as the winner of the Nobel Prize for literature for a particular year, Wales said.</p>

<p>Next month, Wikipedia plans to begin testing a new mechanism for reviewing the accuracy of its articles. The group also is working on ways to make its review process easier to use by people who have less familiarity with computers and the Internet.</p>

<p>Encyclopedia Britannica officials declined to comment on the findings because they haven't seen the data. But spokesman Tom Panelas said such comparisons, assuming they're conducted correctly, are valuable "because they tell us things you wouldn't know otherwise."</p>

<p>While some Britannica officials have publicly criticized Wikipedia's quality in the past, Panelas praised the free service for having the speed and breadth to keep up on topics such as "extreme ironing." The sport, in which competitors iron clothing in remote locations, is not covered in Britannica.</p>

<p>Britannica researchers plan to review the Nature study and correct any errors discovered, Panelas said.</p>

<p>Unlike Britannica, which charges for its content and pays a staff of experts to research and write its articles, Wikipedia gives away its content for free and allows anyone — amateur or professional, expert or novice — to submit and edit entries.</p>

<p>Wikipedia, which boasts 3.7 million articles in 200 languages, is the 37th most visited Web site on the Internet, according to the research service Alexa.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>But I'm glad with some articles it states whether the objectivity of the article is debated. Like the article about the "Romas" (Gypsies). Or Communism.</p>

8

<p>Rescinding of college acceptances happend very often. I was accepted to rice university last year, but my acceptance was rescinded because of my senior year grades. Actually, my grades were slightly better than yours. I got a 2 D's and rest A's but my acceptance letter was still rescinded.</p>

9

<p>umm. I dont call 80's in my school B's...
The papers were tough and my 80's fetched me Rank 2 in Grade 11.</p>

<p>Hurt me - i mean is it a huge deal or just a small setback</p>

10

<p>1) Get a tutor immediately</p>

<p>2) Go belly up: call Rice and speak to your regional rep and say you have hit a big bump with two classes that you signed up for, despite not having done the pre-requisites; that perhaps you bit off more than you can easily chew... </p>

<p>Tell them you are very upset, you consider yourself an A student, and you intend to raise your grades rather than switch into other/easier classes-- yet do not want it to kill your admission if you stick with these classes despite early problems. Explain to Rice that you intend to nail these classes and also have your teachers write to attest you are working very hard. </p>

<p>If you call them before they call you I suspect it may go better.</p>

11

<p>You might also want to scale back your schedule somewhat by dropping out of AP Calc into regular Calc instead. The advice to contact Rice is good. I would imagine that they will give you until the end of senior year to recover. You might discuss with them the option of lightening the load. You don't seem to be taking responsibilty for the grades, and Rice is going to appreciate it if you are honest about what happened. They would probably rather see a student who is accepting responsibility and trying to do better than a student who isn't admitting that they screwed up.</p>

12

<p>I'm in a somewhat similar situation here. If I do terribly first marking period and bring it up second marking period, before the Midyear report, will it be okay? My rationale was that it'd look like a period of adjustment. Would admissions think that? (Not for Rice, but colleges in general)</p>

13

<p>If you are applying RD, whether or not the college looks at the mid-year senior report can vary depending on the college and the applicant. Some colleges will not make any decisions until the mid-year reports arrive and some colleges will only use them for borderline cases. If they don't have it and they want it, they may call your high school guidance counselor. </p>

<p>You are talking about the first marking period. Typically, hs transcripts (including the midyear report) do not have quarter grades, but only list the semester grades. Transcripts are in all different formats depending on the high school district. Transcripts may or may not have AP scores and/or SAT scores. You can request a copy of yours from your GC just to see what it looks like.</p>