<p>Hi all,</p>
<p>so my first quarter of senior year is coming to a close in a matter of weeks and as of right now I have a D in AP Physics C. I’m mortified with this grade as it is undoubtedly the lowest grade I might receive in my life. I’m not going to list all my previous year grades but for final grades I’ve never received anything lower than an A- and have taken the most challenging/rigorous courses my school has to offer (Honors,AP,IB etc.). I know this is the only the first quarter and that I have time to make it up/all my other grades are fine at the moment, but my question to you is will I be outright rejected? I’ve been stressing non stop about this grade and whether or not I’ll get into Brown (I’m applying ED) or even my safeties! Please, please could you all offer some advice as to how to approach this situation and whether or not I have a chance at Brown anymore…? </p>
<p>PS I’m not even concentrating on anything physics/engineering related, i want to go into medicine so i might concentrate on biochemistry/cognitive neuroscience but idk</p>
<p>Generally getting a lone D is enough for an accepted student to get rescinded. I rather doubt that Brown would excuse a D without extreme extenuating circumstances when there are 11 applicants for each opening. However, the semester is far from over and lots of students get poor grades at the mid-point mark, sometimes because of having missed a test or class assignments due to illness and having not yet made up the work; teachers will often let such grades go through because it doesn’t go on the final record.</p>
<p>Does Brown ask for mid-semester grades for ED applicants? I don’t know, my son applied RD. If that is indeed the case, I’d recommend you skip ED and focus, focus, focus on bringing your physics grade up by semester’s end, then apply RD.</p>
<p>I’m in the same situation, with BC calc :(</p>
<p>Lorem has good advice. If Brown gets your midsemester grades (they did get them in the past for ED, but that may have changed), then don’t apply ED. You won’t get in with a D (unless your parent is someone like Bill Gates). You have plenty of time to raise your grade for RD. I’d also talk to your teacher – is it possible that s/he grades on a curve? So that even though numerically your grade is a D, you will actually get a higher grade on your report card?</p>
<p>I had the exact same problem as you. I am in the IB program, and suddenly dropped form average 7’s (max mark) to a 4 on a single test, which is worth alot in the final semester grade. However, I have been told that ED schools don’t recieve any sort of senior grades before they make decisions (grades come out January). But your school may be different. P.S. I am going for Neuroscience too!</p>
<p>Definitely go in and talk with the teacher specifically about what is going on with your grade. Don’t make assumptions about what it will be. I’ve known teachers who sometimes gave “wake up, you seniors who thought you could just slide/ coast this senior year” incredibly hard tests at the beginning of the year. Since most of the class does poorly, they then curve everything, or even allow one test to be dropped. Or are you really suddenly trying to coast and not putting in the effort on classes you should be? Anyway go in and talk about how you can turn this around.</p>
<p>I promise all of you I’m not coasting whatsoever; I’m taking the hardest classes for any senior and have all A’s in them and literally Physics is my horrible grade. I’ve already taken Honors Physics as a junior and ended up with an A average for the year, could one bad grade in a class for a quarter really be the deciding factor in my college acceptance? I possibly overestimated my abilities of physics because of said A in the class last year, but it’s too late to drop/switch out of the class now!</p>
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<p>You might get deferred to RD, if they choose to await your final semester grade. But honestly, when 10 out of 11 applicants get rejected, why would you even think Brown would overlook a D? The classes at Brown (at least in math, CS, and physics) are far, far more challenging than anything you will have encountered in high school, including the AP classes – and they can be because the students taking these classes are among the best in the world.</p>