Hi all. I just got the acceptence letter from Purdue University. I got A on all my senior year courses so far except AP Calculus AB. I got B in the first quarter, D in the second quarter, and a D as the first semester grade. I am going to major in Philosophy which is kind of unrelated to Math. I have already completed three years of Math which is required for graduation. So would failing AP Calculus AB cause Purdue University to cancel my acceptance? My Calculus teacher is a really harsh person, it is impossible for him to be kind and curve my scores. I tried really hard on Math but I just cannot understand some concepts.
You need to contact admission and let them know. They may want you to retake the course.
- why would you attend Purdue, a STEM university, for Philosophy? Exactly the type of university where a D in math would really hurt.
- a D may get you rescinded. It’s not an F so you won’t automatically get rescinded but it’s still cause for review.
To avoid any problem, you MUST contact admissions today (or asap) and let them know, and they’ll provide you with an opportunity to make it up (ask what you should do: retake that semester? Take another math course?) - just in case, apply to other universities and their honors college. Depending on your budget, there would still be pretty good universities for Philosophy with Feb 1 deadlines.
@MYOS1634 Purdue is a flagship state university, like UIUC, Ohio State, U Wisconsin, U Michigan, etc, and has extremely strong humanities programs, including philosophy. Like all land grant universities, it has a strong engineering program, but it also has a strong ag program, like all land grant universities, as well as a strong Liberal Arts and Sciences program, also like all flagship land grant universities.
So Purdue is likely the best public school in Indiana to do a degree in Philosophy, English, History, etc.
Purdue is one of two flagships in Indiana. Both flagships were given different missions: Indiana University has the strength in Liberal Arts and Purdue has the strength in STEM. In that respect, it is different from UMich, tOSU, etc. It’s more like Bing/Geneseo v. Buffalo/SB. You COULD study Philosophy at SUNY Buff/SB but if admitted to SUNY Bing/Geneseo for Philosophy, SUNY Bing/Geneseo would make the most sense. Same thing if admitted for Philosophy at UVA and VTech, you’d pick UVA. IU is the best public university in Indiana to get a degree in Philosophy, English, History, etc. Resources for these subjects at Purdue are more limited than at IU, since it’s not Purdue’s main purview or mission. The only subject where there’s some overlap is CS, but in reality Purdue has the biggest brand name and a more technical program, whereas IU CS has been carving its own identity with strength in Informatics, Machine Learning, Intelligent Systems (which it’s developed as its own school’s Engineering degree). But for Philosophy, Foreign languages, History, English, there’s no comparison.
What a weird and unhelpful response. Of course you can major in Philosophy at Purdue and be perfectly happy. My D is doing both an engineering and a liberal arts degree at Purdue and although she had had a great experience in engineering her closest mentors and best teachers have all been in the College of Liberal Arts. @Surfinginterrnet I think @momofsenior1 has the right idea - call them, tell them you got a D and ask what you can do so they don’t rescind your admission. I hope you have a wonderful career at Purdue.
To be fair, yes you CAN major in Philosophy at Purdue. Same as GTech or VTech.
But Purdue may well not take that D lightly, especially considering it’s a core subject AND a subject taken more seriously at a stem school.
It IS a D not an F. So when you call ask whether you need to do something about it.
Calculus is not a required core course for philosophy majors at Purdue. Any quantitative reasoning course will do. Call admissions and let them know.
Assuming there is a second semester to your calculus class, work extra hard, get help, do whatever you need to do to improve your understanding and your grade. All is not lost. It can be done. I have seen it first hand. But, you have to want to put in the work.
Good luck!
@MYOS1634, How does a B in one quarter and a D in another average to a D for the semester? Shouldn’t it be a C?
^ An F in the final?
And you can study humanities at MIT. OP made his choice of colleges and that’s not up for discussion.
A D may not be a problem. But OP needs to find out. And likely bring this up for 3rd and 4th quarters.
Why not drop down to honors or reg cal instead of AP, Pace may be better and may keep you from failing.
Fwiw Purdue’s Philosophy program is ranked higher than IU’s by at least one rating organization. https://philosophy-colleges.com/indiana
It also has top 50 national programs in Psychology, Economics, Pharmacy, History… It may be strongest in STEM, specifically Engineering, but it does a lot more. (Reminds me of discussions with my Liberal Arts friends while at CMU)