Failed an AP course the first semester my junior year, will a 4-year still accept me?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I have had a steady 3.7 my freshman and sophomore year of high school. I’ve only ever taken college prep courses. This is the first year I’ve taken an AP course (I’m actually taking AP Lang and AP Psych as well; I have low C’s in both). I have A’s in my other 2 classes. I just received my final grade for APUSH first semester, which is an F (I actually finished with a 68%, but my school district doesn’t use D’s). I know this is entirely my fault. I haven’t taken school seriously this year and I totally slacked off on my assignments. I’m really annoyed with myself and am planning on nothing less than a B next semester.

I also do a lot of community service at my local homeless shelter, elementary school, and hospital. I’m an active member of Key Club too.

With that in mind, would I still be accepted into Boston University, University of Washington, NYU, or UCSB? :-/

Any advice would be great!

2

How does it affect your overall gpa? It definitely will hinder your chances, as you probably need that credit to get accepted. Do you need the credit to graduate high school and will you have to retake it? It definitely makes those schools even more of a reach than before.

3

It’s very unfortunate that you had chosen to take an AP course that’s notorious for being very hard due to its cramming-extensive curriculum.

Ask your counselor if there is a withdraw-pass option available and drop out of the class. If there is the option, I suggest that you drop out and switch it with an honors or a regular US History class.

Remember that A in a regular history is a lot better than getting a C in an AP History or B in honors history, so if history is your weak subject, then try to take regular history, although the rigor of the course may be weak.


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With that in mind, would I still be accepted into Boston University, University of Washington, NYU, or UCSB? <<<

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If the GPA of 3.7 you received in both freshman and sophomore years was weighted, then unfortunately you will have to give up almost all of them. BU, UW (Seattle), NYU and UCSB are all tough schools, and your grades in AP classes will have definitely killed your overall GPA (calculated below based on your given info may be inaccurate).

Assuming you are taking 5 classes and two of which are AP and three of which are regular…
AP US H = F (0 + 1) = 1
AP Psych = C (2 + 1) = 3
AP Lang = C (2 + 1*) = 3
Reg 1 = A (4) = 4

Reg 2 = A (4) = 4 where * = Bonus credit

W GPA for Junior year = B (3)
UW GPA = C+ (2.4)

If 3.7 was Weighted…
Cumulative W GPA = 3.47

If 3.7 was Unweighted…
Cumulative UW GPA = 3.27

While the exact GPA will be certainly different, nor am I guaranteeing that these are an accurate, correct calculations, if your cumulative GPA by the end of junior year is 3.47 give or take, then it will be hard to get into elite schools unless you have stellar ECs, which I don’t think you have.

My advice is to drop out of that APUSH, take Reg USH or Honors USH, and spend more of that time you had lost on APUSH on AP Psych and AP Lang. Having taken APUSH and AP Psych in high school, I know how cramming-intensive classes those two are. So if you want to get into solid schools, start bettering your EC background, GPA and test scores from now on.

4

UCSB only uses 10-11th grades in their GPA calculation. If you UC GPA is around 4.0+, you might have a chance but you also need to meet the UC a-g course requirements which includes a US history class (not necessarily an AP course) to even apply. I suggest you calculate your UC GPA: https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

You will get no honors points for a failed AP course. Are you in-state CA? You can look up which HS courses are approved for the UC honors points: https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist#/list/search/institution

If you are OOS, only AP/IB or DE courses taken 10-11th count for the extra honors points in the calculation.

Also here are the UC a-g required courses so if you are lacking any of these requirements, there is a likely chance your application will not be reviewed if you applied.

http://www.ucop.edu/agguide/a-g-requirements/